"In 1992, shortly after the Miramax film "Howards End" was released, a group of women joined together to support each other in the search for literary knowledge and understanding. Our goal was to grow individually and as a group and thus achieve our maximum potential(s). A couple of the founders had recently read the book And Ladies of the Club, which was about a group of post-Civil war women in an Ohio town who also joined together with the goal of intellectual pursuits. In the days before our first meeting, which was held at Cheryl Burch Citrone's house, almost everyone who planned to attend called my house (since I had called to issue the invitations) to ask if they could bring wine or something. My husband, Jim, was highly amused. Knowing of my affection for And Ladies of the Club, he nicknamed us "Ladies of the Grape."