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📖 Read: September 2026 Chosen by: Heather Discussed: Tuesday 29th September 2026 Our book club's September read was A Hymn to Life, the extraordinarily powerful memoir by Gisèle Pelicot. Synpopsis by Susanna Lea Associates One November day, Gisèle Pelicot was called to a local police station and life as she knew it ended. Her husband of fifty years had been caught by a supermarket guard filming up women’s skirts. But on his computer was shattering evidence: for nearly a

📖 Read: July 2026 Chosen by: Alison Discussed: Wednesday 29th July 2026 Our book club's July read was The Artist, the award-winning debut novel by Lucy Steeds. Set in the sun-drenched landscape of 1920s Provence, this historical novel seemed the perfect choice for the glorious hot, balmy weather we were enjoying in Yorkshire. Rich in atmosphere and beautifully observed, it transported us to a world of art, ambition and hidden secrets, making it an ideal summer read.

📖 Read June 2026 Chosen by: Julie (suggested by Heather) Discussed: Wednesday 24th June 2026 Synopsis (by Marcia Hutchinson and Cassava Republic Press) Set in 1960s Bradford, The Mercy Step follows Mercy, a precocious young child facing a world far too big for her small body. She lives with her Windrush-generation parents in a crowded household where her mother’s attention is stretched between church and family, and her father’s temper is something to be endured or avoided

📖 Read: April 2026 Chosen by: Kath Discussed: Wednesday 29th April 2026 Synopsis (by Jodie Picoult) In 1581, Emilia Bassano—like most young women of her day—is allowed no voice of her own. But as the Lord Chamberlain’s mistress, she has access to all theater in England, and finds a way to bring her work to the stage secretly. And yet, creating some of the world’s greatest dramatic masterpieces comes at great cost: by paying a man for the use of his name, she will write her

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R. R. Martin There is something uniquely magical about books and reading. A book can comfort, challenge, inspire, and transport us all at once. Through reading, we step into different worlds, experience lives unlike our own, and discover new ideas, places, and perspectives without ever leaving our chair. In 2024, we celebrated an incredible milestone — 20 years of our West