11.06.2019 - ‘A Tale of Love and Darkness’ (2003) by Amos Oz Lee-Anne, Sylvia, Sandra and Andrew discuss Amos Oz’s 2003 ‘novelistic memoir’ ‘A Tale of Love and Darkness’. “Love and darkness are just two of the...
18.04.2019 - ‘Transcription’ (2018) by Kate Atkinson Sandra, Maria, Thomas and Andrew discuss Kate Atkinson’s 2018 novel ‘Transcription’. In 1940, 18-year-old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of MI5...
12.03.2019 - ‘On Chesil Beach’ (2007), by Ian McEwan A stunning ‘novella’… It is July 1961. Edward and Florence, young Innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their room they struggle to...
18.02.2019 - ‘Educated’ (2018) by Tara Westover Maria, Georg, Heinz, Sandra and Andrew discuss this extraordinary book: ‘an unflicnching account of love and brutality, of the strength of blood ties and the power of imagination’ (Sarah...
23.01.2019 - ‘Unsheltered’ (2018) by Barbara Kingsolver Maria, Sandra, Susie and Andrew discuss the parallel storylines, contrasting characters, diverse themes and original narrative structure of the novel. ‘How could two hardworking people do everything...
23.01.2019 - ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ (2012) by Rachel Joyce When Harold Frau leaves home one morning to post a letter, with his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the...
23.01.2019 - ‘The Sympathizer‘ (2015), by Viet Thanh Nguyen Tom, Sandra and Andrew discuss the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. This 2015 debut novel by Vietnamese American Viet Thanh Nguyen deals with the psychological aftermath of the Vietnam...
15.10.2018 - ‘Brooklyn’ (2009) by Colm Toibin “In the US there would be plenty of work for someone like you, and with good pay.” It is Ireland in the early 1950s, and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce....
10.09.2018 - Oscar Wilde: The Happy Prince Texts read and music played: Hesketh Pearson: In Gaol (from The Life of Oscar Wilde) Hesketh Pearson: Escape to France (from The Life of Oscar Wilde) Film Review of The Happy Prince (2018), dir. Rupert Everett Oscar...
13.08.2018 - ‘A Week in December’ (2010), Sebastian Faulks Georg, Heinz, Sandra and Andrew discuss this richly entertaining and highly rewarding novel. London, the week before Christmas, 2007. Seven wintry days to track the lives of seven...
11.07.2018 - Angie, Alex, Heinz, Sandra and Andrew discuss the novel. ‘Haunted by a freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they...
06.06.2018 - Sandra, Alex, Heinz and Andrew discuss the novel. Schmuel – a young idealistic student – has abandoned his studies in Jerusalem, taking a live-in job as a companion to a cantankerous old man. But Schmuel quickly becomes obsessed with...
09.04.2018 - ‘Story of Your Life’ by Ted Chiang Sonja, Heinz, Thomas, Dee, Sandra and Andrew discuss this sci-fi short story. How does the linguist Louise communicate with the Aliens (‘Heptapods’)? What do we learn of her daughter, who...
14.03.2018 - Linda, Maria, Sonja, Sandra and Andrew discuss the novel. World War 2 is over and Japan sets about rebuilding its shattered cities. Masujo Ono, an ageing painter, looks back over his life and assesses his career, which coincided with the rise of...
