A world you join.
The Hot Old Ladies are the community side of OLYL. This is where you’ll find the Book Club, Mahjong, gatherings, conversations, and the women you’ll get to know along the way.
This circle of women has met on the second Tuesday of every month since 1982. We now welcome you to join the Hot Old Ladies in reading and discussing their interesting, unexpected, and occasionally questionable picks as the circle invites you to pull up a chair as there is always room at the table.
The Book Club
Here is how it works. Every month, OLYL picks one book. The Hot Old Ladies read it together, meet on the second Tuesday, argue about it, and you are welcome to read along and join the conversation. That is the whole of it, and it is the ritual the circle was founded on. The full review and the shelves live in the Reading Room. The gathering, the monthly pick, and the argument that follows live here.
Chosen by Hazel, with Blanche’s position noted
The first selection is announced with Episode One. Hazel chooses, Blanche disputes, and the table makes room for you. The full editorial review lives in the Reading Room.
This month’s selection, in the Reading RoomMeet the Ladies
The circle itself, six women and their forty-year history, and the second-Tuesday table.
Founder and DirectorBlanche Fox
Keeps score in her head and has never been wrong. Curates the evening without appearing to.
Principal InvestigatorHazel McGuire
Disputes one call per game as a matter of principle. The book club exists largely because she wanted someone to fight about Dostoevsky with.
The JudgeVivienne Marsh
Seventy-one, retired federal judge, East Village since 1974. Same pearl earrings to every meeting, thirty years running. Wins more than anyone else. Says very little during mahjong.
The ProfessorDorothy Achebe
Seventy-three, retired comparative literature, Columbia. Has argued with Hazel about Dostoevsky since 1986. Brings something she made herself to every meeting. Nobody has asked for a recipe.
The YoungestRuth Steinberg
Sixty-nine. The one most likely to have a strong opinion about something that happened last week. The group finds this both exhausting and essential.
The CloserMargot Bellamy
Says one thing, very quietly, that ends the argument. The circle has relied on this for decades and has never discussed it directly.
The first to open
The circle opens its table, for the holidays
The second-Tuesday table has been private for forty years. The Holiday Tea is the first time it opens to the reader, planned to greet the launch over the holiday weekend. The pot, the tiers, the good cups, and each woman bringing her one thing, Dorothy something she made herself and did not explain. A chair is pulled up for you. It gathers at the Café’s holiday table, and the list is how you learn when the doors open.
More to Come
The Book Club and Holiday Tea are just the beginning. More gatherings will be added as the Hot Old Ladies community grows.
The Garden Club
Travel Gatherings
Seasonal Challenges
Letters
Reader Spotlights
The Hot Old Ladies tab is a place to belong, not a store.