Who knew that a small gathering of readers could come up with so many connections to a single author? Participants at an informal discussion Monday night of The Bridge, a novel set in the Piedmont, were amused at all the ways the late author Doug Marlette had connected with Davidson readers.

The gathering is one of several events related to the DavidsonREADS program’s focus on The Bridge. The novel is also coincidentally the subject of an upcoming event at the Levine Museum of the New South in downtown Charlotte.

During Monday’s talk, which featured a slide show of Marlette’s Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoons, one woman from Long Island recognized Mr. Marlette’s work from her days as a subscriber to New York Newsday. Another knew the Marlettes when they lived in Chicago and has a signed copy of Doug’s “Kudzu” comic strip. Moderator Tony Abbott spoke of Mr. Marlette as a former Charlotte Observer cartoonist and friend.

“I’ve followed his career very closely,” Dr. Abbott, a writer and professor emeritus at Davidson College, told the gathering.

DavidsonREADS was launched this fall by resident Cristina Shaul to encourage the community to read the same book at the same time. The program committee picked Mr. Marlette’s The Bridge as its first book selection. Mr. Marlette, who died in a car crash in July, revolved his novel around the character of Pickard Cantrell, a failed cartoonist who leaves the Big Apple for his hometown in the Piedmont and suddenly finds himself confronting a cantankerous grandmother and the painful history of textile strikes in the Carolinas.

Dr. Abbott reviewed with Monday night’s audience of about 25 people the many similarities between characters and places in The Bridge and Mr. Marlette’s own family and background:

• The fictional town of Eno in the book is a thinly disguised portrayal of Hillsborough, right down to the courthouse on the town square. The actual “Chicken Bridge” of the book title is located on a country road in Chatham County near Pittsboro and indeed has a tradition of displaying jack-o-lanterns each Halloween.
• The main character “Mama Lucie” is based on Mr. Marlette’s own grandmother, Grace Pickard, who was known as “Mama Gracie” and, as in the novel, was bayonetted in textile strikes in Burlington in the 1930s. The book’s highlight is Mama Lucie’s memories of her years as a “lint head” working in the mills.
• The character “Ruffin Strudwick” is a composite of Hillsborough writers Allan Gurganus (author of “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All”) and Pat Conroy (author of numerous best sellers, including “The Great Santini”) among others, and sparked controversy because Mr. Gurganus in particular was not flattered. (Click here to read the Durham Herald-Sun‘s article, “Marlette’s first novel ruffles Hillsborough Literati’s feathers.”)

There is still time to get involved in DavidsonREADS, even if you haven’t yet been able to finish the book (which is available at Main Street Books). The next discussion session is set for Wednesday, and the Levine Museum is currently running an exhibit on Southern comic strips that showcases Mr. Marlette’s “Kudzu” strip, described as “the first major Southern comic strip to be originated by a native Southerner.”

“Comic Stripped: A revealing look at Southern Stereotypes in Cartoons” will run at the Levine museum through April 13.

Other upcoming events for DavidsonREADS include:

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 7, 10 a.m., Davidson Public Library – a daytime public discussion session of Doug Marlette’s novel “The Bridge,” to be led by Cristina Shaul, founder of DavidsonREADS.

THURSDAY, Nov. 15, 6 p.m., Levine Museum of the New South, downtown Charlotte – “Doug Marlette’s South,” a reception and panel discussion remembering Doug Marlette and exploring the themes in his work.

SUNDAY, NOV. 18, 4-5 p.m., Town Hall – Presentation by the Davidson Historical Society on local mill history.

TUESDAY, DEC. 4, 7 – 8:30 p.m., Summit Coffee – Informal discussion of Doug Marlette led by Mark Ethridge, managing editor of the Charlotte Observer during Marlette’s tenure. This will be the final event related to “The Bridge.”

DavidsonREADS is open to ideas for what the next book selection should be!