Author Meredith Hall

New York Times bestselling author Meredith Hall’s debut novel centers onDoris and Tup Senter, working Tup’s family farm in 1930s Maine. After a sudden tragedy shatters their lives, the Senter family is consumed by a dark shadow of grief and guilt. Slowly, the Senters must find their way to forgiveness—of themselves and of each other. Beneficence is a study of love—both its gifts and its obligations—that will stay with readers long after the last page. In this talk, Hall will discuss the novel and her writing process and answer audience questions. Beneficence is the Maine Humanities Council’s Read ME fiction pick for 2022.

Meredith Hall’s memoir Without a Map was instantly recognized as a classic of the genre and became a New York Times bestseller. It was named a best book of the year by Kirkus and BookSense, and was an Elle magazine Reader’s Pick of the Year. Hall was a recipient of the 2004 Gift of Freedom Award from A Room of Her Own Foundation. Her work has appeared in Five Points, The Gettysburg Review, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, The New York Times, and many other publications. Hall divides her time between Maine and California.

Read ME is a statewide summer reading program offered by the Maine Humanities Council and Maine State Library that gets Maine’s adults all reading the same books. Each year a well-known Maine author recommends two titles by lesser-known Maine authors with libraries and their patrons participating in a summer of reading and discussing the featured books. 2022’s featured books—recommended by Christina Baker Kline—are Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran and Beneficence by Meredith Hall. The Maine Humanities Council is a statewide non-profit that uses books, poetry, and big ideas to bring people together to discuss issues of importance. MHC programs and grants encourage critical thinking and conversations across social, economic, and cultural boundaries.

This event will take place over Zoom. There will also be seating available in the library’s Community Room to watch the Zoom call onscreen. For more information or for Zoom links, please email elewis@rocklandmaine.gov.