Pushing the boundaries of a male-dominated historical record, biographer Gillian Gill has been bringing the stories of extraordinary women to light for two decades. Now, looking back at her work, Gill returns to The Mary Baker Eddy Library for an unscripted discussion of her subject matter: women of notoriety, influence, and accomplishment.

In Mary Baker Eddy, Florence Nightingale, Agatha Christie, and Queen Victoria, Gill explores the anomalous situations of leading women in a society that otherwise placed their gender in supporting roles or on the margins. Although operating in very different spheres, all four women faced similar challenges. Gill balances the personal with the public in her biographies, and the evening’s conversation will focus on the cost of celebrity in such lifestyles, revealing common passions between these women, such as poetry, and a need for trust and seclusion. In this centenary year for both Eddy and Nightingale, The Mary Baker Eddy Library is investigating the meaning of a life of service in its programs and exhibits, which will be an important theme in Gill’s remarks.

To share your perspective join the staff of Lending and Reference Services
(LARS) for a book club to discuss the latest of Gill’s biographies, We Two.
This book chronicles the lives of Victoria and Albert and casts a more critical lens on what many have termed the most influential marriage of the nineteenth century. Through her zealous research, Gill revives the personalities and motivations of her protagonists and infuses the well-known love story with candor and a firm historical context.

On March 2, the discussion will focus on Part One: The Years Apart, to be continued on March 9 with Part Two: Together. Bring your lunch, your copy of the book, and your ideas to the Library at 12:30 p.m.

The Author Talk to follow on March 11 will be the third in the Library’s centenary series, “Strength of Spirit‹Engaging with Mary Baker Eddy 100 Years Later.” Admission will be $15, with reservations available online at www.marybakereddylibrary.org/events/programs. More information on directions and parking is also available at the Library’s Web site.
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