Welcome to the first week of Narrative Medicine Book Club and our reading of Passing by Nella Larsen. We’re excited to begin reading with you! This week, we are starting off by announcing our anticipated reading schedule, and will officially commence next week.

We’ll be reading at a pace of two chapters a week, as follows:

• Week 1 – April 11-17: Part 1 Chapters 1&2
• Zoom Discussion: April 17th at 11AM EDT: Register Here!
• Week 2 – April 18-24: Part 1 Chapters 3&4
• Week 3 – April 25-May 1: Part 2 Chapters 1&2
• Week 4 – May 2-9: Part 2 Chapters, 3&4
• Week 5 – May 10-15: Finale
• Zoom Discussion: May 15th at 11AM EDT: Register Here!

To get us kicked off into our reading next week, here are our preliminary thoughts on the first pages:

Derek: “The rooftop encounter between Irene and Clare — chance or fate? I felt tension in the knowing and the unknowing.”

Carmen: “For me, the tension was present from the opening sentence and didn’t let up. It seemed every moment in the present and those recounted from the past were capable of leaving me breathless.”

We look forward to diving into Part 1 Chapters 1 and 2 with you next week!

If you don’t already have your copy, books can be purchased from the publisher, direct from your local indie bookstore, or through indiebound.org or bookshop.org.

We hope that you are able to join us, and we look forward to reading along with you!