Over the next few weeks, I’ll take readers on a literary world tour, from the northwoods of Minnesota, across the ocean to sunny Italy, back in time to early 20th century Paris, and through worlds to the quaint woodland village of Shady Hollow. We’re going to explore the authors speaking at this year’s Wine and Words event, set for July 24-26 at Grand View Lodge. Put on by the Friends of the Brainerd Public Library, the event is the nonprofit’s largest fundraiser of the year and boasts food, drinks, silent auction items, raffles and, of course, author talks.
Up first is Timothy Schaffert, an Omaha writer who grew up on a farm in Nebraska. He’s the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including “The Swan Gondola” and “The Perfume Thief.” Schaffert teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
The two novels of Schaffert’s I grabbed are worlds apart, showing quite a range of writing and storytelling ability. ADVERTISEMENT This book is truly a work of art. Yes, I know all books are art, but that’s the best way I can think of to describe “The Titanic Survivors Book Club” by Timothy Schaffert.
The writing, characters and storyline harmonize so beautifully to create a thought-provoking narrative that I won’t soon forget. Despite his name appearing on the list of the dead, Yorick never boarded the Titanic on that fateful day in 1912. He’s not sure if he can truly be counted as a survivor, never having sailed .