Tonight’s book club will discuss Brit Bennet’s debut novel, The Mothers. It’s about a young woman whose mother commits suicide. Shortly afterward, she discover that she’s pregnant. The Mothers is the story of cycles of heartbreak and loss and acceptance and all the shit that mothers hand down to their daughters, whether they intend to or not.

Because it’s a novel about Black protagonists, The Mothers might have been shelved in the “African-American Literature” section of a Borders, had it been released fifteen years ago. But the acclaim for this book is universal, and the themes are compelling to anyone who has ever been a part of a family. This is a book that succeeds on its own merits, one of those rare universally acclaimed novels that’s actually worth the hype.

Why not let Stein walk you through The Mothers and explain why the book works so well on so many levels? This is basically a master class in reading and writing, all for the low, low price of entirely free.

Third Place Books Seward Park, 5041 Wilson Ave S, 474-2200, http://thirdplacebooks.com, 7 pm, free.