ZOOM DISCUSSION

Meredith Hall, Beneficence

with Elizabeth Howard

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

6 p.m.

Proprietor Elizabeth Howard, host of the Short Fuse Podcast, will be in conversation with Meredith Hall on Tuesday, November 30. Meredith Hall grew up on the Seacoast in New Hampshire. In her recent novel, Beneficence, a family must overcome heartbreak to reclaim goodness and peace in their lives. Reviewers and readers have the book a “hauntingly beautiful” novel, “hard to put down,” “a page-turner and an artistic triumph,” “a masterpiece of compassion.” Written by a masterful storyteller, this is a book that illuminates the journey we make through loss to healing.

In the midst of a nearly perfect life, Doris Senter is thankful but wary. “We can’t ever know what will come,” she says. When an unimaginable tragedy turns the family of five into a family of four, everything the Senters held faith in is shattered. The family is consumed by sorrow and guilt. Slowly, the surviving family members find their way to forgiveness—of themselves and of each other.

Few writers know the human heart and the burden of grief as New York Times bestselling author Meredith Hall (Without a Map). Beneficence is a radiant novel of goodness and love—both its gifts and its obligations—that will stay with readers long after the last page. With a rare tenderness and compassion, Beneficence shows broken hearts becoming whole as this family reclaims their love and peace.

To learn more about author Meredith Hall, click here.

Author Meredith Hall (top right) by photographer Nick Brown. Elizabeth Howard (bottom right).

PRAISE FOR BENEFICENCE

“As quiet and as profound as the ocean’s depths, Meredith Hall’s Beneficence fathoms the meaning of love, family, grief, and compassion. The book glitters. It gives a perfect rendering of life’s loveliness, just as it reminds us of how much we all have at stake in every precious moment.”

—Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize winner

“Beneficence is a marvel. In its granular attention to detail and soaring larger themes—not to mention its setting and subject matter—it reminds me of two of my favorite contemporary novels, Jane Hamilton’s A Map of the World and Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres. This book will stay with me; I will cherish it.”

—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“I stand in awe of Meredith Hall and the poetry, honesty, and tenderness of her storytelling. Beneficence may break your heart, but it will also put your heart back together again. I know I will read it again.”

—Joyce Maynard, New York Times bestselling author

For the Zoom link for this event, please email info@portsmouthathenaeum.org