We welcome you back to the bookcase.

I'm Charlie Gibson.

And I'm Kate Gibson.

The father and daughter duo, two generations, two genders looking at novels.

And this week we're going to talk about Julia Glass.

She came to prominence way back in 2002 when her first novel won the National Book Award.

That was three June's. And this is her seventh novel. It is called Vigil Harbor. And I found it very

timely, Kate. I found it very timely, too. I'm really impressed by some of the books that I'm reading

that are incorporating. You know, you and I've talked about this before. It feels like writers right now can make a choice. They can choose to incorporate what's going on in the headlines, which is so prominent, you know, COVID and racial injustice and climate. They can incorporate those headlines into their writing or they can ignore them and create a

world of fiction in which those things don't exist.

Her new book, Vigil Harbor, very much incorporates today's headline.

It takes place in 2034, but COVID is it's diving off point.

It's sort of starting point.

It captured my feelings during the pandemic very, very well.

It brought back a lot of old feelings for me.

There's two things you have to keep in mind, I think, when you approach this novel.

One of them you just mentioned, it is set 12 years from now.

So that many of the problems that we face in

current society have been exacerbated by the time that this novel comes about. COVID, you mentioned,

which is her jumping off spot, terrorism, immigration problems, but particularly climate change

and how that has evolved. And the second thing you have

to keep in mind is the name of the novel, Vigil Harbour, her fictional town. It is sheltered. It is a New

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