recurring program

The Scandinavia Book Group will meet at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 22 to discuss the historical novel "Clara & Mr. Tiffany" by Susan Vreeland.

The "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Girl in Hyacinth Blue" creates a dynamic portrait of Clara Driscoll: lead designer for Louis Comfort Tiffany (famous for Tiffany lamps) and a woman conflicted between her desires for artistic recognition and romantic love.

Author Susan Vreeland delves into the lives behind an iconic work of art, the intricate lamps produced by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company at the turn of the 20th century. Long thought to be the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany himself, the famous lamps were discovered in 2005 to have been designed by Clara Driscoll, the head of his studio's remarkable women's department. Clara not only designed what became, for a time, Tiffany's most lucrative line of decorative items, but also grew a fledgling team of six young girls into a crew of female artists 30 strong in the space of a few years. Vreeland's depiction of Clara's world, her accomplishments and her desires in Clara and Mr. Tiffany is movingly delightful.

At the start of the novel, the widowed, 31-year-old Clara returns to Tiffany's employ after two years away. Inspired by her return to the work she loves, Clara conceives the idea for leaded glass lampshades. But while her creativity blooms with the colorful blossoms in her designs, her frustration with Mr. Tiffany, whom she respects and adores, grows as he refuses to publicly acknowledge the roles she and her "Tiffany Girls" play in his artistic and commercial successes. Meanwhile, Clara's longing for love forces her into a difficult choice between career and marriage, since Tiffany will not allow married women to work for him.

Vreeland brings 1890s Manhattan to vibrant life as Clara becomes aware of her young immigrant hires' impoverished home lives and as she grows close to her eccentric, artistic boardinghouse neighbors, including the flamboyant George and steadfast Bernard. Vivid descriptions of window and lamp production will surely bring readers a new appreciation for stained glass. And Clara's battles for the rights of her female workers and for artistic originality versus mass production are compelling, as is her complicated relationship with Mr. Tiffany. This charming woman is a memorable heroine and, just as Clara's art enhanced the images of nature that it depicted, Vreeland's illuminating vision of Clara's story is a pleasure to experience.

The Scandinavia Public Library invites all crafters to Crafting Bee! This informal group is designed for handicrafters of all types to work in an atmosphere of creativity and mutual support. Assistance is available for a wide variety of crafts as well. So whether you knit, crochet, cross stitch, hand quilt, bead, or scrap, and whether you are a novice or an experienced pro, these sessions are open to everyone! Properly supervised children are also welcome. Please come and enjoy the fun!

The November meeting of the Scandinavia Book Group will be delayed one week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. We will meet instead at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 1st to discuss the novel "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. Everyone is invited to attend!

"All children mythologize their birth." So begins the prologue of reclusive writer Vida Winter's collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist. The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself -- all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summens biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden, and a devastating fire. Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling but remains suspicious of the author's sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

"The Thirteenth Tale" is a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reader in all of us, a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and that we loved as children. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter and, in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your every day life.

Children ages 4-11 can hear a few internationally themed stories and then make their own mosaic pictures to take home! A healthy snack will be included with the program.

We'll read Niki's Little Donkey and I Have an Olive Tree to get in a Mediterranean mood.

Four glass mosaics decorate the inside of the dome in the Wisconsin  capitol building. This mosaic, Justice, is 'represented by a young woman seated in a lion throne, who tests the scales in the balance to demonstrate the purely judicial function of weighing one cause against the other.' Photograph by Ray LaPoint.

Our mosaics won't be this fancy, but Justice can inspire us!