The Vermont Humanities Council and the Friends of the Brown Public Library is sponsoring a reading and discussion series entitled New England Uncovered.

The first book discussion was Peyton Place by Grace Metalious.

It was first published in 1956 and was considered “shocking” at the time. The book was banned in Canada and in many other places. By 1958 more than 10 million copies of the book had been sold. Many of the participants did not remember reading the book, but did recall passing a dog-eared copy around and reading “the good parts.” The author was quoted as saying.” "If I'm a lousy writer, then an awful lot of people have lousy taste."

Petyon Place changed the nature of fiction being written at the time. She was a revolutionary -- maybe no one knew it at the time -- but she was. Society and tastes have changed since 1956. Playboy Magazine and the Kinsey Report were new. Society had a different structure. Most women did not work outside of the home. Men brought home the bacon and the women cooked it up. Many “things” were not discussed as openly as they are today. Peyton Place told the story of ordinary people in an ordinary New England small town with a variety of problems that confront residents of any town. Abortion, child abuse, alcoholism and other ills are openly discussed today, but shocked the readers in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Lively discussion flew around the room.

Mary Hays was the discussion leader. She is a writer and educator. She has recently released a new book, Learning to Drive. Her ability to guide the discussion enhanced the reader’s experience.