Queen Esther
Monthly Drop-in book club -- thursday, February 26, 2026
Join our book club!
Each month we read a book by an international author. Our hour-long Zoom chats are lively, thought-provoking, and reminiscent of our college days. You are welcome to join at any time!
Our next meeting is on Thursday, February 26th at 7:00pm
Our January book is:
This is a quick summary of the book, from the author's page.
Like The Cider House Rules, Queen Esther is a historical novel with a political theme. Anti-Semitism shapes Esther’s life, not only in Vienna. Esther’s story is fated to intersect with Israel’s history.
The cover art depicts the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Esther, who is not yet four, is abandoned one winter night. Esther is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board the ship from Bremerhaven to Portland, Maine; her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland. At St. Cloud’s, it’s clear to Dr. Larch that the abandoned child not only knows she’s Jewish; she’s familiar with the biblical Queen Esther she was named for. Dr. Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a family who’ll adopt Esther.
When Esther is fourteen, about to become a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows—a philanthropic family with a history of providing for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren’t anti-Semitic—nor are they Jewish. Esther is enduringly grateful. While she retraces her steps to her birth city, Esther never stops loving and protecting the Winslows—not even in Vienna. In the final chapter of this historical novel—set in Jerusalem, in 1981—Esther Nacht is seventy-six.
The New York Times also wrote a review of Irving's latest novel. You can read that here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/books/review/john-irving-queen-esther.html.
**If you have any trouble with the Zoom log in, please email lkaci@post.harvard.edu so that someone can address the issue right away.**
Harvard Club of Southern Connecticut is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Monthly Book Club
Time: Feb 26, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Every month on the Last Thu, 35 occurrence(s)
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Here is a list of books the club has read so far:
Madonna in a Fur Coat, by Sabahattin Ali (Turkish writer)
A Wild Sheep Chase, by Haruki Murakami (Japanese writer)
Foreigner, by Nachid Rachlin (Iranian writer)
The Concert, by Ismail Kadare (Albanian writer)
This is Happiness, by Niall Williams (Irish writer)
Sweetness, by Torgny Lindgren (Swedish writer)
Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither, by Sara Baume (Irish writer)
Wickett’s Remedy, by Myla Goldberg (American writer)
Immortality, by Milan Kundera (Czech writer)
An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese-British writer)
Cambridge, by Caryl Phillips (St. Kitts & Nevis/British writer)
Here Comes, There Goes, You Know Who, by William Saroyan (Armenian-American writer)
Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck (American writer)
The Life of God (As Told by Himself), by Franco Ferrucci (Italian-American writer)
A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor (American writer)
Free, by Lea Ypi (Albanian writer)
A Short Tale of Shame, by Angel Igov (Bulgarian writer)
Nada, by Carmen Laforet (Spanish writer)
Double Negative, by Ivan Vladislavic (South African writer)
Blind Faith, by Sagarika Ghose (Indian writer)
A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry (Indian writer)
So Long a Letter, by Mariama Ba (Senegalese writer)
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie (Chinese writer)
Raising Sparks, by Ariel Kahn (Israeli-American writer)
Giants in the Earth, by O. E. Rølvaag (Norwegian writer)
Kairos, by Jenny Erpenbeck (German writer)
Vi, by Kim Thúy (Vietnamese-Canadian writer)
On the Edge of Reason, by Miroslav Krleža (Croatian writer)
The Bad Girl, by Mario Vargas Llosa (Peruvian writer)
In the Country of Others, by Leila Slimani (French-Moroccan writer)