Dear Great Book Guru, With a beautiful weekend behind us and a spectacular weather week ahead, it might seem strange…. but I have decided to gather my friends virtually to discuss a good book - a novel with a strong story line and preferably featuring a moral dilemma.  A woman author would be an added attraction.  Falling into Fall

 Dear Falling into Fall, One of my favorite authors just came out with a new book: PAYBACK by Mary Gordon.  From her very first book FINAL PAYMENTS in 1978, Gordon has been a chronicler of our times.  This latest work opens on the set of an Arizona-based reality show where the host Quin Archer helps victims track down the people who have wronged them and demand “payback.” Lately the show has been suffering from plummeting ratings so Quin decides to liven things up by going after someone who has wronged her decades ago: Agnes Vaughan, her former high school art teacher.  Agnes had taken an interest in the very unlikable, shunned girl. After arranging for a museum visit that had a horrific outcome, Agnes responded with a chastising rebuke.  Forty years later, the two women still bear the emotional scars of that moment. Gordon writes of the years in between - Agnes’s life in Rome where she marries, has a child, and a fulfilling career as a restoration artist. Quin’s life appears to have centered on “the satisfaction of a cherished bitterness.”  When the two meet, we are prepared for “payback” but will it be enough to justify the years of pain each woman has endured?  Highly recommended!