Shakespeare on the Steps
2023-03-12 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
On the heels of last October’s wildly successful cocktail party spotlighting some of the bard’s best lines, we are thrilled to announce a second pop-up Shakespeare experience coming in March—and this time, we’re taking the action outdoors! Join us on Sunday, March 12, as we transform our front steps into a stage for a plein air performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona. A collaboration between CLS’s Igoe Shakespeare Library and Special Collections Archives at the Charleston Library Society and the College of Charleston’s Department of Theatre and Dance, the abbreviated show will run for roughly 45 minutes.
A story of love and friendship, conflict and reprisal, infidelity and the foolish behavior of people in love, Two Gentlemen is one of Shakespeare’s most-loved (and oft-quoted) plays (see below).
Two Gentlemen of Verona is a free walk-up program and open to the public! Come watch and experience the Shakespearian magic during the Second Sunday transformation of King Street. We expect a large and lively standing crowd to turn out for this one-of-a-kind event—hope you’ll join us, too!

March New Members Mingle
2023-03-13 17:00 - 18:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Please join us for our New Members Mingle! Every second Monday of the month, we look forward to hosting our newest members of the CLS family. Starting our night off with a complimentary glass of wine, the evening will include an orientation of the Library and informational tour with Q & A about your membership benefits.
Please RSVP with the form below. We look forward to seeing you!

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - St. Patty's Day
2023-03-14 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-03-15 15:30 - 16:30 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers can join Zora, our incredible Childrens’ Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Zora will read That’s What Leprechauns Do by Eve Bunting and the craft will be lucky charm bracelets!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am – we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Charleston's Architectural Renaissance Man
2023-03-14 18:00 - 20:00 | SC
For six decades, the renowned twentieth-century architect and preservationist Albert Simons helped shape the modern structural landscape of the Holy City. On March 14, Ralph Muldrow—whose recent book on the visionary aesthete, The Architectural Legacy of Albert Simons in the Holy City, came out in October—will join us to share insights into Simons’ legendary life and career.
Simons came of age during the vibrant years of the Charleston Renaissance. His influential social circle included artists, musicians, writers, historians, and preservationists, many of whom supported the cultural revival that would transform the city. Through his architectural design and passion for preservation, Simons helped to mold the cityscape and set a course that would both preserve the Holy City and carry it forward, allowing it to become the thriving urban center it is today.
Simons brought both a sense of history and place to his work bolstered by his deep roots in Charleston, as well as a cosmopolitanism developed during his years of training at the University of Pennsylvania and travels on the European continent. The melding of those sensibilities was a perfect match for the age and made him a true Charleston Renaissance Man. While he preferred the more traditional Beaux-Arts, Classical, and Colonial Revival styles, Simons had the unique ability to balance traditional and modern styles. He believed preservation in Charleston was about retaining the city’s architectural heritage, but doing so in a way that allowed the city to grow and progress—to be a living city. Looking forward and simultaneously looking back is quintessentially Charleston and a hallmark of Simons’s life and work.
Featuring more than 100 color and black and white photographs and illustrations alongside compelling storytelling, Muldrow’s fascinating book reveals these deep connections between Simons and the Charleston cityscape.
Tickets are $10 for Library Society members and $15 for guests.
To purchase tickets, please click here or call 843-723-9912.
About Ralph Muldrow:
Having trained as an architect at the University of Virginia and at the University of Pennsylvania, Simons’s alma mater, Ralph Muldrow currently serves as an Associate Professor of Architecture and Historic Preservation at the College of Charleston, where he teaches courses in design, drawing, preservation and architectural history. Muldrow also regularly teaches for the College in London, Paris, and Rome, including lessons in sketching and watercoloring. He has shown his work in Charleston and in Italy, and taught charcoal rendering at the Institute for Classical Architecture & Art in New York.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - All Things Green
2023-03-18 10:00 - 11:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, click here.
Please join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers can join Kenna, who led our CAMPS in the STACKS this summer. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Kenna will read Grandpa Green By Lane Smith and the craft will be a pot of gold!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am – we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Spring
2023-03-21 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-03-22 15:30 - 16:30 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers can join Zora, our incredible Childrens’ Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Zora will read 999 Tadpoles by Ken Kimura and the craft will be butterfly friends!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am – we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

A Storytelling House Tour with Robert Sackville-West
2023-03-21 18:00 - 19:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
We’re pleased to host Lord Robert Sackville-West, the 14th-generation proprietor of Knole, a fabled country house that combines a unique familial narrative with an equally enchanting literary pedigree.
A former archbishop’s palace located in Knole Park, Sevenoaks, United Kingdom, Knole is known for its legendary “calendar house” layout, which features 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances, and seven courtyards. Robert will walk us through everything Knole has to offer, from the state rooms—with outstanding tapestries and the finest collection of 17th-century Royal Stuart furniture in the world—to the private apartments filled with portraits by Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Sir Peter Lely, and Reynolds. He will also share stories from his time restoring the residence, as well as tales from 400 years of family history. The end result promises to be a a vivid and transportive mental portrait of a truly iconic house.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience one of great estates through the eyes of the person who knows it best.
Tickets are $40.
To purchase tickets, please click here or call 843-723-9912.
About the Author:
Robert Sackville-West, 7th Baron Sackville, studied history at Oxford University and went on to work in publishing. He now chairs Knole Estates, the property and investment company that, in parallel with the National Trust, runs the Sackville family’s interests at Knole.
The Sackvilles have inhabited the titular estate and one of Britain’s greatest houses, for more than 400 years. In his book, Knole: A Private View into One of Britain’s Great Houses (Rizzoli 2022), Sackville-West captures the beauty of the historic property alongside the stories of his ancestors who inhabited his family home. From the grave Elizabethan statesman to the good-for-nothing gadabout at the seedy court of James I, the dashing cavalier, the Restoration rake, and the 3rd Duke of the ancien régime–these ancestors have been described by Vita Sackville-West (born at Knole) as “a race too prodigal, too amorous, too weak, too indolent, and too melancholy.”

CLS Book Club — The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
2023-03-22 10:30 - 11:30 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
If there was any leader of the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson once asserted, “Samuel Adams was the man.” For his part, John Adams thought his cousin “the most sagacious politician” of all. Intrigued? Excellent!
Join us for the next gathering of The CLS Book Club, during which we will discuss this very figure via our latest pick, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams. Written by Pulitzer Prize–winner Stacy Schiff, this revelatory biography of arguably the most essential Founding Father centers on the inner character of the man whose influence his peers couldn’t help but acknowledge, as well as the ideals that drove Adams to stand behind the change in thinking that produced the American Revolution.
With high-minded ideals and bare-knuckle tactics, Adams led what could be called the greatest campaign of civil resistance in American history, and Schiff returns Adams to his seat of glory, introducing us to the shrewd, eloquent, and intensely disciplined man who supplied the moral backbone of the American Revolution. A singular figure at a singular moment, Adams packaged and amplified the Boston Massacre. He helped to mastermind the Boston Tea Party. He employed every tool in an innovative arsenal to rally a town, a colony, and eventually a band of colonies behind him, creating the cause that created a country. For his efforts he became the most wanted man in America: When Paul Revere rode to Lexington in 1775, it was to warn Samuel Adams that he was about to be arrested for treason.
In The Revolutionary, Schiff brings her masterful skills to Adams’s improbable life, illuminating his transformation from aimless son of a well-off family to tireless, beguiling radical who mobilized the colonies. Arresting, original, and deliriously dramatic, this is a long-overdue chapter in the history of our nation.
A New York Times bestseller, The Revolutionary has received widespread acclaim from publications such as the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and Air Mail, among others. In addition, former President Barack Obama and Oprah have both listed it as one of their favorite books of 2022.
This event is free, but an RSVP is required. To register, fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
To purchase your copy of The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams from our friends at Buxton Books, click here.

An Expert's Guidebook for Confidence & Success
2023-03-23 18:00 - 19:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Lydia Fenet, a Christie’s auction house ambassador and the author of The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You, is a global thought leader who “knows how to get the attention of a room immediately,” according to Martha Stewart. Having experienced her smart and engaging talks firsthand during appearances here at CLS, we are thrilled to welcome Lydia back to the Main Reading Room on March 23 to introduce her newest book, Claim Your Confidence: Unlock Your Superpower and Create the Life You Want, during its initial publication week.
Claim Your Confidence is a powerhouse guide to overcoming fear and gaining the skills necessary to become the most confident version of ourselves. Building on her own real-life experiences—including falling down a flight of snowy subway steps before an important meeting, and breaking a heel in the middle of the street on the way to an auction—Lydia’s book shows how to persist when all we want to do is give up, how to gain enough courage to leave our comfort zones, and how to harness the overwhelming power of positivity. Case studies from Trish McEvoy, Rachelle Hruska, and Zibby Owens, among others, also offer insights and advice.
Ticketing prices are as follows:
Single Ticket (includes one (1) book): $40 for Members, $45 for Guests.
Two Tickets (includes one (1) book): $50 for Members, $55 for Guests.
To purchase tickets, click here or call 843-723-9912.
About the Author:
Lydia Fenet is a global thought leader who has led auctions for more than six hundred organizations and raised more than a billion dollars for nonprofits globally. Lydia takes auctions all over the world as a Christie’s ambassador, and also took the Collectible Car world by storm in 2022 as the Principal Auctioneer for Broad Arrow Auctions.
Lydia is a regular guest on the Today Show, and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Crain’s, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and Town & Country; Gotham magazine designated her one of New York’s most influential women. In addition to sharing her experiences through media appearances, Lydia continues to grow her brand as an author, a speaker, and, most recently, an executive producer on the upcoming Netflix series, Sold.
Lydia’s widely acclaimed first book, The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You, was published by Simon & Schuster and purchased by Netflix in February 2022. Her second book, Claim Your Confidence, will be published this Spring along with a podcast of the same name, which Lydia is currently working on in collaboration with Newsstand Studios in Rockefeller Plaza.
Lydia is represented by CAA and travels internationally as a keynote speaker helping people unlock their sales potential and empowering women in the workplace.
About the Books:
Claim Your Confidence is Lydia’s guide to overcoming your fear and gaining the skills you need to become the most confident version of yourself. Building on her own real-life experiences, including falling down the snowy subway steps before an important meeting and breaking a heel in the middle of the street on the way to an auction, Lydia’s book will show you how to persist when all you want to do is give up, gain enough courage to leave your comfort zone, and harness the overwhelming power of positivity. Case studies from Trish McEvoy, Rachelle Hruska, and Zibby Owens, among others, also offer insights and advice to encourage everyone to own their confidence.
The Most Powerful Woman in the Room Is You is a bestseller that equips women with everything they need to know to successfully sell themselves in all facets of their lives, whether it be seeking a new career or promotion, selling a company, or improving their public speaking, networking, and negotiation skills. Each chapter is complemented by case studies, insights, and exclusive advice from some of the most powerful and successful women in business, fashion, journalism, and the arts, including Martha Stewart, Deborah Roberts, Barbara Corcoran, Nina Garcia, and others. A Netflix show based on The Most Powerful Woman in the Room Is You is currently in development. The show will be produced by Chernin Entertainment, with Kiernan Shipka of Mad Men fame attached to star.

"Eggs In The Stacks" 2023! The Hunt is ON!
2023-03-25 10:00 - 12:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Please join us for our “Eggs in the Stacks” Easter Egg Hunt! Zora Mayo, Storytime & Children’s Librarian, will start this fun event with a special Springtime reading, followed by age-appropriate Egg Hunts in the Main Reading Room & Rabbit Hole. Join us for yummy treats, special prizes, and a lot of fun. We think it will be an EGGcellent way to spend a Saturday morning!
This event is FREE and open ONLY to CLS members and their littles, aged 6-years-old and under (please bring your own basket).
RSVP is required, and please include total number of attendees (including children!). This can be done by completing the form below or calling 843-723-9912.

Come One, Come All! CLS Open House Week
2023-03-27 11:00 - 16:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
In celebration of our 275th year, we invite visitors, guests, and passers-by to stop in and experience the South’s oldest cultural institution first-hand during CLS Open House Week. A special Anniversary Exhibit will be on display for the occasion, plus nibbles and bites to share on offer. And, on Wednesday, we’ll host an exclusive morning program documenting one historian’s journey to rescue a troop of Revolutionary heroes from obscurity by sharing the story of their unique lives and accomplishments.
This event is free and open to the public.
Open House hours run from 11:00am–4:00pm daily, from March 27 until March 31.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Farm Animals
2023-03-28 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-03-29 15:30 - 16:30 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers can join Zora, our incredible Childrens’ Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Zora will read The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson and the craft will be farm pets!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am – we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Inside Mepkin Abbey, with Robert Macdonald & Adam Parker
2023-03-28 18:00 - 19:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Join Robert Macdonald and Adam Parker as they discuss Between the Marsh and the Skies: The Mepkin Abbey Story, Macdonald’s captivating, meticulously researched, and beautifully illustrated history of Mepkin Abbey. A Lowcountry treasure whose influence spans South Carolina and beyond, the Trappist monastery has been a place of work, worship, and spiritual renewal for nearly a century.
Tickets are $10 for Members, $15 for Guests.
To purchase tickets, click here or call 843.723.9912.
About the Book:
Between the Marsh and the Skies: The Mepkin Abbey Story (April 2022, Evening Post Books) is an illustrated history of Mepkin Abbey. Robert R. Macdonald has written a captivating narrative of the Trappist monastery located outside of Charleston, South Carolina, which will celebrate its 75th Anniversary in 2024. The work is drawn primarily from the Mepkin Abbey Archives, oral history interviews, and newspaper accounts that chronicle the Abbey’s human and spiritual journey that transformed Clare Boothe Luce and Henry R. Luce’s winter retreat into a place of prayer and work that became a significant part of South Carolina’s religious and cultural landscape. The story describes the Abbey’s challenges, struggles, and triumphs and the men and women whose dedication and labor continue to make Mepkin Abbey a place of beauty and spiritual renewal.

Lushington: Lost & Found
2023-03-29 10:00 - 11:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
A man. A multifaith militia. A military battle. A miniature. A moment in time, resurrected from obscurity.
Today, the name Richard Lushington draws little, if any, attention among the general public’s awareness of Charleston history. In fact, it is unlikely that many of the men who served under Colonel Lushington’s command during the Revolutionary War, and who lived and worked alongside him on the same stretch of King Street in the years before fighting broke out, appear in books about that period, either. And yet their heroic efforts at the Battle of Port Royal Sound in 1779 led to a pivotal and defining victory against the British. So why, and how, did they disappear into obscurity when once they had made history in real time? This is the kind of omission the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust (SCBPT) works hard to correct — and the mystery they tasked historian George McDaniel with unraveling.
“Our goal is to reimagine preservation in a way that allows the story of ‘ordinary’ people to be told and their world to rise from underneath the extant buildings of today,” McDaniel says. In the case of Lushington and his militia, ‘ordinary’ turned out to be something extraordinary, indeed. During this program, McDaniel will discuss Lushington’s Quaker roots, how he came to lead a regiment heavily comprised of Jewish volunteers, the considerable achievements they made together, and why something so monumental faded so far from modern memory. He’ll also retrace his steps in searching for clues, finding answers, and restoring the historical narrative—and how one miniature portrait of Lushington made its way back to CLS along the way.
Free and Open to the Public. RSVP appreciated.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Silly Stories
2023-04-01 10:00 - 11:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, click here.
Please join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers can join Kenna, who led our CAMPS in the STACKS this summer. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Kenna will read The Nonsense Show By Eric Carle and the craft will be a pipe cleaner and bead snake!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am – we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Passover & Easter
2023-04-04 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-04-05 15:30 - 16:30 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers can join Zora, our incredible Childrens’ Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Zora will read The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel and Babka Bunny Spreads Kindness by Jennifer Bier and the craft will be Easter eggs!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am – we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Henrietta McBurney and The Great Catesby: Illuminating Natural History
2023-04-04 18:00 - 19:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Illuminating Natural History is not only the name of renowned art historian and curator Henrietta McBurney’s latest book; it’s also one of her driving missions. Fortunately, for a night, she’ll take us all along for the ride. Come explore the life and art of the 18th-century naturalist Mark Catesby, and his pioneering work depicting the flora and fauna of North America, in vibrant detail with us on Tuesday, April 4, at 6pm.
Tickets are $10 for Members, $15 for Guests.
To purchase tickets, please click here.
About the Book
Illuminating Natural History explores the life and work of the celebrated eighteenth-century English naturalist, explorer, artist, and author Mark Catesby (1683–1749). During Catesby’s lifetime, science was poised to shift from a world of amateur virtuosi to one of professional experts. Working against a backdrop of global travel that incorporated collecting and direct observation of nature, Catesby spent two prolonged periods in the New World – in Virginia (1712–19) and South Carolina and the Bahamas (1722–6). In his majestic two-volume Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (1731–43), esteemed by his contemporary John Bartram as ‘an ornament for the finest library in the world,’ he reflected the excitement, drama and beauty of the natural world. Interweaving elements of art history, history of science, natural history illustration, painting materials, book history, paper studies, garden history and colonial history, this meticulously researched volume brings together a wealth of unpublished images as well as newly discovered letters by Catesby, which, with their first-hand accounts of his collecting and encounters in the wild, bring the story of this extraordinary pioneer naturalist vividly to life.
About the Author
Henrietta McBurney, MVO, FLS, FSA, is an art historian and curator. She worked as Curator of Prints and Drawings in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle between 1983 and 2002, and subsequently as Keeper of Fine and Decorative Art at Eton College. Based in Cambridge, UK, she now works freelance for Cambridge colleges, lectures, and co-teaches courses for the Oak Spring Library Foundation, VA, and for the London Rare Books School, University of London.
Henrietta has been interested in the life and art of naturalist artist Mark Catesby (1683-1749) since she looked after his drawings in the Royal Library at Windsor. Her most recent book, Illuminating Natural History. The Art and Science of Mark Catesby (Paul Mellon Centre/Yale University, 2021), won the ‘Award for Excellence in Biography’ from the Council for Botanical and Horticultural Literature in 2022 , and the Historians of British Art, 1600-1800’s book prize this year. It has also been short listed for the Natural History Book Prize (John Thackray medal) of the Society for the History of Natural History.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Music
2023-04-11 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-04-12 15:30 - 16:30 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers can join Zora, our incredible Childrens’ Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Zora will read Dark Was the Night by Gary Golio and the craft will be paper plate shakers!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am – we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Coffee with an Author: Brittany Butler
2023-04-12 10:30 - 11:30 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Brittany Butler didn’t have to look far for inspiration for her new spy novel, The Syndicate Spy, which is scheduled for release on March 21. As a former CIA agent, she had plenty of first-hand experience to draw from when crafting this sharp-edged, provocative novel about the murky waters of international intelligence agencies. What’s more, she doesn’t limit her behind-the-scenes point of view to the pages of her book—she’ll also share insights into the world of subterfuge with us over coffee on Wednesday, April 12, at 10:30am.
Join us to hear more about the book—reportedly the first in a planned series—as well as her real world experience as a woman in the CIA.
This event is free and open to the public, with RSVP.
About the Book:
The future: Earth’s oil reserves are depleted. Nations race against terrorists for control over alternative energy sources, and the Syndicate—a conglomerate of allied intelligence agencies—must put an end to the global energy war. Syndicate spy, Juliet Arroway, and her best friend, Mariam, a Saudi princess, are tasked to hunt down energy terrorists. When the Syndicate begins to suspect that Mariam’s family is somehow involved, tensions build and the carnage multiplies. Juliet’s long-time boyfriend, Jean-Marc, is targeted and killed. In her quest to seek revenge and end the war, Juliet is paired with Graham—a dashing, yet arrogant FBI agent with whom she ultimately falls madly in love—to infiltrate Mariam’s family to prevent further attacks. When peace means a stunning betrayal, Juliet must decide if her mission is worth risking her own life as well as the lives of those she loves.
About the Author:
But after 9/11, her career goals were shaped by the fear that followed. Determined to do her part, she joined the US intelligence community straight out of college and worked on counterterrorism operations in the Middle East. But what she quickly learned was that as soon as one cadre of extremist leaders was taken out, a more lethal one waited to take its place. And over the years, as she witnessed the tremendous personal sacrifice and lives lost, she started to question whether this was a war we could win, and even if we could, at what cost?
Becoming a mother further humbled that perspective. And after ten years of working on counterterrorism operations in the Middle East, she decided that the greatest impact she could have would be at home with her three sons. While cleaning up destroyed LEGO ships and breaking up light saber battles came with its own unique set of challenges, she kept coming back to the war that had been part of her life for so long.
In 2016, she volunteered for a human rights organization that promoted women’s rights in the Middle East, and finally obtained the answer she had sought for so many years. There, she met courageous Arab women who put their lives on the line to promote peace, inclusion, and modernization. They taught her that she could have the greatest impact by empowering those resilient women whose voices had been silenced by the extremist narrative. Through their marginalized perspective, she came to understand that this was not a war that could be simply won with more drones or bombs, it was a war of ideas. Today, Brittany volunteers within her local community to help Afghan refugees resettle and thrive.
And so, the idea behind The Syndicate Spy was conceived, inspired by brave female spies and courageous Arab women, still working together today to take a stand against marginalization. Theirs is a story that is seldom heard and yet has a profound impact on how our world will be shaped in the coming years.

Monticello Through the Lens of Thomas Jefferson's Personal Library
2023-04-13 18:00 - 19:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Thomas Jefferson housed one of the most incredible personal libraries in the early Republic, and often wrote about the important role education must play in building a free and democratic society. His personal library at Monticello would go on to be the seed that bloomed into the new Library of Congress.
The Jefferson Research Library is part of Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, and is where the Fiske and Marie Kimball Librarian, Endrina Tay, spends her days. During this program, which coincides with what would have been the Founding Father’s 280th Birthday, Ms. Tay will discuss Jefferson’s passion for literature, as well as her ongoing research into his collections.
Join us on April 13, 2023, at 6PM, for this can’t-miss program.
This event is free and open to the public with RSVP. To register, call 843-723-9912 or fill out the form below.
About Endrina Tay:
Endrina Tay is the Fiske and Marie Kimball Librarian at the Jefferson Library at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Since 2004, her research has focused on Thomas Jefferson’s libraries and on reconstructing and understanding Jefferson’s reading universe. In 2008, she discovered (with Jeremy Dibbell) a previously unidentified Jefferson booklist that documented for the first time the library George Wythe bequeathed to Jefferson in 1806 while Jefferson was president of the United States. In 2011, together with Ann Lucas Birle, she located over 80 previously unknown extant volumes from Thomas Jefferson’s library at Washington University in St. Louis.
Her publications include “Enlightened Networks: Thomas Jefferson’s System For Working From Home,” in The Spirit of Inquiry in the Age of Jefferson (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Press, 2022); and “Forming the Body of a Library Upon the “Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind:” Books for the University of Virginia,” in The Founding of Thomas Jefferson’s University, ed. John Ragosta, Andrew O’Shaughnessy and Peter Onuf (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019).

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Flowers
2023-04-15 10:00 - 11:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, click here.
Please join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers can join Kenna, who led our CAMPS in the STACKS this summer. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Kenna will read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and the craft will be a paper handprint bouquet!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am – we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Earth Day
2023-04-18 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-04-19 15:30 - 16:30 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers can join Zora, our incredible Childrens’ Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Zora will read Our Earth by Anne Rockwell and the craft will be planting a seed!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am – we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Sally Bedell Smith on the Marriage that Saved the Monarchy
2023-04-18 18:00 - 19:00 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Join us in welcoming Sally Bedell Smith to discuss her recently published royal biography, George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage that Saved the Monarchy. With permission from Queen Elizabeth II, Smith combed through the Royal Archives to bring the late-regent’s parents, George VI and Elizabeth, and their love story to life on the page.
Tickets are $40.
To purchase tickets, please click here or call 212-480-2889 ext. 200.
About the Author:
Sally Bedell Smith is the author of bestselling biographies of Queen Elizabeth II; William S. Paley; Pamela Harriman; Diana, Princess of Wales; John and Jacqueline Kennedy; and Bill and Hillary Clinton. A contributing editor at Vanity Fair since 1996, she previously worked at Time and The New York Times, where she was a cultural news reporter. In 2012, Smith was the recipient of the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence. She is the mother of three children and lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Stephen G. Smith.
About the Book:
This deeply researched and revealing book shows how a loving and devoted marriage helped the King and Queen meet the challenges of World War II, lead a nation, solidify the public’s faith in the monarchy, and raise their daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.
With single-minded determination, the future King George VI of Britain (known as Bertie) courted the Scottish Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon for more than two years, and proposed three times, before she finally accepted his hand. Little did they know that their relationship and family would be catapulted on to the global stage after the abdication of King Edward VIII. Shy, sensitive, and afflicted with a stutter, George VI had never imagined that he would become King. However, with his outgoing and confident wife’s support and love, the King became an exceptional leader. He navigated the country through World War II, established a strong relationship with Winston Churchill, and inspired the British people with his courage and compassion during the blitz. Biographer Sally Bedell Smith was granted unprecedented access by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to her parents’ letters and diaries, as well those of close friends and family. In her talk Sally will bring their love story to life and provide an inside view into the hopes, struggles, and triumphs of the royal couple. She will reveal how their marriage helped the new King and Queen meet the challenges and dangers Britain faced during World War II and led the nation back from the brink of destruction. She will also show how the King and Queen solidified the public’s faith in the monarchy and trained their daughter Princess Elizabeth from an early age to be a highly successful monarch who would reign for an unprecedented 70 years.

2023 Founders Award: Honoring David M. Rubenstein
2023-04-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
The Founders Award was established by the Trustees of the Charleston Library Society to recognize a person who exemplifies the values of the 19 young men who collaborated in 1748 to found what remains one of America’s earliest and enduring cultural and intellectual centers. This award also prizes leadership and philanthropy undertaken in pursuit of those values, and reflects a demonstrated desire to appreciate our past and understand its relationship to the future.
This year, we are thrilled to honor our 2023 award recipient, David M. Rubenstein, who not only embodies our 1748 Founding Members’ goal of promoting knowledge and shared learning, but who is also a visionary leader with a deep and proven commitment to civic engagement and lifelong scholarship.
Join us on April 20, from 7:00pm – 8:30pm, as we celebrate David M. Rubenstein. There will be toasts, tributes, and a lively conversation led by CNN Senior Political Analyst and Anchor John Avlon.
This evening will be made possible through the generous support of our Sponsors*
Presenting Sponsors:
Beemok Hospitality
Ken and Anne Tidwell
Event Sponsors:
Anne and Will Cleveland
Comerica Bank & Trust
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Dunnan
Farther Ventures
First Capital Bank
Sean W. Holleran and Lucas J. Murley
Martha Rivers Ingram
Tickets are $75 for Members, $100 for Guests. To purchase, click here.
For more information on sponsorship opportunities, click here, or call 843.723.9912.
About David Rubenstein:
David Rubenstein is a former government official, a lawyer, and a co-founder / co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, a global private equity investment company based in Washington, D.C. He currently serves as chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Gallery of Art, the Council on Foreign Relations, and The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., and is a former chairman of the Duke University Board of Trustees and the Smithsonian Institution. In 2022, he became chair of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees.

In addition to his business success and acumen, Mr. Rubenstein is also an extraordinarily generous and thoughtful philanthropist. In December 2007, he purchased the last privately owned copy of the Magna Carta to loan to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. In 2011, he gave $13.5 million to the National Archives for a new gallery and visitors center, and the next year donated $7.5 million towards the repair of the Washington Monument. The list of beneficiaries of his generosity goes on.
Most remarkably he was an early signer of the Giving Pledge, the campaign started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage wealthy individuals to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
About Charleston Library Society Founders:
In 1748, 19 young men who had embraced Enlightenment ideals but did not have enough wealth to assemble their own private libraries decided to pool their resources to create a membership library. (For perspective, Thomas Jefferson was only five years old at this time.) To accomplish their goals, the members decided to avail themselves of the latest publications from Great Britain, and they contracted with London booksellers to purchase and build a respectable inventory. The Library Society quickly became “the center of intellectual life of the city.” It served as an intellectual and civic forum, a promoter of both formal and informal meetings and discussion. George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette were early members, as were four signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The members hosted social and political events as well as scientific, natural history, and astronomical observations and experiments. There was constant discussion about founding a college and enhancing the cultural aspects of the city, which was accomplished in 1770. Three years later, the Library Society founded the first museum in America on January 12, 1773, using the British Museum as a model. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney served as the institution’s first curator, pulling from the Library’s core collection of materials assembled over the previous 51 years. The Society held regular dinners, welcomed people with a desire to improve their minds, and passionately developed the Library’s collection by purchasing books of history, science and technology, classical and modern literature, as well as manuscripts on other topics.

The Library Society is recognized as the second-oldest circulating library in America and the oldest cultural institution in the South. In January 2023, the Society began its celebration of its 275th anniversary.
