Riot Reads Book Club
July 12 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
For July, we’re reading Smothermoss by Alisa Alering!
We will meet at Indy Reads, as usual. To get to the room, pass the checkout counter, go down the hall, and take a left. Masks welcome, but not mandatory.
About the Riot Reads Book Club
Interested in reading books by authors whose voices are often pushed to the margins? Join this book club focusing on books about social justice from authors who know what they’re talking about. Topics include culture, disability, politics, race, religion, sexuality, sex and gender, socioeconomic status, and anything else we want to put on the table.
We understand that life gets busy. And we also get that, for many of us, talking about books is a launching pad to talk about the things most important to us. So, even if you haven’t had a chance to finish the book (or even get that far into it…), please feel free to join us for a lively discussion. Anyone is welcome!
About Smothermoss by Alisa Alering
In 1980s Appalachia, sisters Sheila and Angie couldn’t be more different. While their mother works long shifts at the nearby asylum, Sheila cares for their home and keeps to herself, even when enduring relentless bullying. Her fearless younger sister, Angie, is more focused on fighting imaginary zombies and creating tarot-like cards that seem to have minds of their own. When the brutal murder of two female hikers on the nearby Appalachian Trail stuns their small community, the sisters find themselves tangled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Angie discovers a ripped, blood-soaked shirt; money Sheila’s been stashing away disappears; and a strange man tries to barter with a woman’s watch at a local store. As the threat of violence looms larger, the mysterious, ancient mountain they live on–and their willingness to trust each other–might be the only things that can save these sisters from the darkness consuming their home.
In turns both terrifying and otherworldly, author Alisa Alering opens the door to the hidden world of Smothermoss–a mountain that sighs, monsters made of ink, rabbits dead and alive, and ropes that won’t come undone. Unsettling, propulsive, and wonderfully atmospheric, Alering’s stunning debut novel renegotiates what is seen and unseen, what is real and what is haunted.