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Pen to Palette Museum Tour with Toledo Museum of Art

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

Interested in the intersections of art and prose? Read a book, discuss virtually, then meet in-person for a personalized tour featuring objects, arts and cultures from our chosen book.

Discussion and tour occur on different days. Click here to register for virtual book discussion.

Tour will begin in Libbey Court at Toledo Museum of Art. 

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

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Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves her favorite authors lines play in her head like a soundtrack but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words. Afterlife is a compact, nimble, and sharply droll novel. Set in a small Vermont town, it shows how culture and politics intersect with place and asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including maybe especially members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost?

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