Cuba, that last vestige of the Cold War, sits only 90 miles off American shores. It's a nation caught somewhere between the developing and developed world, a place with universal healthcare and university education but lacking basic goods. A land of socialism, art and old cars, Cuba's story is often told by both its miles and years apart.

But the unfurling of the modern Cuba is complex tale. 

The North Conway Public Library invites you to explore the island in all its intricacies in the fifth and final of the 2016 Thursday Night Program Series: Erik Eisele, local writer and guide, will take you inside Cuba.

In the wake of President Obama's announcement of renewed relations with Cuba in late 2014, Erik Eisele took a job leading cultural exchange tours to the island, special U.S. Treasury Department-approved trips allowing Americans to visit the still-embargoed nation. Over 2015 and early 2016 he made six visits to Cuba. He made friends, danced salsa, bought black market cigars, debated politics, heard an alternate version of a shared Cuban-American history and generally explored this country largely closed to American eyes.

On Thursday, May 26, at 7 p.m. at the Weather Discovery Center on Main Street in North Conway Village, he will bring that story to a Mount Washington Valley audience, no reservations necessary. There will be time after the presentation for questions and discussion. The program is free of charge, but donations to the Library are greatly appreciated. Homemade cookies will be served and coffee is generously provided by Frontside Grind of North Conway.

For more information about the program, please call the North Conway Library at 603-356-2961.

North Conway Library's Book Group discusses "Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes on June 9.

The North Conway Library's Book Group is reading "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes and will discuss it on Thursday, June 9 at 10:30 a.m. at the library.

This is an open book discussion group. Everyone is welcome, whether or not you are a library member.

The Library Book Group reads both fiction and nonfiction and meets on the SECOND Thursday of each month at 10:30 a.m. at the library in North Conway Village. This discussion will be the last one before the book group goes on summer hiatus until October.

A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning new chapter in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. It won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2011.

This intense novel follows Tony Webster, a middle-aged man, as he contends with a past he never thought much about-until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony thought he left this all behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

Check the library's website at  www.NorthConwayLibrary.com for more information or call the North Conway Library at 603-356-2961 to reserve your copy of "The Sense of an Ending."

Please remember that this is the last meeting before the book group goes on summer hiatus until October 13th.