Carmela Ciuraru gets right down to it. In her introduction to her latest, "Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages," she calls the book "a project of reclamation and reparation, paying tribute to the women who have served as agents, editors, managers, publicists, proofreaders, translators, amanuenses, confidantes, cheerleaders, gatekeepers, and housekeepers to famous writers, providing emotional, practical, and even financial support."
The five pairings are addressed in equal measure, across equal pages, given equal prominence. The casual reader, though, may well be drawn to the accounts of those subjects of heightened celebrity: the difficulties and then tragedies of the marriage of Patricia Neal, the American actress, and Roald Dahl, for one, or how Kingsley Amis couldn't so much as crack an egg for himself.
All this will be sussed out by an expert in the field of interviewing, Katie Couric, on Monday at 7 p.m. at Guild Hall. Tickets are $20, or $18 for members.
Ms. Couric, who has a house in East Hampton, is making the rounds this summer with a book of her own, her memoir "Going There." Ms. Ciuraru lives part time in Sag Harbor. You might recall her previous, "Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms."