Reading Groups

The Love Story: From the Traditional to the Taboo with Sheila Kohler

This product is currently out of stock and unavailable.

5 Sessions Mondays, 6:00 pm EDT - 7:30 pm EDT March 31 to June 23, 2025

Online via Zoom

featured-images.reading-groups.2025-spring-b4

The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at an additional 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
3/31, 4/21, 5/12, 6/2, 6/23
Online via Zoom

How are the best love stories told? What makes a love story feel authentic and true to life? The evolution of the love story over centuries has demonstrated the many attempts to answer these questions. In this reading group, we will examine four novels that continue the search. In Dante’s Vita Nuova, the idealized love for Beatrice portrayed exemplifies the idea of courtly, unrequited love. The Pole is a retelling of this tale, this time through the lens of a Polish pianist who falls in love with Beatriz, a much younger married woman who entertains him when he comes to Barcelona for a concert. We will discuss the similarities and differences of these two accounts. Love Child is loosely based on my mother’s early love affair at seventeen with a Jewish diamond dealer. They eloped and her parents came after her to Kimberley the diamond town where the marriage was annulled though it had serious repercussions. And finally, Claire Messud’s This Strange Eventful History, the author’s family story is explored through the love story of her grandparents and its ramifications on her family.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Participants should read La Vita Nuova (The new life) by Dante in advance of the first meeting.

What to expect from this reading group: I will introduce the book and then open up the discussion to all who wish to speak. I will send out some questions before the discussion and a summary afterwards.

Reading List:

Capacity: 20

Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

featured-images.reading-groups.2025-spring-b4

Led by

  • Sheila Kohler by Beowulf Sheehan

    Sheila Kohler

    Sheila Kohler

    Sheila Kohler is the author of eleven novels, three collections of short stories, and a memoir. Kohler has been awarded the O. Henry twice, two stories have been included in Best American Short stories, and her story “Miss Martin” was in Best American Mystery Stories 2020. Her work has been translated and published widely abroad. She has taught creative writing at Columbia university, Sarah Lawrence, City College, and at Princeton since 2007. Her novel, Cracks has been filmed with Jordan Scott as director and Ridley Scott as executive producer and Eva Green playing Miss G and was republished last January with Open Road. She will be a writer in residence in Paris in 2025.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

Groups+Workshops
More Groups+Workshops
Groups+Workshops

Discover More Upcoming Groups + Workshops