Free Press
Book Club

Welcome to the Free Press Book Club!

This monthly book club runs completely online and is open to everyone.

Each month, we choose a novel and share it on this page, as well as in an email to those who have registered to participate. We send a couple of follow-up notes to check in on your progress and suggest a few discussion topics and questions to think about as you go.

At the end of the month, we gather to participate in a livestream book club meeting, hosted by our books editor, Ben Sigurdson, or one of our pals from McNally Robinson Booksellers, as well as the author of the book.

You can submit questions ahead of time, or drop them into one of the live chat boxes during the meeting. (And don’t worry, we provide an easy-to-access link to the stream, so all you have to do is click.)

Our focus is on local authors of varying genres and backgrounds, and we hope you’re excited to dive in.

The Book

A Great Country
By: Shilpi Gowda

Buy Now

Pacific Hills, California: Gated communities, ocean views, well-tended lawns, serene pools, and now the new home of the Shah family. For the Shah parents, who came to America twenty years earlier with little more than an education and their new marriage, this move represents the culmination of years of hard work and dreaming. For their children, born and raised in America, success is not so simple.

For the most part, these differences among the five members of the Shah family are minor irritants, arguments between parents and children, older and younger siblings. But one Saturday night, the twelve-year-old son is arrested. The fallout from that event will shake each family member’s perception of themselves as individuals, as community members, as Americans, and will lead each to consider: how do we define success? At what cost comes ambition? And what is our role and responsibility in the cultural mosaic of modern America?

For readers of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, A Great Country explores themes of immigration, generational conflict, social class and privilege as it reconsiders the myth of the model minority and questions the price of the American dream.

Schedule

Wed
Oct 1

October book club pick reminder

A Great Country, by Shilpi Gowda

Tue
Oct 14

Check-in

Expect an email from us to check in on your progress. We offer up some discussion questions and other things to think about as you continue reading.

Mon
Oct 20

Livestream information email

This email provides all the information you need for our livestream book club event, including the access link, some information about your viewing options and how you can submit your questions for the author ahead of time.

Tue
Oct 28

Free Press Book Club meeting

Join our live chat starting at 7 p.m. CT with special guest, author Shilpi Gowda.

If you have any questions, please email us at bookclub@winnipegfreepress.com