Join us in conversation with C.J. Cooke about her new novel, The House of Cursed Daughters, a retelling of a real medieval curse pronounced on a twelve-year old princess by a dying knight.
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Carolyn’s fiction is often classed as feminist gothic and/or psychological suspense, with praise from Scots Magazine stating “Cooke is known for her ability to craft spellbinding tales filled with dread and terror, but also beauty”.
Join us for a relaxed evening of bookish chat about this year’s Booker Prize list before the winner is announced later in the evening. Whether you’ve read one book from the longlist, have challenged yourself to the full Booker 13, or want to decide which to pick up first, everyone’s welcome to explore the Booker Prize with us!
Our next Monday book club is on 16th November when we’ll discuss The Artist by Lucy Steeds, winner of the 2025 Waterstones Debut Prize and longlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction. The book was a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime pick and chosen a a Book of the Year by both the Telegraph, Sunday Times, Stylist and Good Housekeeping.
Join us for a dramatic reading with actor Robert Lloyd Parry who will be in character as M.R. James for this atmospheric evening of classic ghost stories.
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With the electric lights off, Robert will tell two quietly terrifying tales: M.R. James’s ghostly masterpiece ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ will be beautifully complemented by ‘The Ash Tree’, a story of witchcraft and generational vengeance.
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On this long winter night, hear these two stories just as M.R. James’s friends did in his Cambridge study more than a hundred years ago.
Enjoy a festive evening out, in the Book Tree! A cosy winter special complete with literary cocktails, bookish socialising and seasonal reading. We’ll be joined by Sloemotion Distillery with their tempting range of delicious liqueurs, and a brief intro to the distillery and their drinks.
Our next Thursday book club is on 10th December when we’ll discuss Vulture by Phoebe Greenwood a “dark satire with real claws” (The Independent) with a narrator described as “imagine Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag as a war correspondent and you'd get Sara, the cynical and raunchy antiheroine” (NPR).
