Center Woman's Reading Club Meets Barbara Prince

Bills Sue Payne and Barbara PrinceSeptember 20, 2016 - The Center Woman’s Reading Club is back in full swing after a summer break.  The ladies met on September 15th at the home of Mrs. Barbara Prince.   President Janene Walker presided.  

Mrs. Fannie Watson announced the Panola College Foundation is hosting Designer Purse Bingo as a fundraiser.  For more information about the event or to purchase tickets visit www.panola.edu/panola-foundation/PanolaBingo2016.

The next meeting will be on October 6 at the First United Methodist Church.  Mary Helen Brown will review her book Headed for Home.  She will also sign copies of the book.  The Carthage Reading Club has been invited.  The public is also invited to attend.  Refreshments will be served.  

Following the business meeting, Billie Sue Payne reviewed The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.  The course of study this year is books from the 2015 New York Times Bestseller list.

Paula Hawkins, the author, lives in London.   She worked as a business reporter for fifteen years before she published her first novel.  Ms. Hawkins had not completed the book before she sent half of the book to the publisher, with no ending.  There was such a positive response she went on to finish the book.

The girl on the train is Rachel, a lonely, alcoholic divorcee who rides the train to and from London each day pretending to go to a job she does not have.  Rachel lives with a friend, Kathy, who has no idea that Rachel has been fired from her job and is unemployed.  The train passes each day by the house where she once lived with her ex-husband, Tom.  Tom still lives there with his new wife, Anna, and their child.  A few houses down, at the signal stop, live a young couple, Megan and Scott.  Rachel has named this “perfect” couple Jess and Jason.  

One day Rachel is shocked to see “Jess” (Megan) kissing another man.  Shortly after that Megan disappears.  At the same time Megan disappears, Rachel has been on a drunken binge, texting and trying to see her ex-husband.  She wakes up dirty, and bleeding but has no recollection of what happened.  Yet Rachel is determined to find out what has happened to Megan.  She talks to the police but cannot offer any concrete information, and her drinking and “stalking” her ex-husband does not help her cause.   The reader knows that Rachel’s blackouts and poor memory are hiding something far darker than a few irresponsible nights, but is left to wonder about the connections.  The tensions build toward the end of the book.   Mrs. Payne asked the members of the Club if they wanted to know the ending of the book.  There was a unanimous vote in favor of knowing the end.  But this article will not reveal the plot twist ending.  We recommend you read and enjoy the book yourself.

Delicious refreshments were served and the ladies enjoyed a time of fellowship, catching up on news from the summer.