The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg

THE CONFESSION CLUB by Elizabeth Berg is this year’s chosen title for the One Book Two Villages program for the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District. There will be a virtual book discussion on Wednesday Aug 12 (more details about registration) and also hopes for a ticketed cocktail party and reception with this wonderful, local author on September 10 – if social distancing and opening up allows. 

THE CONFESSION CLUB is Berg’s third title (after The Story of Arthur Truluv and Night of Miracles) set in the fictional small town of Mason, Missouri.  There, a group of women form a supper club which evolves into the Confession Club – a weekly meeting to share secrets and fears and to bolster each other. Concerns range from economic ones about the health of businesses to more personal ones about attractions to a homeless man or struggles with a fragile marriage. Like Berg’s other works, this new title is a gentle, heartwarming read full of friendship and caring. Throughout, Berg offers hopeful words of wisdom: “All around are broken people, doing the best they can. And getting better.  … Taking risks is just unmasking hope, you know.  Things don’t always work out in this world. But they do often enough. … Walk toward whatever joy you find. You don’t know what’s going to happen. …That’s what life is, at its best. A confession club: people admitting to doubts and fears and failures. That’s what brings us closer to one another, our imperfections.” Recommended, especially for fans of Fanny Flagg and Jan Karon.