The 2024 Book of the Year: "The Caretaker"

Join us in one of Highlands’ many beautiful homes to enjoy a catered dinner while we examine a book of the last year (2023) that achieved literary acclaim. Since the Book of the Year is too new to be enshrined as a classic, we will have plenty of room to debate its merits and shortcomings. This year we will explore the latest novel by our region’s most famous writer: The Caretaker by Ron Rash. His book opens with a vividly described, devastating moment from the Korean War that propels a tortured series of events in and around Blowing Rock, North Carolina, in 1951. Blackburn Gant, a disfigured and reclusive cemetery caretaker, becomes drawn into his veteran friend’s traumatic life; Gant must learn to navigate love, hatred, and devastating betrayal. John Grisham praised The Caretaker for its “wicked plot.” The backstory of this novel is equally interesting. We will discuss why it was Rash’s most difficult novel (after four years of struggle, he almost gave it up) and how his twenty-second book is by far his most personal. Please plan on reading The Caretaker (Doubleday 2023) before attending so that you may engage in the discussion; we will read the hardcover edition. Location: Private Residence. Address will be emailed to the registered attendees closer to the program date.