For information contact: Donna Feller
donnajakepfd@outlook.com | 602-309-9193

Oct 9, 2025 – 3 pm

The Last Watchman of Old Cairo
by Michael David Lukas

Joseph, a literature student at Berkeley, is the son of a Jewish mother and a Muslim father. One day, a mysterious package arrives on his doorstep, pulling him into a mesmerizing adventure to uncover the centuries-old history that binds the two sides of his family.  The novel explores the relationships of Jews and Muslims over 3 centuries.

Nov 6, 2025 – 3 pm

The Alterations Lady, An Afgan Refugee, An American & the Stories that Define Us
by Cindy Miller

 When the journalist Cindy Miller met Lailoma Shahwali, who was altering her daughter’s wedding dress, she assumed their interactions would be brief. But in Lailoma she found not just a seamstress, but a survivor who would open up about her remarkable experiences in her native Afghanistan. In recollections shared over warm tea with cardamom, frozen walnuts, and mulberries, Lailoma offers both an entry into a colorful pre-Taliban Afghanistan, where, despite being a girl, she pursued an education and worked toward becoming a doctor until the Talaban seized her country. This is a breathtaking account of triumph against all odds

Dec 4, 2025 – 3 pm

Homegoing
by Yaa Gyassi

Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.