Do you love Henry David Thoreau? Then you won’t want to miss this event.

Come meet author Michelle B. Slater, PhD, and celebrate her debut literary novel, The Lunatic (Guernica Editions, April 1, 2025). The Lunatic explores the possibility of completely unplugging from the digital grid and building a new life in the Berkshires. This is Michelle’s third published book, following two works of non-fiction.

Copies of all three of Michelle’s books - but especially The Lunatic - will be available for purchase and signing.

Please RSVP so that we can plan accordingly. Thank you!

About Michelle

Michelle B. Slater, PhD is a scholar of comparative literature and president of the Mayapple Center for the Arts and Humanities. Her first book, Starving to Heal in Siberia delves into how she was cured of the debilitating effects of advanced Lyme disease. Her latest book, Soulmate Dog, is about pushing the boundaries of the relationship between the human and the non-human animal. Michelle holds a Ph.D. in French Literature from Johns Hopkins and spends her time between Connecticut and Switzerland. Michelle is the author of the forthcoming novel The Lunatic.

About The Lunatic

Set during the height of the Occupy Movement of 2011, 28-year-old Nell Harding starts an experiment—alongside her faithful animal companion Argos—with the goal of crafting a different kind of life for herself. Despite Nell being a rare books librarian, she’s not immune to the lures of digital distraction, and she wonders if it’s possible to create a meaningful life off the seductive digital grid.

Using herself as a test subject, Nell unplugs to see what will happen, leaving New York City to return to the Berkshire Hills of her childhood. What she finds is a life far more challenging, surprising, and—ultimately—rewarding than she could have possibly envisioned.

Drawing from Slater’s background as a scholar of comparative literature and lover of conservationism, the novel engages with the work of poets, novelists, and philosophers, including Mallarmé, Baudelaire, Emerson, Musil, Broch, and more. Nature lovers and modern-day philosophers won’t be able to resist the tempting question—is absorption possible in the age of distraction?