Reading Groups Collection
The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man|
Act of Oblivion |
All the Light We Cannot See |
All the Lonely People |
Among the Lemon Trees |
Anything is Possible |
The Appeal |
Ariadne |
The Ashes of London |
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning |
Baby Doll |
Beloved |
The Betrayals |
Birdcage Walk |
Bookworm |
The Boy From the Woods |
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The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson
It
all begins with that pesky lever in the hot air balloon. Allan is sitting quietly with his friend Julius, waiting for his 101st birthday party to begin, when someone manages to break
the lever, and before they know it, up they go, far above the Indian ocean. But what goes up must come down, and after they are rescued from the water by a North Korean ship, it's only
a matter of time before the pair are entangled in a global diplomatic crisis involving a briefcase full of contraband uranium. Everyone seems quite interested in this
briefcase - from President Trump and Kim Jong-un to Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel - and from then on it's just one accidental adventure after another.
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Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
1660.
Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, cross the Atlantic. They are on the run and wanted for the murder of Charles I. Under the provisions of the
Act of Oblivion, they have been found guilty in absentia of high treason. In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is tasked with tracking
down the fugitives. He'll stop at nothing until the two men are brought to justice. A reward hangs over their heads - for their capture, dead or alive.
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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
‘Open
your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever’
For Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes.
The miniature of a Paris neighbourhood, made by her father to teach her the way home. The microscopic layers within the invaluable diamond that her father
guards in the Museum of Natural History. The walled city by the sea, where father and daughter take refuge when the Nazis invade Paris. And a future which
draws her ever closer to Werner, a German orphan, destined to labour in the mines until a broken radio fills his life with possibility and brings him to the
notice of the Hitler Youth.
In this magnificent, deeply moving novel, the stories of Marie-Laure and Werner illuminate the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
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All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle
In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship and fulfilment. But Hubert Bird is lying.
The truth is day after day drags by without him seeing a single soul. Until, that is, he receives some good news - good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news
that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on. Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the
truth comes out.
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Among the Lemon Trees by Nadia Marks
Anna thought
her marriage to Max would last forever. Having raised two happy children together, she looked forward to growing old with the man she loved. But when a revelation from her husband
just before their wedding anniversary shakes her entire world, she's left uncertain of what the future holds. Needing time to herself, Anna takes up an offer from her widowed father
to spend the summer on the small Aegean island of his birth, unaware that a chance discovery of letters in her aunt's house will unleash a host of family secrets. Kept hidden for
60 years, they reveal a tumultuous family history, beginning in Greece at the beginning of the twentieth century and ending in Naples at the close of the Second World War.
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Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Years
ago, Lucy Barton, a successful New York writer, spent time in hospital, with her mother at the foot of her bed to keep her company. Avoiding the distance
between them, they spoke at length about people from their home town, the rural, dusty town of Amgash, Illinois.
Writing these stories, Lucy imagines the
lives of the people that she especially remembers. And the people she has imagined that, in small ways, have remembered her too. For isn't it true that we
all hope to be remembered? Or to think in some way - even fleetingly - that we have been important to someone?
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The Appeal by Janice Hallett
Dear Reader - enclosed are all the
documents you need to solve a case. It starts with the arrival of two mysterious newcomers to the small town of Lockwood, and ends with a tragic death. Someone has already been convicted
of this brutal murder and is currently in prison, but we suspect they are innocent. What's more, we believe far darker secrets have yet to be revealed. Throughout the Fairway Players'
staging of All My Sons and the charity appeal for little Poppy Reswick's life-saving medical treatment, the murderer hid in plain sight. Yet we believe they gave themselves away. In writing.
The evidence is all here, between the lines, waiting to be discovered. Will you accept the challenge? Can you uncover the truth?
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Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the
fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur - Minos's greatest shame
and Ariadne's brother - demands blood every year. When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the
monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods - drawing their attention can cost you everything. In a world where
women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's
ambition?
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The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor
A city destroyed.
A killer exposed.
London,1666. The Great Fire rages through the city, consuming everything in its path. Even the impregnable cathedral of St. Paul’s is engulfed in flames and
reduced to ruins. Among the crowds watching its destruction is James Marwood, son of a traitor, and reluctant government informer.
In the aftermath of the fire, the body of a man is discovered in the ashes of St.Paul’s. But he is not a victim of the blaze- there is a stab wound to his neck
and his thumbs have been tied behind his back. Acting on orders, Marwood hunts the killer though London’s devastated streets- where before too long a second
murder is uncovered.
At a time of dangerous internal dissent, Marwood’s investigation will lead him into treacherous waters- and across the path of a determined and vengeful young
woman.
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As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee
It was 1934
when Laurie Lee left his home to tramp through Spain. This first book of Lee's autobiography paints a lyrical picture of a beautiful and violent country
that was to involve him inextricably.
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Baby Doll by Hollie Overton
Lily
was abducted from outside her high-school gates. For eight long years she's been locked away from the outside world. During that time she's changed from a girl
into a woman. She's had a baby. And now she has seized her chance and escaped. Running for her life, with her daughter in her arms, she returns to her family
and the life she used to know - to her much-loved twin sister Abby, her mum, her high-school boyfriend - and her freedom. But is it possible to go back?
Lily's perfect life as a teenager doesn't exist any more. Since she's been gone, her family's lives have changed too, in ways she never could have imagined.
Her return, and the revelation of who took her, will send shockwaves through the whole community.
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Beloved by Toni Morrison
Terrible, unspeakable things happened
to Sethe at Sweet Home, the farm where she lived as a slave for so many years until she escaped to Ohio. Her new life is full of hope but 18 years later she is still not free.
Sethe's new home is not only haunted by the memories of her past but also by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless.
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The Betrayals by Fiona Neill
None of them would forget that week on the wild Norfolk coast. Best friends Rosie and Lisa’s families had always been inseparable.
But that summer, Lisa had an affair with Rosie’s husband Nick. And now, after years of silence, she sends Rosie a letter begging for help. A letter that exposes dark secrets. Daughter Daisy’s fragile hold on reality begins to unravel.
Teenage son Max blames himself for everything that happened that long summer. And Nick must confront his own version of events. There are four sides to this story. Who will you believe?
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Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore
It is 1792 and Europe
is seized by political turmoil and violence. Lizzy Fawkes has grown up in Radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager
idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant, a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristol's housing boom, and he has everything
to lose from social upheaval and the prospect of war. Soon his plans for a magnificent terrace built above the 200ft drop of the Gorge come under threat.
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Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan
When
Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything. They opened up new worlds and cast light on all the complexities she encountered in this one. No wonder she only left the house for her
weekly trip to the library or to spend her pocket money on amassing her own at home. In this book, Lucy revisits her childhood reading with wit, love and gratitude. She relives our
best-beloved books, their extraordinary creators, and looks at the thousand subtle ways they shape our lives.
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The Boy From the Woods by Harlan Coben
Thirty years ago, a child was found
in the New Jersey backwoods. He had been living a feral existence, with no memory of how he got there or even who he is. Everyone just calls him Wilde. Now a former soldier and security expert,
he lives off the grid, shunned by the community - until they need him. A child has gone missing. With her family suspecting she's just playing a disappearing game, nobody seems concerned
except for criminal attorney Hester Crimstein. She contacts Wilde, asking him to use his unique skills to find the girl. But even he can find no trace of her. One day passes, then a second,
then a third. On the fourth, a human finger shows up in the mail. And now Wilde knows this is no game. It's a race against time to save the girl's life - and expose the town's dark trove of
secrets.
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Page last updated: 1st November 2023