The Daily Bulletin Archive

The Burchfield Penney Book Club returns Sunday, December 1, with a reading and discussion of The First Desire by Nancy Reisman, associate professor of English at Vanderbilt University, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Conference Room. Reisman will be available to sign books at the meeting. Participation is free for Burchfield Penney members; general admission applies to "not yet" members.

When Sadie looks out her window and sees her brother standing on the front lawn, she knows he can't bring good news. Fidgeting over coffee with sugar and cream, he explains: Their sister is gone. Three days earlier Goldie left to go shopping and she has not returned. With Goldie's disappearance as the catalyst, The First Desire takes us deep into the life of the Cohen family and Buffalo, New York, from the Great Depression to the years immediately following World War II. Shifting perspectives from siblings Sadie, Jo, Goldie, and Irving, we learn of the secrets they have managed to keep hidden—and of Lillian, the beautiful woman their father took as a lover while his wife was dying. In this astonishing novel, Reisman brings to life the love, grief, and desires that ultimately bind one family together.

Reisman is a Buffalo native who earned her master of fine arts from the University of Massachusetts. Read one of her short stories, "No Place More Beautiful," on the Vanderbilt website.

The Burchfield Penney Book Club will continue with High Hopes: The Rise and Decline of Buffalo, New York by Mark Goldman on January 5, and The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System by Frank Kowsky on February 2. All books are available in the Burchfield Penney's Museum Store. Each author will be available to discuss and sign his or her book with us at each book club meeting.