Staff Picks Book Discussion

Join us each month for a lively conversation centered on titles selected by staff within a variety of genres.

In this group we will discuss Babel by R. F. Kuang.

After losing his entire family to a cholera outbreak, a young Chinese boy named Robin Swift is taken to live in England with Professor Lovell. Robin finds himself with the chance to begin a new life, studying Latin, Greek, and Mandarin in preparation to enter Oxford's Royal Institute of Translation, known as Babel. At Oxford, Robin discovers he is not the only young foreigner brought to England to maintain the empire's power. With magical powers imparted to them through the process of translation, Britain needs its foreigners and their languages. Despite the racist remarks aimed towards them, Robin and his friends find true joy in their studies. But when Robin learns of a secret society working to undermine the hegemony of the Royal Institute of Translation, he begins to question the colonial machine from which he can't seem to break free.

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