Ladies Who Lit & Friends: Dinner & Discussion of GABRIËLE

Join Ladies Who Lit & Cool Beans Expat Club to discuss Anne & Claire Berest's & share a multi-course, themed meal at Present Company, a gathering place from the All Together Now team.

Here's the deal:

• LWL's September book club read is Gabriële, co-written by sisters Anne & Claire Berest, great-grandaughters of Gabriële Buffet: art theorist, composer, muse, revolutionary, critic, mother, and more. Rooted in works of history, archival documents, and interviews, this autobiographical novel is categorized as such (versus non-fiction) because of the necessary subjectiveness the authors used in narrating the feelings they imagined Gabriële must have had navigating a life categorized by the artist-turned-muse malaise—a theme we've tackled before, most recently with Ruth Reichl's The Paris Novel (August 2024), Georgia by Dawn Tripp (September 2024), and Deep Cuts Holly Brickley (April 2025).
• Gabriële was originally published in France in 2018, but it was translated to English this year by Tina Kovar and re-published by Europa Editions here in the States. Europa is the same publisher behind the beloved Elena Ferrante Neapolitan Novels! September is National Translation Month. In celebration and recognition, LWL is so pleased to present this month's program in collaboration with Cool Beans Expat Club, a community building organization for expats in Chicago and beyond!
• We'll be convening at Present Company, a gathering place from All Together Now, whose women-led culinary team will prepare a multi-course, family style meal inspired by the contents of the novel, shared during guided discussion and chit chat with friends new and old!

All pictures below are from our February 2025 event at Present Company, where we discussed and dined re: Comedic Timing by Upasna Barath!

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Present Company, 2135 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago, United States