Book Club

Book Club’s next read is ‘Little Monsters’ by Adrienne Brodeur

Join the live author discussion with bookseller Caitlin Doggart-Bernal on Tuesday, August 15 at 6 p.m.

By Paul Swydan

As we turn our calendars to August, our eyes inevitably turn to the Cape. It just has that kind of gravitational pull over us. So it’s only fitting that our August pick for the Boston.com Book Club be set on the Cape, and in “Little Monsters” we’re also treated to one of the most heralded new novels of the year.

Adrienne Brodeur’s debut novel is filled with delicious secrets. Ken and Abby are brother and sister, who were raised by their oceanographer father on the Cape, after their mother died when they were young. Years later, Ken and Abby are grown up, and their lives are still intertwined but complicated.

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Ken is considering a life in politics, and owns the art studio where Abby both lives and works. Their father, Adam, has stopped taking the medication that helps with his bipolar disorder because he is determined to make one last scientific breakthrough. And a new person on the periphery of the family has appeared, but without spelling out her connection. As the Washington Post says, the story is “a juicy portrait of a wealthy family on the brink of disaster.”

In addition to acclaim from the Washington Post, “Little Monsters” was an NPR Book of the Day, and has drawn praise from The New York Times, “Good Morning America,” Vogue, Publishers Weekly, and many more, including The Boston Globe. Plenty of her peers have lined up to applaud the novel as well, including Elin Hilderbrand (who is no stranger to books set on the Cape and the Islands), Tom Perrotta, Jennette McCurdy, Mary Beth Keane, and Andre Dubus III. Dubus III, who is a bit of a local legend, said of the book, “I so admire the layered complexity of this beautiful novel.” Brodeur also partook in a Q&A with Boston.com last month.

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Of course, “Little Monsters” is not Brodeur’s debut book, as that was a work of non-fiction. That book, the memoir “Wild Game,” was a national bestseller and also earned wide acclaim. It was named a best book of 2019 by NPR, The Washington Post, The Wall St. Journal, People, Buzzfeed, Real Simple, and Kirkus Reviews, among others. It detailed how Brodeur’s mother enlisted her as both a confidante and orchestrator of her mother’s affair with her husband’s best friend … when Brodeur was just 14 years old. It was a remarkable book, and its praise was well earned.

Because Brodeur lives half the year on the Cape, and the book is set there, it is only fitting that she be in conversation with someone from a Cape Cod bookstore. And so it will be, as Brodeur will join Caitlin Doggart-Bernal, the co-owner of Where the Sidewalk Ends Bookstore and Children’s Annex in Chatham. Caitlin and her mother Joanne Doggart have owned the store for nearly 20 years, having opened in May 2005. In addition to the pandemic, which was especially crippling for Cape Cod merchants, the store has survived both a tornado and Joanne’s breast cancer treatments, which she was undergoing when the store first opened. And yet, they’ve thrived.

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Roughly five years after they opened, they expanded to open their Children’s Annex, which is a delightful space of kids’ books and toys, where they host story times, and having the extra space allows both the main store — which is an airy, bright two-story barn — and the Children’s Annex room to breathe and be cozy and inviting.

In addition to story times, the store hosts other unique events like Taylor Swift Lyrics Appreciation Nights and awesome author luncheons with Wequassett Resort in neighboring Harwich. In fact, Brodeur will take part in the next luncheon, on Aug. 8, and the familiarity should make for an extra special conversation.

Join Adrienne and Caitlin on Tuesday, Aug. 15, at 6 p.m., as they discuss Adrienne’s latest gem!

Buy “Little Monsters” from Bookshop (and select “Where the Sidewalk Ends Bookstore” as your store when you do!).

Prior Boston.com Book Club picks