How to Read a Book

Harriet is a retired English teacher who volunteers at the local prison by leading a Book Club and one of the novel’s three narrators. She believes in The Healing Power of Books. She uses the Book Club meetings as an opportunity not to teach or rule over the women but to offer them time and space to be vulnerable and share their feelings, which isn’t encouraged in prison. As Violet describes Harriet, “[F]or all her methodical handouts and typed lesson plans, treats us like a bunch of girls just talking” (5). Harriet provides the women compassion and empathy and remains committed to seeing them as humans, not inmates, though she can’t deny her struggle to understand their situations fully. Harriet is particularly taken with the youngest member of the book club, Violet Powell. When Violet vanishes from Book Club, a common occurrence in prison, Harriet misses her quiet yet astute presence in the group. Harriet enjoys sharing her love of literature and her gift of teaching with the women, but she wrestles with doubt and a lack of self-worth as an older person in society. The text describes her feelings, “She was sixty-four, looked every day of it, tried not to mind” (19). Facing an empty nest when Sophie leaves for Berkeley, Harriet fears a future spent alone.

Serendipitously, Harriet meets Frank Daigle and the newly released Violet on the same day in her favorite bookstore. Harriet initially bonds with Violet over their need to escape Frank’s emotional reaction to seeing Violet. Soon, Harriet becomes Violet’s mentor and motherly figure, helping her transition from prison to an adult life alone in Portland. Through her culinary skills and radical empathy, Harriet first attends to Violet’s body and then her soul, gradually building her physical strength and self-confidence. While Harriet cares for Violet on the outside, she continues to meet with the Book Club inside the prison. However, when she violates a rule by accepting a handmade gift from the woman, the prison administrator promptly fires her. Harriet’s work with incarcerated women is about helping them see the possibility of a second chance in their lives, but Harriet also needs this. Embracing the opportunity for romance, she accepts Frank’s apology and later his offer of marriage, proving that it is never too late to find love or start again. Harriet’s character demonstrates that shared stories can forge strong connections among people, despite their differing life circumstances, and one can find purpose and growth at any stage in life.

Frank is a 68-year-old retired machinist and Lorraine Daigle’s widower husband and one of the novel’s three narrators. After Lorraine’s tragic death, Frank wrestles with unresolved grief, not in the loss of his wife but in his relief that their turbulent marriage ended. Frank takes a handyman job at Wadsworth Books, which helps him ease his grief and feelings of purposelessness. The bookstore job keeps Frank’s hands busy and imbues him with a sense of youth as he interacts with the young bookstore clerks and managers. Being in the bookstore brings Frank and Harriet together, a chance encounter of two people wrestling with loneliness and a lack of purpose. Meeting Harriet gives Frank hope that there is still happiness and hope ahead of him. The text describes his optimism, “For Frank, a new life had not arrived, and it had not occurred to him to seek one. What if this was it? This, today?” (188).

Connecting with Harriet transforms Frank’s perspective, but it is his relationship with Violet, the person responsible for his wife’s death, that turns his world upside down. Through their relationship, Violet and Frank embark on a shared journey of forgiveness as they surrender their guilt and shame over the past and pursue the future. With Harriet, Frank and Violet form a family not built from blood but from shared empathy, compassion, and love. Frank embraces this new season of life and connection, as the text states, “[H]e felt grateful and infused, all these splendid creatures commended to his care. He felt like the man of the family” (261). Frank’s character represents the nuances of grief and guilt and emphasizes the importance of connection and community for older individuals.

Vicki is Violet’s sister who picks Violet up from prison after her early release. Though Vicki sets Violet up in a fully stocked and paid-for apartment in Maine, her actions come only from familial duty and not from a place of love. Violet knows this saying, “This is Vicki fulfilling a deathbed promise and not one thing else” (27). Violet’s lack of relationship with Vicki represents a heavy emotional burden as Vicki’s detachment is representative of all of Abbott Falls’s refusal to forgive Violet for her mistakes. Vicki frames her actions as a way to set boundaries, claiming that her new life doesn’t have the emotional space to deal with Violet’s recovery. Yet, Vicki’s actions reveal her intention has less to do with boundary setting and more with erasing Violet and any memory of her actions from her life.

Vicki is a foil to Harriet because while she stocks the pantry with food, it’s a cold, emotionless action. Meanwhile, Harriet invites Violet into her home and life and tenderly prepares home-cooked meals that nourish her body and soul. Vicki and Violet’s standoff at their mother’s graveside marks the end of their relationship as Vicki refuses to defend Violet against Aunt Pammy’s scorn. However, the end of the story brings a redemptive arc to their relationship as Vicki’s children later pursue a relationship with Violet.