Celebrate One Maryland One Book at the Library

Read along with thousands of your fellow Marylanders this fall with One Maryland One Book, a statewide reading program with a book chosen by Maryland Humanities to encourage all of Maryland to read together. This year’s memorable read is “What Storm, What Thunder” by award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy.  

About the Book

At the end of a long, sweltering day, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster—Richard, an expat and wealthy water-bottling executive with a secret daughter; the daughter, Anne, an architect who drafts affordable housing structures for a global NGO; a small-time drug trafficker, Leopold, who pines for a beautiful call girl; Sonia and her business partner, Dieudonné, who are followed by a man they believe is the vodou spirit of death; Didier, an emigrant musician who drives a taxi in Boston; Sara, a mother haunted by the ghosts of her children in an IDP camp; her husband, Olivier, an accountant forced to abandon the wife he loves; their son, Jonas, who haunts them both; and Ma Lou, the old woman selling produce in the market who remembers them all.

Brilliantly crafted, fiercely imagined and deeply haunting, What Storm, What Thunder is a singular, stunning record, a reckoning of the heartbreaking trauma of disaster, and—at the same time—an unforgettable testimony to the tenacity of the human spirit. 

Provided by Publisher.

Join in the conversation

Discuss What Storm, What Thunder with other Marylanders at these events sponsored by Baltimore County Public Library: 

September

• September 19—Books and Brews at Heavy Seas Taproom, 6:30 p.m.
• September 24—Owings Mills Book Club, 6:30 p.m., Owings Mills Branch
• September 25—Books and Conversations, 10 a.m., Arbutus Branch
• September 26—Towson Book Club, 6:30 p.m., Towson Branch

October

• October 2—White Marsh Book Club, 6:30 p.m. White Marsh Branch
• October 7—Cockeysville Book Club, 7 p.m., Cockeysville Branch
• October 15—Parkville-Carney Book Club, 10 a.m., Parkville-Carney Branch 
• October 17—Woodlawn Page Turners, 6 p.m., Woodlawn Branch
• October 17—Perry Hall Book Club, 6:30 p.m., Perry Hall Branch

November

• November 14—One Maryland One Book Discussion, 10 a.m., Hereford Branch

Learn More

To learn more about One Maryland One Book, visit Maryland Humanities.