Brewster's Book Club Welcomes a Local Author

Not every student gets to sit down face-to-face with an internationally published author who has sold more than 25,000 books. On a recent Friday night, a group of Brewster students did exactly that.

The group gathered in Kenison Library for a visit from Andrew Bridgeman, a published author and Ossipee, New Hampshire native who also happens to be the father of Brewster's own Athletics Operations Coordinator, Drew Bridgeman. The evening was organized by Director of Library Services Jen Dumont, who has built Brewster's Book Club into a small but dedicated community of students who read a new book together each month and bring genuine curiosity to every discussion. This month, the book was Fortunate Son, an FBI thriller and Bridgeman's debut novel.

That curiosity showed up in the questions they asked, ranging from decisions about structure and character building to the road to getting published. Bridgeman was struck by what he heard.

"What struck me was how engaged they were, and not just as readers," he said. "The questions they brought weren't from fans. They were in-depth, nuanced, and interesting. You could tell they weren't reading just for enjoyment; they were trying to understand the craft."

Mila Bahr '27 had set the tone early, opening the conversation with a question about how much of an author's emotional truth finds its way into their work. It was the kind of question that pushed the discussion beyond the page. "It was really interesting to hear about the thought process behind making a complex book, as well as the steps to getting published," she said.

The conversation moved through the mechanics of storytelling and into the more personal side of the writing process. Bridgeman was candid about his own path, including the many detours he took before publishing his first book. The students also received a rare treat that evening: a reading from his upcoming novel Noble Reckoning, not yet released, making them among the very first outside his family to hear it.

He also spoke about what writing has meant to him personally, and that resonated with the aspiring writers in the room. "Writing has been cathartic and healing for me," he said. "As somebody who got started writing late, it was genuinely heartening to see enthusiasm for writing coming from high schoolers. A lot of the students were working on their own material and trying to find their voice. In some ways I felt like I was among peers."

For Bahr, the conversation left something to carry forward. "I realized that as long as you have the passion, you can make something happen. It may take a few tries, but if you stick to it, it'll work out."

Not a bad takeaway for a Friday night in the library.