The Author Events Series presents Imbolo Mbue | Every Story is A Love Story
In Conversation with Justin McDaniel
From the New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers, a captivating novel about love lost—and the weight of regret
What if I’d never gotten into that car? What if I’d pulled out of the driveway five minutes earlier, or ten minutes later?
Three years ago, Wolo’s wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In an instant, the great love of his life was gone, and so was their beautiful future. In the face of a loss that seemed insurmountable, Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a life: he goes to work, hangs out with a small circle of friends, and fends off the matchmaking efforts of the older women in his family. The grief that dogged him has, with time, become a little gentler.
Until a letter arrives one day, unbidden, threatening to upend his life once again. It is from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo’s family pastor tells him the letter is the work of the devil; his mother expressly forbids him from making further mention of it; his father’s second wife calls, from Cameroon, to tell him to destroy it. But Wolo ponders it for days, and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared.
What do we owe to those who have hurt us? Are we defined by our worst moments and our deepest regrets? And, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering? Moving and full of life, Every Story Is a Love Story charts the uneven path from heartbreak to healing.
IMBOLO MBUE is the author of the New York Times bestseller Behold the Dreamers, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was an Oprah’s Book Club selection. Her second novel, How Beautiful We Were, about a fictional African village’s fight against an American oil company, was named by the New York Times as “One of the 10 Best Books” of 2021. A native of Limbe, Cameroon, Mbue lives in New York.
Justin McDaniel is a writer, teacher, and pedagogical innovator. He is the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his PhD in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Harvard University. He has been a Fulbright, Mellon, Rockefeller, Templeton, Carpenter, and Guggenheim Fellow, and has won numerous teaching and advising awards including the Kahin Prize and the Becker Prize for writing. He was named one of the top ten most innovative professors in America by the Chronicle of Higher Education and one of the hundred top cultural influencers by Cultured Magazine in 2026. His work on pedagogical methods in the courses Existential Despair and Living Deliberately has been featured on NPR, Huffington Post, Washington Post, the New York Times and many other venues. He lives in Philadelphia. His latest book, Existential Despair (Crown, a division of Penguin Random House) will be published in January 2027 and is available for pre-order.
Because you love Author Events, please make a donation when you register for this event to ensure that this series continues to inspire Philadelphians.
Books will be available for purchase at the library on event night!
All tickets are non-refundable.
The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees.
