Vermont Reads Book Discussion: Charity & Sylvia
Join us for a very special book discussion as part of Vermont Reads 2026: Charity & Sylvia by Tillie Walden. All are welcome!
Weybridge, Vermont in February 1807 is small, cold, lonely, and beautiful. As an unwed woman with few prospects, Sylvia Drake resides with and cares for her sister’s rambunctious family. But today the house is abuzz awaiting a guest—Charity Bryant. So opens Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden, the award-winning, Vermont-based cartoonist and author of Spinning and On a Sunbeam. Created by Walden from archival materials at the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History in Middlebury, and other primary and secondary sources, Charity and Sylvia is a groundbreaking biography that is also the story of 19th century America. For 44 years Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake lived together as life partners in small town Vermont. And in Walden’s graphic novel, America grows alongside these women. We see the arrival of railroads, the terms of 14 Presidents, riots, rebellion, and plagues. (Description courtesy of Vermont Humanities)
This discussion will be facilitated by Peter Burns. Peter Burns started leading book discussions for the Humanities Council in 1989. Since then he has led hundreds of programs throughout Vermont. A passionate lifelong reader, he is particularly interested in helping to create lively discussions. Burns enjoys doing a deep dive into whatever book he is presenting. Recently he has studied the Roman Empire, quantum physics, and the history of slavery. He has an abiding interest in 19th and early 20th Century English and American writers.
This book is available for free for those interested in participating in the discussion while supplies last. Books will begin to be distributed on Sunday, September 13 at Burlington Pride, and afterwards will be available at the library.
For more information on Vermont Reads or to see other Vermont Reads events, please visit the Vermont Humanities events page.
Click here to join us via Zoom.
Thank you to Vermont Humanties for this special event.
Email sbplprograms@southburlingtonvt.gov or call 802-846-4140 if you have questions or would like to be added to the email list for our usual book groups.
