Women Kicking Glass Book Club
Join Norwich alumni and friends as we embark on an empowering journey through books.
Every other month we will select a book by or about strong women that celebrates the power, courage and resilience of women. Virtual and in-person group discussions will allow readers to bond over books and conversations that inspire, motivate, uplift and empower women to kick glass.
July 2025 book—
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
by Lisa See
Book discussion: Tuesday, July 15 at 7 p.m. EDT
NOTE: Chinese potluck dinner prior to in-person meeting.
Register Here for the Online or In-Person Discussion
September 2025 book—
The Murderbot Diaries, Volumes 1 and 2
by Martha Wells
Book discussion: Tuesday, September 9 at 7 p.m. EDT
About the Books
July 2025 book:
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by a grandmother who is one of only a handful of female doctors in 15th-century China. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is an immersive historical novel inspired by the true story of a female physician who she teaches the pillars of Chinese medicine—looking, listening, touching, and asking.
September 2025 book:
The Murderbot Diaries, Volumes 1 and 2 by Martha Wells
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid―a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth. We will read volumes 1 (All Systems Red) and 2 (Artificial Condition) of this six-book series.
Booklist - The Women Kicking Glass Book Club
The Women Kicking Glass Book Club launched earlier in 2025.
Prior books discussed include:
The Women is that rarest of novels―at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.
“Women can be heroes, too.”
When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed and politically divided America.
The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on the story of all women who put themselves in harm’s way to help others. Women whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has all too often been forgotten. A novel of searing insight and lyric beauty, The Women is a profoundly emotional, richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose extraordinary idealism and courage under fire define a generation.
The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA by Liza Mundy
Created in the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency relied on women even as it attempted to channel their talents and keep them down. Women sent cables, made dead drops, and maintained the agency’s secrets. Despite discrimination—even because of it—women who started as clerks, secretaries, or unpaid spouses become some of the CIA’s shrewdest operatives.
They were unlikely spies—and that’s exactly what made them perfect for the role. Because women were seen as unimportant, pioneering female intelligence officers moved unnoticed around Bonn, Geneva, and Moscow, stealing secrets from under the noses of their KGB adversaries. Back at headquarters, women built the CIA’s critical archives—first by hand, then by computer. As the CIA faced an identity crisis after the Cold War, it was a close-knit network of female analysts who spotted the rising threat of al-Qaeda—though their warnings were repeatedly brushed aside.
After the 9/11 attacks, more women joined the agency as a new job, targeter, came to prominence. They showed that data analysis would be crucial to the post-9/11 national security landscape—an effort that culminated spectacularly in the CIA’s successful effort to track down bin Laden in his Pakistani compound.
The Sisterhood offers a riveting new perspective on history, revealing how women at the CIA ushered in the modern intelligence age, and how their silencing made the world more dangerous.