This is the book I took to read at the Roosevelt Tavern, and it was an excellent choice all around.
It's subtitled "A novel of fame, honor and really bad weather." Dorcas Mather, small town Rhode Island librarian, is waiting out a hurricane in the library, drinking and reading and criticizingIn the Driver's Seat: The Abigail Mather Story, the hack true crime book designed to get her twin sister, who is in prison awaiting trial for murder, some sympathy. This book is a triumph of narrator voice, as Dorcas takes on Yankees, fake Yankees, intellectuals, reading, libraries, childhood, feminism, men and women, and what really happened with her sister through the course of reading and being infuriated by the book (for inaccuracy, awkward writing, and the dippiness of the author). It's also a book about sisterly love, extremely funny, and completely enjoyable. Willet's an author beloved by David Sedaris (see, now you want to read it too!) and I'll be looking out for her other books.
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