A new North Shore Writers’ Group (The Parlor) has formed, and I heard Hannah Tinti read from her debut novel The Good Thief in her native town Salem. The setting is a fictional yet familiar-seeming New England town. The main character reminds one of Johnny Tremain and a few good Dickens protagonists rolled into one.
The talkshow-style format, in which the host asked the author questions before opening the floor for the usual Q&A made the reading interesting and inviting. Sitting in the lovely Salem Athenaeum surrounded by favorite 19th-Century New England authors’ work and portraits wasn’t exactly the worst way I’ve spent a Saturday either.
It never occurs to those of us from Greater Boston how isolated writers from farther off the beaten track must feel. We who can hop on the T and stroll into workshops and a variety of other supportive writers’ groups are rather lucky. This new group fills a void—in stylish fashion.
