ONE COMMUNITY, MANY STORIES
Read • Meet • Discuss • Engage
Wednesday, April 9, 7-8:30 PM • Glenview Park Center, Lakeview Room
Glenview Reads Together, the Library’s annual community-wide reading program, returns! Join us for an engaging evening as New York Times bestselling author Catherine Newman is interviewed by journalist Heidi Stevens about her heartfelt book Sandwich. A book sale and signing, courtesy of The Book Stall, will follow the program.
Thank you to the Glenview Public Library Foundation for the generous support of our program.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Catherine Newman is the New York Times bestselling author of adult fiction, nonfiction, and children's nonfiction. She writes the Substack newsletter Crone Sandwich and has been a regular contributor to the New York Times, Real Simple, O, The Oprah Magazine, Cup of Jo, and many other publications. She has a PhD and lives in Massachusetts where she is the Academic Department Coordinator of Creative Writing at Amherst College.
INTERVIEWED BY
Heidi Stevens is the Director of External Affairs at the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. Prior to joining University of Chicago, Heidi worked at the Chicago Tribune for 23 years as a writer and editor, writing a daily column called the Balancing Act for the past decade.
Book Summary
For two decades, Cape Cod has been Rocky's annual escape. But this year, as her body and life undergo transformation, a series of unexpected events sends her spiraling back in time. Revisiting past summers, both joyful and painful, forces her to confront the complexities of family, love, and the fleeting nature of youth.
Discussion Questions
Sandwich explores lots of big, relatable themes, motherhood, menopause, marriage, loss, aging parents and empty nesting, and the big feelings – guilt, resentment, love, self-doubt, joy, exhaustion – that come with it. Was there a passage that particularly hit home for you?
Despite having such a close-knit family, there are secrets uncovered during this trip. Why are there so many of them and how do they relate to each other and/or move the story along? Why do you think that Rocky, in particular, felt as though she needed to carry her secrets by herself?
The realities and rages of menopause are at the heart of Sandwich. Have you read many fiction books that center around this part of women’s lives before? How did it make you feel?
The family beach house in Cape Cod is getting older, why do you think Newman decided to set this story during the family vacation, rather than during a typical week of their ordinary lives?
