Bookish happenings across Massachusetts are sweeping in with the holiday season, with many to help gift-seekers ahead of Christmas and Hanukkah.

In the middle of a New England forest, a yellow house and the land on which it sits holds 200 years of personal and political history. This sweeping saga is author Daniel Mason’s latest novel, “North Woods,” the December selection for “Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club.”

Kristin Hannah is a New York Times bestselling author of 20 novels including Firefly Lane (2008), The Nightingale (2015), The Great Alone (2017) and The Four Winds (2021).

Hannah shares her insights on writing, editing and more during this conversational Q&A. She has over 30 years of writing experience and is also excited to discuss her newest book The Women.

Set to release on February 6, The Women follows 20-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath during the turbulent, transformative era of 1960s America as she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps to follow her brother to war. The story reveals how America, and herself, have changed when she returns.

What was love like in New England during Colonial America? The surviving letters between John and Abigail Adams reveal the unconditional love they had for each other, but they also divulge long periods of separation, scandals and personal tragedies during their 54-year old romance. This true story for the ages that proves that love conquers all.

GBH is joined by Sara Martin, the editor-in-chief of The Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society to discuss this swoon-worthy love story.

Since it was established in 1954, The Adams Papers has published letterpress volumes of the diaries, letters and other writings of the Adams family of Massachusetts. Recently, they published two letterpress series, Adams Family Correspondence and the Papers of John Adams, and two digital editions, the Adams Papers Digital Edition and the John Quincy Adams Digital Diary.

Sara participates in a number of outreach activities at the MHS, including educational workshops and public lectures on the Adams family and the craft of historical editing.

Her previous experience in public history includes partnerships with archaeologists and cultural heritage managers and work with local historical societies and community groups on public engagement projects and in-house exhibit development.

This event is hosted and moderated by Associate Producer of GBH News' Art & Culture, Haley Lerner.

This event is presented in partnership with Massachusetts Historical Society.

photo credit: portraits by Benjamin Blyth, ca. 1766


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Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, John Paul McGee, at the age of four without formal training, began playing familiar hymns and church songs by ear. Dr. McGee studied piano and pipe organ under the renowned late Dr. Nathan Carter and graduated in 2002 from Baltimore School for the Arts. He has been recognized for numerous awards and his musical career has taken him around the globe as a keyboardist, vocal arranger, producer, and songwriter working with popular gospel and secular artists. His instrumental piano album released in 2014 with EPM records yielded him the #9 spot as in the top 10 Billboard recording artists. Dr. John Paul McGee is the current assistant chair of piano at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo credit: John Paul McGee

Actors Karen MacDonald and David Coffee join GBH News Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen to talk about their experiences playing the lead in the Charles Dickens classic

'The Day After' focused on the city of Lawrence, Kansas. A record audience estimated at more than 100 million Americans tuned in, including then-President Ronald Reagan.

Last month, interdisciplinary scholar and writer Imani Perry was named as one of the MacArthur "genius" grant fellows for 2023. She's one of four local awardees, part of Under the Radar's series, "The Genius Next Door."

On November 28, 1973 a fashion show rocked the Palace of Versailles and forever changed our understanding of style.

2023 marks the 250th anniversary of Phillis Wheatley's "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral," the first book of poetry published by an enslaved poet and only the third by an American woman.