Whether you’re an avid reader, or are looking for a way to get into reading, our book group welcomes everyone.
Book group meets every 3rd Monday of the month, usually at the Lord Darcy on Harrogate Road, Alwoodley, 7.30 – 9.30pm.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve read all of the book, most of the book or just some of it. Come along and join in the conversation.
Here’s a list of the current books:
◊ 21st September: The Correspondent, Virginia Evans
The 2025 debut psychological thriller by Virginia Evans, an editor turned breakout author. It is a slow-burn, atmosphere-driven suspense novel that reinvents the “domestic noir” genre by using an epistolary format—combining letters, diary entries, and emails—to explore how a lifetime of secrets can unspool from a single piece of mail.
Spoiler-free synopsis:
Living a quiet, highly structured life in Maryland, septuagenarian Sybil Van Antwerp makes sense of her world entirely through writing daily letters to friends, family, and famous authors. She is fiercely private and content with her orderly routine, until a threatening letter from someone in her past arrives, forcing her to confront a dark, deeply buried chapter of her life.
◊ 19th October: The Wood, John Lewis-Stempel
The 2018 Sunday Times bestselling nature memoir by acclaimed British author John Lewis-Stempel. Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize, it firmly established his reputation as “one of the best nature-writers of his generation”, using his trademark poetic, muscular prose to capture the delicate, seasonal rhythms of traditional English conservation.
Spoiler-free synopsis:
After four years of carefully managing Cockshutt Wood—a three-and-a-half-acre plot of mixed woodland in south-west Herefordshire—farmer and historian John Lewis-Stempel documents his days in a beautifully detailed diary. He tracks the shifting seasons alongside the free-roaming livestock and hidden wildlife that share his sanctuary.
◊ 16th November: Violeta, Isabel Allende
The 2022 instant Sunday Times bestselling epic by internationally acclaimed Chilean-American author Isabel Allende. Nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award, it showcases her signature sweeping historical fiction style, blending intimate personal drama with the turbulent political upheavals and social transformations of 20th-century South America.
Spoiler-free synopsis:
Born on a stormy night in 1920 during the devastation of the Spanish flu, Violeta del Valle is the only daughter in a household of five boisterous brothers. Her privileged childhood is upended when the Great Depression destroys her family’s fortune, forcing them into rural exile. As she grows into an independent, unconventional woman, Violeta navigates decades of passionate affairs, heart-breaking loss, and dangerous political tyranny.
◊ 21st December: A seasonal read – Details will be confirmed nearer the time.
On the book wishlist:
◊ The Bolter, Idina Sackville
◊ One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
◊ The Names, Florence Knapp
If you enjoy craft evenings too, have you taken a closer look at our Social Craft meeting? Explore Social Craft >
