Folger Book Club:
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Set in late 16th-century Spain, our December selection features a high stakes magical contest in a lush early modern setting.
Booking and details
Dates Thu, Dec 5, 2024, 6:30pm
Tickets Free, Registration required
Duration 6:30pm - 8:00pm (ET)
Our December 2024 Pick
The Familiar
by Leigh Bardugo
From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age
In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position.
What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor.
Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.
Why did we choose this?
The Folger Shakespeare Library’s collection explores not only Shakespeare’s life and works, but also the plays’ historical context, source material, critical and performance histories, and the ways in which they inspire and are adapted by contemporary novelists. Folger Book Club explores connections between contemporary fiction and the Folger’s mission, collection, and programming.
Set in late Spanish Golden Age , The Familiar takes place concurrent with Shakespeare’s emergence as a playwright in London, offering a view of what was happening elsewhere in Europe as he gained prominence. Moreover, one of the historical characters depicted in the novel, Antonio Pérez, is believed to have inspired Don Adriano de Armado in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labor’s Lost.
About the Book Club
Our informal Book Club is free and open to all. Our picks range from historical fiction to adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, encompassing a wide variety of genres—all sourced from a different local, independent bookstore partner each month.
Each session begins with a guest speaker exploring that month’s pick and highlighting items from the Folger collection related to the plot and themes of the novel. After the presentation, participants will be broken into smaller groups for breakout discussions, moderated by a team of staff and volunteers.
Content transparency
The Familiar includes potentially sensitive subjects. Expand below for a full list of content (may include spoilers).
- Torture
- Religious bigotry
- Antisemitism
Guest Speaker
Zainab Cheema
Dr. Zainab Cheema is Assistant Professor of Early World Literature at Florida Gulf Coast University. Her teaching and research focus on contact zones in early globalizations, early modern race studies, translation movements, Anglo-Iberian cultural exchanges in early modern theatre, and contemporary film and television adaptations of medieval and early modern literature. Zainab is a member of the #ShakeRace and #RaceB4Race scholarly communities, as well as the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva. Zainab’s work has been supported by fellowships from the Fulbright Scholarship Program, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Newberry Library, and the Huntington Library. She is currently working on her first book monograph supported by a Folger Long Term Fellowship for 2024-2025.
For this session, we are excited to once again partner with Solid State Books. With two storefronts, ideally situated in the heart of the bustling and historic H Street and 14th Street Corridors, Solid State Books is a vital intellectual and social hub. To learn more and see opening hours, visit their website at solidstatebooksdc.com.
You can also order through Bookshop.org.
This title can also be ordered as an audiobook from Libro.fm.
We would like to thank the following organization for its generous support of this program
