Book Club

Prema Book Club is a very casual affair. It's a chance for a small group of individuals to meet in order to discuss the set books and to talk about what makes a great book great. It's all very relaxed so there's no need to feel pressured or worry that it's going to be hi-falutin' - it's just a pot of tea and a natter about the book. We tend to read contemporary fiction - some of the world's most exciting emerging and established writers, meaning that we're talking about some of the hottest publications out there. It's very laid-back and we're dead friendly. Go on… you know you want to.

Call Prema on 01453 860703 to let us know you're coming.

A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory

Thu 8 May 8pm Free

Joseph Vaughan's life has been dogged by tragedy. Growing up in the 1940s, he was at the centre of series of killings of young girls in his small rural community. The girls were taken, assaulted and left horribly mutilated. Barely a teenager himself, Joseph became determined to try to protect his community and classmates from the predations of the killer. But despite banding together with his friends as 'Guardians', he was powerless to prevent more murders - and no one was ever caught. Only after ten years did the nightmare end when the one of his neighbours is found hanging from a rope - with articles from the dead girls around him. However, ill-fortune was not yet done with Joseph and in desperation he leaves the town of his birth to forge a new life in New York. But the past won't leave him alone - for it seems that the real murderer still lives and is killing again. Does the secret of his identity lie within Joseph's own history?

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

Thu 12 Jun 8pm Free

In 1941, Irene Nemirovsky sat down to write a book to convey the magnitude of what she was living through by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. She did not live to see her ambition fulfilled. Set during a year that begins with France's fall to the Nazis in June 1940 and ends with Germany turning its attention to Russia, Suite Francaise falls into two parts - the first is a depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion and make their way through the chaos; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation who find themselves thrown together in ways they never expected. Irene Nemirovsky conceived Suite Francaise as a four- or five-part novel. It was to be her symphony - her War and Peace - although only two sections were actually completed before her tragic death. They form a book that is beautifully complete in itself and awe-inspiring in its understanding of humanity.

What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn

Thu 17 Jul 8pm Free

What Was Lost is a mystery story about a missing girl and a portrait of a changing community over twenty years. It examines modern life's emptiness, and society's obsession with shopping. Kate, a 10-year-old girl plays in the newly-opened Green Oaks shopping centre. She pretends to be a detective - observing and following people; carrying her toy monkey (Mickey) and a notebook with her at all times. Kate vanishes and Adrian, the 22-year-old son of a newsagent, is the prime suspect in her disappearance. And twenty years later, Lisa (the deputy manager of a store in the shopping centre) becomes friends with Kurt (a security guard with a sleeping disorder). A girl holding a soft toy is seen in a CCTV security monitor. Kurt and Lisa follow the girl through Green Oaks and investigate how the she is linked to the shopping mall’s unsettling history. Could Lisa and Kurt be somehow connected to the girl’s disappearance twenty years earlier?