16th Literary Society Series Scheduled

James McBride (Courtesy: James McBride)

(PRESS RELEASE)_​(Palm Beach, Fla.) – MorseLife Health System is kicking off its 16th Literary Society Series "Breakfast with the Authors" on January 11, 2024, at The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach. Guests will hear intimate details from three best-selling authors about their writing process and where they find inspiration for their novels. All presentations are followed by a Q&A session from the audience with the author. This year's Literary Society series hosts are Cynthia Berenson, Penny Blumenstein and Marlene Strauss.

---

​This season's Literary Society includes breakfast with three award-winning authors: James McBride,
Abraham Verghese and Jeannette Walls.

"At MorseLife, our book selections embody our dedication to narratives that reflect the essence of humanity – getting away from hate and bigotry is so important in our world today,” said Keith A. Myers, President and CEO of MorseLife Health System. "We meticulously choose authors whose stories align with our passions and initiatives, focusing on themes that transcend generations and echo the pressing issues of our time. Through our rigorous process, we strive to present you with the best-of-the-best literature, spotlighting future award-winners, such as closing last year’s season with Pulitzer Prize winner
Hernan Diaz and fostering a cultural conversation that resonates deeply."

Now in its 40th anniversary year, MorseLife remains devoted to its mission to improve the lives of seniors through innovative and compassionate health care, housing and supportive services. As a charitable, not-for-profit organization, its programs include independent and assisted living, short-term rehabilitation, memory long-term term care, private and skilled home health care, Hospice, palliative care, meals-on-wheels, Cannabis-based therapies, care management and counseling, homebound Mitzvah program, MorseLife Foundation and PACE – Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, which touches the lives of 3,600 seniors each day.

McBride is kicking off the series with his novel, "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store," on January 11, 2024. Bringing his masterly storytelling skills and deep faith in humanity to his latest novel, McBride takes us back to 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pa. were digging the foundations for a new development. The last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two long-held secrets the residents of Chicken Hill kept. In this dilapidated neighborhood, immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town's white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, love and community—heaven and earth—sustain us.

On February 8, 2024, Verghese will discuss how "The Covenant of Water" follows three generations of a close-knit, haunted family in southwestern India. The book begins in 1900, as a 12-year-old girl in what is now the state of Kerala, in southwest India, prepares for an unwanted arranged marriage. It ends in 1977 when that girl's physician granddaughter arrives at a shocking discovery. The book chronicles so many tragedies in a tone that never deviates from hope. Verghese takes his time to reveal how everything, like the waterways there, is connected and eventually flows together.

To wrap up what is sure to be an incredible season, on March 14, 2024, Walls will discuss her novel "Hang the Moon." The story gives us a chance to think about something that hasn't gotten much attention — the lives of women bootleggers in America. "Hang the Moon" opens with words from her father, Rex Walls: "Quality? Hell, the only time our whiskey aged was when we got a flat tire." The elder Walls had a career in moonshine before Jeannette was born, and the plot of "Hang the Moon" draws on that real-life experience. Walls has spun another rich story that spotlights, as she said in a recent interview, "people with dreams and vulnerabilities, tough folk in rough situations."

Attendance at the breakfast with authors series is by invitation only when joining MorseLife’s Annual Giving Society. For more information about MorseLife Health System or the Literary Society Series, visit www.morselife.org, email [email protected] or call 561.242.4661.