Shelf Indulgence Book Club

Adult Program 

Join in as we discuss The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton. (details below)

This book will be available in limited physical quantities at the library circulation desk about a month before we meet. E-book and audiobook formats are available in Libby. Please register by 1:00PM that Tuesday so I can prepare seating, send discussion questions in advance and send a Zoom link in case you decide to attend virtually.  This is a hybrid event - attend in person or virtually via Zoom. You must have a valid email address to use Zoom.

The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Best Science Fiction (2023)

Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels gradually wreak havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker; his pregnant wife, Frida; and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds to search for them. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.

As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.

Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time—The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.