Having worked in libraries for over a decade, I’ve met a lot of people who feel like they’ve found the perfect corner of the world in which to live. (I’m one of these people.) Not only are we surrounded books, but we encounter a lot of people with their slightly odd obsessions and preferences. Most of us are also very introverted*. Ava Gallanter, the protagonist of Iris Martin Cohen’s The Little Clan, is a quintessential librarian. I identified so much with her (with one big exception) that it was almost scary. She is incredibly shy, affects old-fashioned dress and rituals, and is quite content to work at a job cloistered away in the library of a private club. Her big regret is that she wants to be in a relationship. Her shyness and lack of self esteem, however, are so acute that she finds it almost impossible to talk to people she doesn’t know.
Ava might have quietly moldered away forever in New York’s Lazarus Club, with its aging members and dodgy architecture, if it hadn’t been for her college friend Stephanie blowing into her life like a well-dressed hurricane. Stephanie figuratively twists Ava’s arm until she agrees to become Stephanie’s partner in a grand scheme to turn the Lazarus Club into the city’s hottest night club/literary salon. The details are fuzzy. In truth, the details are always fuzzy when it comes to Stephanie. The woman is a dynamo of confidence and terrifyingly good at wheeling and dealing—at least compared to Ava.
An outside perspective or a protagonist with a bit more savvy can easily tell that Stephanie is a flimflam artist. Ava grumbles about the amount of physical labor she has to do to make the club pas muster with their ultra-rich clientele. She worries about the debt she has had to take on to pay for the things the Stephanie’s schmoozing fails to accumulate. She puts up with Stephanie’s occasional vicious criticisms. Ava is along for the bumpy ride in the hope that all this will somehow transform her into a dazzling social creature like Stephanie. Poor Ava is a terrible judge of character. She’s also a bit of a coward in that she’s allowed her fear of rejection and embarrassment stop her from trying to break out of her shell.
All this might sound like The Little Clan is a depressing read. It very much isn’t. It’s funny, quirky, and packed with details about the dilapidated Lazarus Club and its equally dilapidated members. I loved the atmosphere of this book. So much of it rings true from me, from the painfully awkward Ava and over the top Stephanie to the off-kilter plans they hatch over the course of the book. What they get up to is just what you might expect from people who think they know what they’re doing but very much don’t. This book was a perfect read for me.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration. It will be released 17 April 2018.
* Yes, I know there are extroverted librarians. I’ve met more than a few. I’m just saying, there’s a reason stereotypes exist about us.