Virtual Event: Joan Nockels Wilson

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes writer JOAN NOCKELS WILSON for a discussion of her debut memoir, The Book of Timothy: The Devil, My Brother, and Me. She will be joined in conversation by TIMOTHY NOCKELS, her brother, and acclaimed writer MICHELE MADIGAN SOMERVILLE.

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About The Book of Timothy

Set in Rome, Chicago, and Anchorage, and spanning thirty years from crime to confrontation, The Book of Timothy: The Devil, My Brother, and Me recounts in lyric movements a sister’s journey, partly through trickery, but eventually through truth, to gain a long-absent admission from the priest who abused her brother. While on that journey, Nockels Wilson, a former prosecutor, confronts not only the priest, but her personal quest for vengeance. She further seeks an understanding of how the first Book of Timothy, the work of St. Paul, contributed to the silencing of women in her once loved Catholic Church. This Book of Timothy promises to take the reader on a quest for justice and down a path of unexpected coincidences that ends where it first began: out of a great love for a brother and in the power of first memory.

Praise for The Book of Timothy

"Joan Wilson's two feet on the ground, spiritual journey towards a hard-won compassion begins as a quest for revenge and becomes something else, which I want to call grace. This is an important story for victims of abuse, first by priests then, in its failure to protect children, by the Catholic Church itself. It's an important story, and I'm grateful to Joan Wilson for telling it." —Beverly Donofrio, bestselling author of Riding in Cars With Boys: Confessions of a Bad Girl Who Makes Good

"Searching, righteous, uncompromising—this is a powerful tribute to a brother's courage, a sister's perseverance. In the end, The Book of Timothy transforms into a book of redemption." —Alison Smith, bestselling author of Name All the Animals: A Memoir

"Partly a crusade for justice, partly an exploration of Catholic theology and history, and in all ways the soul of a determined, loving, faithful sister, Joan Nockels Wilson's memoir The Book of Timothy will remain in your heart forever." —Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Hank & Chloe, Solomon's Oak, and Owen's Daughter