Since we live in a globalized world, what better way to learn about a variety of distinctive cultures and their histories than to delve into a good story? Read across time and place to consider how authors offer windows into fully imagined worlds different from our own.

Join Lisbeth Strimple Fuisz, a lecturer in the English department at Georgetown University, in spirited lectures and informal discussions about four compelling novels. Participants should read the first book prior to class. Sherry and cookies are available for refreshment.

MARCH 9  The Alchemist (1993) by Paulo Coelho

An international bestseller, this book follows the mystical quest of a Spanish shepherd boy to find treasure.

APRIL 6  In the Time of the Butterflies (1994) by Julia Alvarez

Set in the Dominican Republic during the dictatorship of General Trujillo, this novel narrates the experiences of four sisters who worked in opposition to the regime.

MAY 4  The God of Small Things (1997) by Arundhati Roy

Winner of the Booker Prize, this novel depicts the childhood of fraternal twins Rahel and Esthappen, whose family is visited by personal and political tragedies.

JUNE 8  The Penelopiad (2005) by Margaret Atwood

This book reimagines The Odyssey from the perspective of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, and explores the hanging of the twelve maids, an episode in the epic that Atwood felt was underdeveloped in the original.

4 sessions