Saturday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. — LUDLOW — The Book Nook is pleased to host VPR commentator Martha Leb Molnar at the store on Saturday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m., to read from and talk about her first book, “Taproot: Coming Home to Prairie Hill.” A recent transplant from the New York Metropolitan area, Molnar describes how she and her husband, both children of Holocaust survivors, strive to overcome their nomadic past through devotion to a place. They buy land on a rugged Vermont hill, build a house, and begin a new life, learning to observe the huge bowl of sky, the windstorms, the seasons, and the puzzling animal and human neighbors. “Taproot” is about fulfilling fantasies as the nest empties. It’s about the search for roots against a family’s journey from the brink of annihilation. It’s about making a home in a new and baffling natural and human environment. But it’s the beauty of the writing that strikes first, touching on universal fears and longings. Part memoir, part nature journal, part observations of Vermonters— along with the often amusing saga of building a house—the book speaks to the reader on many levels. Lyrical descriptions of living close to the land are interspersed with entertaining anecdotes about learning to understand Vermonters, and the foibles involved in building a house. “Taproot” is a story both singular and universal. We follow the author as she faces down her fears and finds strength in the natural world. We share the rewards of not just hanging on to a dream but making it happen. The book inspires, entertains and informs. Bill McKibben suggests it is a book “for everyone who feels a strong attachment to particular places and wonders why.” This free event will take place at The Book Nook, located at 136 Main Street in Ludlow. Copies of “Taproot” will be available for purchase and to be signed by the author.
