The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor - January 2025
Our January book was The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor, set during and just after the Great Fire of London of 1666. The narrator, James Marwood, is a very junior clerk working at Westminster, and the son of a Fifth Monarchist who has recently been released from the Tower of London. All Marwood wants is a quiet life and the opportunity to protect his father. However while he watches St Paul’s Cathedral burn, a young woman, Catherine (Cat) Lovett, runs past towards the fire. Marwood rescues her but she runs away taking his cloak with her. Later, a dead body is found in the ashes - a man with his thumbs tied behind his back. Marwood is given the job of investigating the death.
Running parallel with his story is that of Cat who is the daughter of a regicide who was involved in the execution of King Charles I and who has been on the run since the restoration of the monarchy. As more dead bodies are discovered in the aftermath of the fire, Marwood finds that Cat is connected to the deaths in some way.
The members of the group really enjoyed the book and thought that it painted a very vivid picture of post restoration London. We agreed that we would like to read another book by Andrew Taylor. The only criticism we had was that the book was rather too long.
Another interesting afternoon.
Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson - February 2025
Our February book was Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson. The book is a collection of eleven loosely linked short stories. We have previously read a number of novels by Kate Atkinson including both her Jackson Brody crime novels and her more literary novels, and we have enjoyed them. However whilst we all agreed that Kate Atkinson writes extremely well we strongly disagreed about this collection of short stories.
Our opinions ranged from “I totally enjoyed this collection of short stories. Her quirkiness, the humour and the sometimes unexpected story line made reading a delight. I especially enjoyed the way in which references from a previous story crept into a new one.” To “I didn’t like it and I didn’t finish it”.
The majority of members’ opinions fell some where berween the two extremes.
Another interesting afternoon.
Middle England by Jonathan Coe - March 2025
Our March book was Middle England by Jonathan Coe. The novel begins with the election of the coalition government in 2010 and ends in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum. Coe tries to illustrate what happened and why it happened through looking at the lives of three generations of loosely connected people during those turbulent years.
With one exception the group felt that the Coe failed in his objectives. We felt that the novel was too long, had too many different storylines and did not really have a ‘plot’: it merely followed the outlines of recent British history,
The Figurine by, Victoria Hislop - May 2025
At our May meeting we discussed The Figurine by, Victoria Hislop. The novel is about the theft and smuggling of art and antiquities. The main character is Helena McCloud, a young woman with a Greek mother and Scottish father who we first meet in 1968 as an eight-year-old child arriving in Athens to visit her grandparents for the first time. Her mother was born and raised in Greece, but she doesn’t accompany Helena on this trip and appears to have been estranged from her family for many years.
Everything is new and strange to Helena, but during this visit – and more to follow over the next few summers – she begins to fall in love with Greece and to develop loving relationships with her grandmother and the housekeeper, Dina. Her grandfather, however, remains a cold, remote figure and her dislike of him grows as she discovers that he has connections with the military dictatorship currently in control of the country.
Helena’s summers in Greece come to an end in the 1970s due to political turmoil and by the time it’s safe to return, her grandparents are no longer alive. Heading to Athens to inspect the apartment she has inherited from them, she makes another shocking discovery about her grandfather, this time relating to his involvement in the looting of valuable historical artefacts. Helena’s own interest in antiquities has already led her to take part in an archaeological dig on an island in the Aegean Sea.
We all agreed that Victoria Hislop writes well and paints a vivid picture of Greece under the military dictatorship and after its fall. However, most members of the group felt that the book was too long and not one of her best novels. As one member said “The book was a classic example of the Curate’s egg, quite readable, but there were too many questionable areas such as the author’s description of Giannis Ligakis immediately alerts the reader that he’s a bad’un…….. or who would be taken by surprise by Helena and Haris falling in love.”
Murder under the mistletoe By Richard Coles - June 2025
At our June meeting we discussed Murder under the mistletoe By Richard Coles. It is a novellas, featuring Canon Daniel Clement and his mother, Audrey, as they navigate a Christmas Day in their village of Champton. The festive gathering at the rectory takes a dark turn when one of the guests dies under the mistletoe, and Daniel and Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo suspect foul play.
As usually happens, members opinion of the book varied from “I have read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it! The humour and the tricky social interactions and obligations had shades of Jane Austen” to “Didn’t enjoy it. Not my sort of book”. Though we did all agree that how the murder was committed was a clever idea.
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins - July 2025
At our July meeting fourteen of us discussed American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. It is a novel about Lydia, a Mexican bookseller, and her young son Luca, who are forced to flee their home in Acapulco after a drug cartel murders their family. They embark on a perilous journey north, aiming to reach the United States as undocumented immigrants, facing numerous dangers along the way.
The majority of the group thought that the novel was a well written page-turner, which told a moving and powerful story about the violence in Mexican society due largely to the drug trade with the USA. We learnt of the terrible dangers migrants face in trying to escape the violence. As one member said “It has been a long time since a book so completely absorbed me and left me drained as American Dirt has done.”
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch - August 2025.
At our August meeting we discussed the Booker Prize winning novel Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. The book tells the story of Eilish Stack, a mother of four living in the Republic of Ireland in the near future as the republic slides into a nightmarish totalitarian state, marked by escalating violence, mass arrests, and the collapse of society. After her husband, a union organizer, is arrested by secret police Ellish desperately tries to keep her family together as civil war breaks out.
We all agreed that this was a difficult, harrowing and depressing book to read and several members did not finish it. However, we also agreed that it was an important book with the all too familiar message that in any conflict it is the innocent who suffer.
Exit by Belinda Bauer - September 2025
At our September meeting we discussed Exit by Belinda Bauer. In the novel, pensioner Felix Pink volunteers as an "Exiteer" to sit with terminally ill individuals choosing to end their lives, but a catastrophic error leaves him on the run from the police after they discover the wrong person has died. As a fugitive, Felix tries to uncover the truth behind the fatal mix-up whilst trying to avoid a determined police investigation.
Most of the group found the novel an amusing and enjoyable who-done-it with lots of twists and turns and an unexpected ending. However a few members didn’t enjoy the book and thought that suicide wasn’t an appropriate theme for a comic novel.
Just Like You by Nick Hornby - October 2025
At our October meeting we discussed Just Like You by Nick Hornby. The novel is set in North London during and after the Brexit referendum . It tells the story of an improbable relationship between Lucy, a forty-two-year-old white English teacher, and Joseph, a twenty-two-year-old Black man who works in a local butcher shop. Joseph becomes Lucy's sons' babysitter, and then her partner.
We all agreed that Nick Hornby is a good writer and there were some laugh-out-loud passages in the book. We also agreed it was good to read a book where nobody was murdered! However the group overall opinion was divided. With one member saying “From the moment I began reading, this story absolutely chimed with me. The dialogue was pitch-perfect, almost as if you could overhear the characters talking and the story was so well written that it couldn’t be faulted “. Whilst other members thought that there wasn’t an interesting enough plot.
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams - November 2025
At our November meeting we discussed The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams. The novel; main characters are two lonely people, a retired widower named Mukesh and a teenager named Aleisha, who form an unlikely friendship through a mysterious list of books found in a library. Mukesh, trying to connect with his granddaughter, is given the list by Aleisha, who initially takes the job at the library to escape her own problems. Their shared experience of reading the books helps them navigate their personal grief and loneliness.
As frequently happens the group was divided in their opinion about the book. Our opinions ranged from one members saying they didn’t finish the book to another who said that they enjoyed every page and would happily read another.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey - December 2025
At our December meeting we discussed Orbital by Samantha Harvey. The short novel, which won the 2024 Booker Prize, follows six astronauts and cosmonauts from different countries aboard the International Space Station (ISS) over a single 24-hour period. As the ISS orbits the Earth sixteen times, they perform routine scientific tasks and maintenance, and they observe the earth below
The novel has a minimal plot, focusing instead on the inner thoughts and observations of the crew members as they experience sixteen sunrises and sunsets in one day. Events include news of a mother's death reaching a Japanese astronaut, a Russian cosmonaut noticing a suspicious lump on his neck, and a powerful typhoon gathering over the Philippines.
As frequently happens the group was divided in their opinion about the book. Our opinions ranged from one members saying “I thoroughly enjoyed Orbital and marvelled at the author’s skill in conveying such a convincing portrayal of what life must be like for astronauts on their endless circling of Earth.” Whilst some other members did like the lack of a strong plot and some didn’t finish the book.