One Book Chelmsford

Exciting Announcement: One Book Chelmsford Welcomes Pulitzer Prize Winner Ilyon Woo!

We are thrilled to announce that this year’s One Book Chelmsford author is Pulitzer Prize winner Ilyon Woo! Her compelling book, Master Slave Husband Wife, will be available for free, courtesy of the Friends of the Library, starting in early January.

One Book Chelmsford is our community-wide reading program designed to bring residents together through a shared reading experience. Each year, we select a title that inspires discussion and connection, and we encourage everyone to dive into the pages of our chosen book. Since its inception in 2007, this program has fostered a love of reading and engaged our community in thoughtful conversations.

Ilyon Woo is the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times best-selling author of Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom, which was named one of the New York Times’s “10 Best Books of 2023” and one of People Magazine’s “Top Ten Books of 2023.” The book has also been recognized as a best book of the year by The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, Boston, Chicago Public Library, and Oprah Daily.

Critics are raving about Master Slave Husband Wife. Time Magazine calls it an “edge-of-your-seat drama,” while The Wall Street Journal describes it as “a narrative of such courage and resourcefulness it seems too dashing to be true…. a genuine nail-biter.” The book was a finalist for a Kirkus Prize, long-listed for the Carnegie Medal, and nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards, supported by a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Writing Grant.

Ilyon is also the author of The Great Divorce: A Nineteenth-Century Mother’s Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers, and Her Times. Her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and The New York Times. She has received support for her research from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Antiquarian Society, among other institutions.

Ilyon has traveled the country to speak at bookstores, museums, schools, and book festivals, and she has been featured on programs such as NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and CBS Sunday Morning. She holds a BA in the Humanities from Yale College and a PhD in English from Columbia University, where she first came upon the story of William and Ellen Craft.

As part of the One Book Chelmsford program, we’ll be hosting a variety of events and programs related to the book, culminating in a special visit from Ilyon Woo herself!

Keep an eye on our library’s calendar for upcoming events and programming that will begin in early 2025. We invite all patrons of Chelmsford to join us in reading this important work and to participate in the enriching activities planned around it.

The title is selected each year and the library provides free copies to share. Related programs typically start early in the calendar year and often include a visit from the author. The library has been offering this program since 2007.

One Book 2024: The Kind Worth Killing, by Peter Swanson

On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start–he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit–a contrast that once inflamed their passion, but has now become a cliché. But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.” After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse… Back in Boston, Ted and Lily’s twisted bond grows stronger as they begin to plot Miranda’s demise. But there are a few things about Lily’s past that she hasn’t shared with Ted, namely her experience in the art and craft of murder, a journey that began in her very precocious youth. Suddenly these co-conspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat-and-mouse, one they both cannot survive … with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail.

We have copies of the book available, and we’ll announce related events throughout March and April as soon as we finalize dates and times!

Don’t miss a visit from the Author, Sunday April 28 at 2PM, followed by a signing. Several of Peter Swanson’s other titles will be on sale as well. Register now to save your seat!

This year, the One Book programs are funded by: