International Book Group – The Return by Hisham Matar
The International Book Group at West Falmouth Library is a volunteer-led group that meets on the first Wednesday of each month 3:45-5 p.m. Selections have either foreign settings or foreign authors, usually both. New members are always welcome! Annual registration is requested to receive important communications about schedule or location changes; register below. Meetings are both in-person and on Zoom.
“[An] eloquent memoir . . . at once a suspenseful detective story about a writer investigating his father’s fate . . . and a son’s efforts to come to terms with his father’s ghost, who has haunted more than half his life by his absence.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
“A masterful memoir, a searing meditation on loss, exile, grief, guilt, belonging, and above all, family. It is, as well, a study of the shaping—and breaking—of the bonds between fathers and sons. . . . This is writing of the highest quality.”—The Sunday Times (U.K.)
The discussion schedule is as follows:
| 9/3/2025 | Out of Darkness, Shining Light | Petina Gappah | Africa |
| 10/1/2025 | Miss Benson’s Beetle | Rachel Joyce | New Caledonia |
| 11/5/2025 | The Palace of Illusions | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni | India |
| 12/3/2025 | The Sand Child | Tahar Ben Jelloun | Morocco |
| 1/7/2026 | The Green Road | Anne Enright | Ireland |
| 2/4/2026 | Midaq Alley | Najīb Maḥfūẓ | Cairo |
| 3/4/2026 | Birnam Wood | Eleanor Catton | New Zealand |
| 4/1/2026 | Infinite Country | Patricia Engel | Colombia |
| 5/6/2026 | The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land In Between | Hisham Matar | Cairo |
| 6/3/2026 | Hurricane Season | Fernanda Melchor | Mexico |
