Arlington Community Education

Gain a deeper understanding of the novelist’s art as we read The Spare Room by the Australian writer Helen Garner, a taut unforgettable story of female friendship under pressure by “the greatest novelist you’ve never heard of,” according to NPR. Darkly funny, sad, and alive, it’s a dazzling novel to be reread and given to close friends. We’ll consider Garner’s use of character, plot, narrative structure, dialogue, and point of view—increasing our reading pleasure as our awareness of these elements grows. Class note: Please read the first two chapters and bring the Picador paperback with the vase of flowers on the cover to our first class.