Nantucket’s 6th Annual One Book One Island Program
February 12 – 19
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
One Book One Island is a collaborative project of community partners and sponsors on
Nantucket which seeks to promote reading, literacy, and community by encouraging islanders to read, discuss, and reflect on the same book. The project is designed to foster
the importance of life-long learning and to provide multiple opportunities for cultural enrichment in the community during the quieter winter months. Now in its sixth year, One Book One Island is planned and presented by the directors of 12 Nantucket organizations to say “thank you” to the island’s year-round residents. In addition to distributing complimentary copies of the selected title, the sponsors of One Book One Island host book-related programs including films, discussion groups, lectures, music, and other activities all of which are offered without charge. These are intended to get people out to make new friends and connect names with faces. Copies of The Maltese Falcon are available in limited quantities for pick-up and your personal use at the following sites:
• Annye’s Whole Foods
• Bookworks
• Nantucket Atheneum (Jan. 19-21 only)
• Nantucket Cottage Hospital (Living Room)
• Nantucket Historical Association (offices)
• Saltmarsh Center
CLICK HERE FOR CALENDAR OF EVENTS
About the Book
Sam Spade, is Dashiell Hammett’s version of a classic, tough San Francisco detective. In The Maltese Falcon, Spade is tough enough to bluff the toughest thugs and hold off the police, and knowingly puts his reputation at risk when a beautiful woman begs for his help. Spade’s partner is murdered on a stakeout; the cops blame him for the killing; a beautiful redhead with a heartbreaking story appears and disappears; grotesque villains demand a
payoff he can’t provide; and everyone wants a fabulously valuable gold statuette of a falcon, created as tribute for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. Who has it? What will it take to get it back? Spade’s solution is complicated. He knows how to fight, whom to call, how to rifle drawers and secrets without leaving a trace, and just the right way to call a woman “Angel” and convince her that she is. He is the epitome of intelligent cool, with a wise guy’s perfect pitch.