January Meeting :: The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

Is it 2022 already? Wow. This is year 4 for Women Words and Wine.

This book club selection is part mystery, thriller, and psychological study. Introspective and page-turning, this novel will keep you guessing at the same time you identify with some of the inner turmoil of Nora, the lead character.

From Amazon:

Told with urgency, intimacy, and piercing emotion, this New York Times bestselling novel is the riveting confession of a woman awakened, transformed, and abandoned by a desire for a world beyond her own.

Nora Eldridge is a reliable, but unremarkable, friend and neighbor, always on the fringe of other people’s achievements. But the arrival of the Shahid family—dashing Skandar, a Lebanese scholar, glamorous Sirena, an Italian artist, and their son, Reza—draws her into a complex and exciting new world. Nora’s happiness pushes her beyond her boundaries until Sirena’s careless ambition leads to a shattering betrayal.