![The Optimist’s Daughter](https://litchfieldmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Exploring-Smith-Welty.webp)
The Optimist’s Daughter
This Pulitzer Prize–winning novel tells the story of Laurel McKelva Hand, a young woman who has left the South and returns, years later, to New Orleans, where her father is dying. After his death, she and her silly young stepmother go back still farther, to the small Mississippi town where she grew up. Alone in the old house, Laurel finally comes to an understanding of the past, herself, and her parents.
Dr. Mark Schenker is a retired dean from Yale College. Born and raised in New York City, he received his PhD in English Literature from Columbia University and has taught at Columbia, New York University, Trinity College (Hartford), and Yale University. He was the recipient of the 2001 Wilbur Cross Award for Outstanding Humanities Scholar, presented by the Connecticut Humanities Council.
Books available at OWL to borrow one month prior to the event plus
e-book and e-audio copies are available.
Live, In-Person & Live on Zoom
Registration required for In-Person
2 – 3:30 pm – Free of charge
Oliver Wolcott Library
160 South Street
Litchfield, CT 06759