The Relief Society Book Club at 1000 Narragansett Parkway in Warwick will host author Dr. Michael Fine on Saturday, July 13, at 6:30 p.m. The former director of the Rhode Island Department of Health will provide insights and readings from his first novel, Abundance.

Meeting typically monthly, the book club has opened attendance to the general public for their first-ever author’s event.

“This is so exciting,” said Connie Susa, a member of the hosting group. “Every one of our members knows someone who emigrated here from Liberia, but we don’t all know the rigors they escaped from. Dr. Fine’s main characters grow from paucity to abundance, whether they began in West Africa or right here in Rhode Island.”

Beginning in the final days of the second Liberian Civil War, the setting and events ring true because they are based on Fine’s first-hand experience in Doctors without Borders. The idealism, which led him to volunteer his services as a family practitioner, has been sustained by the selfless acts of others that he has illustrated within the pages of his novel.

A recent review in Motif magazine calls Fine’s book “a realistic tour-de-force of survival.”

“Fine’s skill as a raconteur makes the novel seem as if he is your personal guide through chaos and civil war, but with a very hopeful and optimistic outlook,” the review adds.

“Whether people have read the book or not, they will be welcome to attend to gain the trajectory of the plot and the echoes of ‘Liberian Kreyol’ in the dialogue,” Susa said.

For additional information, call Susa at 785-9541.