Book Club: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

 

Yesterday, Lydia had a bookshop.

Yesterday, Lydia was married a to a journalist.

Yesterday, she was with everyone she loved most in the world.

 

Today, her eight-year-old son Luca is all she has left.

 

For him, she will carry a machete strapped to her leg.

For him, she will leap onto the roof of a high-speed train.

 

For him, she will find the strength to keep running.

 

Jeanine Cummins’ novel is about a Mexican bookseller who is forced to flee to the United States as an illegal immigrant following the exposure of a local drug lord by her journalist husband.

 

Content note: this book contains themes of violence, murder, sexual assault, drug use and miscarriage which sime readers may find upsetting and/or triggering.

 

Please note that content notes are based on information available online. LU Arts staff do not read the novels in advance of them being chosen by our Book Club.

 

 

Our Book Club is open to all current and former students and staff of Loughborough University. We typically meet every six weeks to discuss a book chosen by our members; these meetings take place virtually by video call rather than in person. The books chosen are usually, but not always, novels. You will need to become a member in order to access the online meetings; details of how to do this are under the booking information on the left.

 

To join our Book Club, please subscribe to our mailing list (which uses JISC-mail) using the link below.

 

Join the Book Club mailing list (https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?SUBED1=LUARTSBOOKCLUB&A=1)

 

Following this you will receive email confirmation of your subscription with further information. From then on you will receive all emails sent to the group, including dates of future meetings, book choices and login details for the online meetings. Please join the mailing list at least 48 hours prior to the meeting date to make sure you receive the login details in time.

 

Next Book Club meeting: Tuesday 11 July, 12.30-1.30pm

 

Details will be added to our website after this event and once the book is confirmed.

 

 

Our virtual meetings take place via Zoom. You do not need a Zoom account in order to take part but you should allow yourself a few minutes extra to download the free browser if you haven't used it before. If you do want to create an account and familiarise yourself with Zoom's features in advance then you can sign up here (https://zoom.us/signup#/signup).

 

All our Zoom events have automatic closed captions - you can turn these on or off yourself during the event by clicking on CC at the bottom of the screen.

 

If you have any access requirements or anything you would like us to be aware of when running the event, please let us know in advance by emailing luarts@lboro.ac.uk and we will do our best to accommodate them.

 

Find out more about Zoom's accessibility features (https://explore.zoom.us/en/accessibility/)