On Saturday night, May 2, Newton’s Theodore D. Mann Library hosted loyal fans at its annual fundraising Spring Fling gala. The audience of about 200 people including Library members, Trustees, Friends of the Library, and elected officials mingling, enjoying food from Baker’s Best and music performed by WeJazzUp, and buying the latest books from the evening’s two guest authors. Most people seemed to know some or most of the other guests, and the conversation was lively and convivial. Many spoke of feelings that the library was their refuge and escape.
Sharon Stout, Board of Trustees Spring Fling Chair and the evening’s Master of Ceremonies, launched the formal program by introducing current and former elected officials, Trustees, Friends of the Library, and Acting Director Michelle Buglio. First of the speakers, Jean Notis-McConarty, President of the Library’s Trustees and longtime volunteer, greeted the audience and emphasized the importance of the role of the Newton Library, telling the enthusiastic audience that the “community deserves a strong library.”
In fact, the Library is the busiest in the Minuteman system, with a total of 1,884,849 circulation transactions in 2025. The Library also offers boxed jigsaw puzzles and an array of interesting “things” to borrow for home use. Its wide and growing number of services attracts users from infants, toddlers, tweens, teens, students, parents, senior citizens, English language learners, and people from many other communities.
Mayor Marc Laredo, a lifelong library member, recalled his early initiation with his first card for the old Children’s Library in Newton Corner. As a Newton student, his use of the library was confined to the main library, also in Newton Corner, and now defunct branches. He noted that one of the benefits of his current role as mayor is that he can walk across Homer Street from his office at Newton City Hall to the Newton Library. Mayor Laredo also praised the work of John Rice, the City’s new Chief of Community Services, a Newton native, who is working to assist the library in its ongoing initiatives.
The Spring Fling program customarily includes talks from authors, who are generally, but not always, Newton residents. On Saturday, two Newton residents, both bestselling authors, discussed their recently published novels based on real events.
Emily Franklin’s just-released novel, Love and Other Monsters, tells the story of a fateful summer in 1816 involving Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (author of Frankenstein), her fiancé Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, his physician John Polidori, and Mary Shelley’s young stepsister, Claire Claremont. Challenging the social norms of the day, the hazards of an exceptionally cold summer at Lake Geneva, the constant threat of paparazzi, and their own passions, the quintet’s relationships fuel the development of the groundbreaking monster genre. At the same time, the novel focuses on Claire Claremont’s evolution from vulnerable younger sister into an accomplished writer. In her Spring Fling presentation, Ms. Franklin connected the characters and their complexities to the challenges of self determination.
Similarly, Tova Mirvis’s 2025 novel, We Would Never, is based on a real event – the murder of a man involved in a contentious divorce and custody battle – and the prime suspect, his estranged wife. The actual case and the complexities of the family’s involvements captivated Ms. Mirvis, who finally felt compelled to write the novel, which is both a murder mystery and an exploration of the extent to which people might go in extreme situations.
Library Trustees President Jean Notis-McConarty told Fig City News that libraries were particularly important in these times of income inequality and stress. People can always find someone there to help them, as well as books and materials to support them. In addition to the Library’s on-site options, library volunteers deliver books to people who cannot come to 330 Homer Street in person. Library staff choose books for people who want to read but do not have a specific book in mind. The Library also features staff themes and recommendations throughout the building. Among “the works in progress,” Ms. Notis-McConarty spoke of plans for expanding Library services with a bookmobile that will travel the city offering a range of books. Asked about the choice of Spring Fling authors, Ms. Notis-McConarty responded, “we are lucky to live in Newton with many famous people,” many of them writers.
Ms. Stout reiterated her Spring Fling theme that “the Library is there for anyone and everyone. It’s the perfect sanctuary.” As for the bookmobile, she said it “will expand the walls of the Library going to schools, village days, senior and assisted living facilities.” In the past year, she said, volunteers made 1,628 deliveries of 4,437 books, tapes, and videos. For information about all the Library’s services, collections, volunteer opportunities, museum passes, study room reservations, events and expenditures, visit the Library’s website (newtonfreelibrary.net) and see the 2025 Impact Report and Annual Appeal.
Following her Spring Fling presentation, Ms. Mirvis, who has lived in Newton for 22 years, talked with Fig City News about the evolution of an actual murder as an inspiration for exploring the dynamics that led a seemingly “normal” family to plot to kill someone. The victim was someone who Ms. Mirvis’s then husband knew and she had once met. At that point she began to explore the multiple layers of family relationships and the passage from “normal” to a passion to commit murder. As a writer, she is a regular patron of the Library, relying on its broad national research access. Her three children are frequent visitors to the many programs and facilities of the Library. Ms. Mirvis is now working on a new novel and relying on the Library’s extensive research options.
