100 Main Street, Alton, New Hampshire 03809, United States
ALTON BOOK CHAT
Unless otherwise noted, meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month, at 7:00 pm. Call the library at 875-2550 to reserve your copy of the next book discussion title and get in on the fun!
Alton Book Chat, established in 1999, is a library-sponsored book discussion group that meets monthly in the Agnes Thompson Meeting Room (lower-level entrance), Gilman Library, 100 Main St., Alton, NH 03809
Alton Book Chat 2025
July 8, 2025
image and description from the-bibliofile.com
The Berry Pickers : a novel
by Amanda Peters
July 1962. A Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family's youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister's disappearance for years to come.
In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren't telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.
For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.
Author Visit on August 12, 2025
Author Visit with New Hampshire True Crime Writer, Milli Knudsen
Mark your calendar now and post your yellow sticky-note reminders. There will be an author at Gilman Library in Alton at 7:00 PM on August 12th, for the Alton Book Chat August book group. Milli Knudson is the author of Hard Time in Concord (2005) and Murder and Mayhem : True Crime in New Hampshire 1883-1915 (2024), and numerous genealogy resource publications. She will be discussing her latest book, Murder and Mayhem, published by Peter Randall Publishing (perpublisher.com) and also available from Amazon.com. The public is welcome to attend this special Alton Book Chat, even if you have not yet read the book. The author will have her books at the program and will autograph your copy.
Mrs. Knudson was born, raised, and educated in the state of Maine. After achieving her Master’s degree, she pursued a teaching career in Londonderry, New Hampshire. She also had a genealogical research company. Her volunteer work with the NH Cold Case Unit later led to a position in 2022 as a paralegal/data analyst. Ms. Knudson also has a website where you can learn more about her works at
https://www.milliknudsen-author.com/.
image and description from Peter E. Randall Publishing at perpublisher.com
Murder and Mayhem : True Crime in New Hampshire 1883-1915
By Milli Knudsen
In Murder and Mayhem, veteran author and genealogist Milli Knudsen looks at true crime in New Hampshire. In the rapidly changing world of 1883-1915, criminals and good citizens learned to cope with new ways to commit crimes and how to protect themselves. Emerging forensic science became a valuable tool. In those pre-internet days, newspapers widely covered the crimes and trials and created an audience of true crime readers, much like what we have today. Murders, robberies, the rise of insurance coverage and therefore arson, the reaction to the 1915 influenza outbreak (including resistance to mask wearing), sex crimes and the advent of financial crimes are all included in case studies averaging 300 to 800 words.
Sometimes the lives of the investigators—the judges, doctors, and journalists who covered crime stories—are every bit as fascinating as the crimes themselves. Murder and Mayhem tells the stories behind the headlines and gives you a glimpse into life in New Englandin the years leading up to World War I. Illustrated with historical images of victims and criminals alike, and fully indexed, this volume is perfect for true crime buffs, and historians. Based on primary sources, including the second prison registry of the New Hampshire State Prison, at the New Hampshire State Archives, and NH court records of the time period, this volume is important for genealogists and a good choice for library acquisition.
The world changed in dramatic ways between 1883 to 1915. The ways to commit crimes and the ways to investigate crime changed as well. Knudsen has captured these fascinating stories, among many others, from those years in her newest volume.
• Can you believe there was a low-speed chase with a team of broncos through western NH into VT? See pages 208-209.
• The sheriff of Rockingham County contacted authorities in Boston by telephone and those in London by telegraph in an attempt to find a murderer, and finally traveled by train to Lewiston, Maine, to bring him to justice. See pages 97-101.
• How hard would it be to steal a rail car full of horses in Albany, NY, and have them shipped to Boston where the robber pocketed a tidy sum of money? See pages 190-191.
• In 1888, the sale of insurance was considered illegal gambling, forcing a very successful businessman into court; however, by 1902 he was named The Man of the Hour. See 262-264.
• A chemistry professor at Pinkerton Academy patented a device for snow removal in 1885, followed by a patent to create an indoor bathroom. So how did he become a valued expert in murder trials? See pages 288-290.
• An ingenious use of an alarm clock and combustibles enables a man to kill his wife when he was hundreds of miles away, but early forensic science solved the case. See pages 357-360.
• What would possess a man to decapitate his brother and bury the head in a neighboring state?
• If a farmer finds a partial box of bullets hidden in his potato bin, should he be worried? • Could a brain injury to a four-year-old cause him to become a killer twenty years later?
• How does the promise of one’s sweetheart lead to the murder of an elderly woman?
• Two immigrant lumbermen have a fiddling contest. What could go wrong?
September 9, 2025
September 9, 2025
image and description from amazon.com
The God of the woods : a novel
by Liz Moore
Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.
As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.