On Friday, December 13, the Brattleboro Literary Festival will present a Literary Cocktail Hour, online and free, featuring Charles King, author of "Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah."
George Frideric Handel's Messiah is arguably the greatest piece of participatory art ever created. Adored by millions, it is performed each year by renowned choirs and orchestras, as well as by audiences singing along with the words on their cell phones. But this work of triumphant joy was born in a worried age. Britain in the early Enlightenment was a place of astonishing creativity but also the seat of an empire mired in war, enslavement, and conflicts over everything from the legitimacy of government to the meaning of truth. Against this turbulent background, prize-winning author Charles King has crafted a cinematic drama of the troubled lives that shaped a masterpiece of hope. Every Valley presents a depressive dissenter stirred to action by an ancient prophecy; an actress plagued by an abusive husband and public scorn; an Atlantic sea captain and penniless philanthropist; and an African Muslim man held captive in the American colonies and hatching a dangerous plan for getting back home.
"Every Valley "was just named a New York Times Notable Book for 2024. Charles King is the author of the New York Times-bestselling Gods of the Upper Air, which received the Francis Parkman Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Award, and was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times History Prize, and the British Academy's Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. His other books include Odessa, winner of a National Jewish Book Award, and Midnight at the Pera Palace.
Dec 11, 2024, 6 to 8 PM
Youth Open ShopDec 12, 2024, 3:30 to 5 PM
Wool CraftsDec 13, 2024, 10:30 AM to 12 PM