Carol's been reading: Patrick, Jenny (2012) Skylark. Black Swan. A love story set amid real figures from nineteenth-century theatre. Lily Alouette was singing and dancing almost as soon as she could walk. When she is left an orphan in an unfamiliar country after her parents have emigrated to the goldfields, it is performing in a… Continue reading October Picks
September Picks
Jan's been reading: McEwan, Ian (2012) Sweet Tooth. Cape. In Britain in 1972 Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of a Bishop, has been groomed for the intelligence service. This is a period of industrial unrest and terrorism, and she is sent on a secret mission (codenamed 'Sweet Tooth') that brings her into the literary world of Tom… Continue reading September Picks
August Picks
Ann's been reading: Funder, Anna (2011) All that I am. Hamish Hamilton. Gripping from the first line - 'When Hitler came to power I was in the bath.' A novel based on a true story of Jewish German dissidents who had escaped to London in the 1930s to avoid the increasing brutality in Hitler's Germany.… Continue reading August Picks
July Picks
Jan's been reading: Mantel, Hilary (2012) Bring up the bodies. Fourth Estate. Sequel to Man Booker Prize winning Wolf Hall. By 1535 Thomas Cromwell is Chief Minister to Henry VIII, his fortunes have risen with those of Anne Boelyn. But Anne has failed in her promise to bear a son to secure the Tudor line.… Continue reading July Picks
June Picks
Jan's been reading: Morgenstern, Erin (2011) The Night Circus. Doubleday. The circus arrives without warning. It is a unique and magical circus called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. The circus is the stage for a fierce competition - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained… Continue reading June Picks
May Picks
Carol's been reading: Scott, Robert Falcon (2012) The last expedition; introduction by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Vintage. Captain Scott's expedition pitted him and his team not only against the elements, but also against the Norwegian explorer, Amundsen. Ultimately, Scott was beaten by both. This title provides an account of his expedition to the South Pole in 1910-12. A… Continue reading May Picks
April Picks
Julie's been reading: Moorehead, Caroline (2011) A train in winter. Chatto & Windus. A Train in Winter is the story of the female French political resisters rounded up and taken by train to Auschwitz - the only train, in the four years of German occupation, to take women of the resistance to a death camp. Of the 230… Continue reading April Picks
Visitor Recommendations
Judith Recommends: Green, Jonathan (2010) Murder in the high Himalayas. Public Affairs. Award-winning author and journalist accounts the politics of high-altitude guiding, through the story of the brutal killing of Kelsang Namtso, a seventeen-year-old Tibetan nun fleeing to India, by Chinese border guards. Witnessed by dozens of Western climbers, Kelsang’s death sparked an international debate… Continue reading Visitor Recommendations
March Picks
Julie's been reading: Hoffman, Alice (2011) The Dovekeepers. Simon & Schuster. The lives of four women intersect in the year 70AD, when nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Rome on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. The ancient historian Josephus claimed that two women and five children survived. Based on this… Continue reading March Picks
February Picks
Debbie and Jan have been reading: Isaacson, Walter (2011) Steve Jobs. Little Brown. Based on 40 exclusive interviews with Steve Jobs , and more than a 100 interviews with friends, family, colleagues, adversaries, and competitors, this book chronicles Steve's life and passion for perfection and his manic drive to control and revolutionize digital technologies and product… Continue reading February Picks
7:30 Bookclub 