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Bernie Lambek Book Launch: "Uncivil Liberties"

Bernie Lambek celebrates the release of his debut novel "Uncivil Liberties" (Rootstock, May 25, 2018), a legal mystery that takes place in Montpelier, Vermont. With a reading, signing, and refreshments catered by Down Home Kitchen. Author Howard Norman will make an introduction. Free and open to the public.

About the author
Bernie Lambek grew up in Montreal. He graduated from Yale Law School, held a judicial clerkship on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and has practiced law at  Zalinger Cameron & Lambek in Montpelier, Vermont, for the past 25 years. Here presents at a number of school districts around Vermont, occasionally dealing with issues of student speech and religion in the schools. In a 2012 lawsuit, Lambek and ACLU colleagues successfully challenged the practice of holding official prayer at town meeting in Vermont. Uncivil Liberties is his first novel.

About the book

"… a splendid legal mystery, with savvy political ethics and vivid characters . . . a great story. By roiling up subterfuge and bad behavior, Lambek subverts conventional notions of pastoral New England. … This is the edgy, noirish B-side of "Moonlight in Vermont." - Howard Norman, author My Darling Detective and The Bird Artist

"In a small New England town where everybody seems to know everyone else's business, people are forced to confront some of the most taboo moral issues of the day… An intriguing book, especially for addicts of courtroom drama. The interplay between the legal issues and protagonists is constantly interesting and surprising.  Be prepared for shocks." - Simon Mawer, Man Booker Prize Shortlist, author The Glass Room and Tightrope 

"…should be required reading in any law school curriculum, by any book group that prizes good literature, by anyone who enjoys whodunits, and by those who value common decency and friendship." - James Morse, retired Vermont Supreme Court Justice

“Nothing is simple anymore,” utters a character at the end of Uncivil Liberties. The declaration serves as a coda to this complex and timely novel set in a Vermont town. There is nothing simple about the mystery that underlies the story—the circumstances that led to the death of a young and promising gay high school student. Neither are the legal and moral principles and convictions that animate and divide the community as it deals with her death and the issues it triggers: hate speech and free speech, cyber-bullying and privacy, religious and sexual freedom. In the courtrooms and streets and bedrooms of Montpelier, Vermont, the lawyers and their clients and loved ones work through their conflicting values and commitments--and uncover the shocking truths below the surface. The novel is imbued with a deep respect for the law as well as the passionate and irrational human beings who live within, and sometimes beyond, its constraints.

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Date: 06/05/2018
Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Place:

77 Main St
Montpelier, VT 05602
United States