Last night the Book Group met to discuss The Familiars by Stacey Halls. It is a vivid reimagining of the Pendle Witch Trials in 1600s Lancashire, based on real people and places from the time. We really enjoyed the richness of the description of the clothes and interiors which helped to bring the Stuart setting to life. Despite being set so long ago, the characters felt almost modern and it was easy to connect with their emotions and troubles. We discussed the roles of women at the time and how the perception of age has changed over time – the heroine is only 17 years old but already the mistress of a country house and onto her fourth pregnancy.
The next meeting of the Reading for Wellbeing Virtual Book Group is taking place on Wednesday 1st December at 7-8pm via WebEx.
Our next book choice is one of the 2021 Quick Reads – The Motive by Khurrum Rahman.
We own two copies of this book at York and two at Scarborough – please email library@york.nhs.uk if you’d like us to put one aside for you. To buy your own copy, it can be purchased as an e-book from Amazon or the Kobo store or as a paperback from Waterstones, WHSmith, Blackwell’s, Hive or Bookshop.org.
Further, if you’d like to get a head start on ordering some of the full-length titles we have in the mix for the coming months, here are some of the choices so far:
- Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (we also have library copies)
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (we also have library copies)
- Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
- The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
- The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
- My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
- The Foundling by Stacey Halls
If you’ve got books sat on your shelf that you’d like to read, please do email me and I will add them to the list!
If you have any further questions about the Virtual Book Group, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Kathryn Aylward
Email: kathryn.aylward@york.nhs.uk
Tel.: 01904 726718
Ext.: 6718
CULTURE CLUB SOCIAL 