**COME JOIN US AT THE COOPERS ARMS, ROCHESTER, 4.30PM:**
Both new & existing members always welcome, whether you had the chance to read the current books or not.

This months choices are:-

The first choice is **'Mary' by Anne Eekhout**

1816\. Mary\, eighteen years old\, is staying in a villa on Lake Geneva with her lover Percy Shelley\. She is tormented by his infidelities; haunted by the loss of her baby daughter\.
Then one evening with friends, as storms rage outside and laudanum stirs their imaginations, Lord Byron challenges everyone to write a ghost story, and something fierce and wild awakens in Mary.
Memories surface of the long, strange summer she once spent with a family in Scotland, where she found herself falling in love with the enigmatic Isabella Baxter. She learned tales of mythical beasts, witches and spirits. And she encountered real monsters - both in the rocky wilds, and far, far closer to home...
Illuminating the past like a flash of lightning, this brilliant reimagining of the birth of Frankenstein takes us into a feverish world of waking dreams-where grief mingles with desire, and the veil between beauty and horror grows thin.

The second choice is **'Witchcraft: A History in 13 trials' by Marion Gibson**

The world of witch hunts and witch trials sounds antiquated, relics of an unenlightened and brutal age. However, 'witch hunt' is heard often in the present-day media, and the misogyny it is rooted in is all too familiar today. A woman was prosecuted under the 1735 Witchcraft Act as recently as 1944.

This book uses thirteen significant trials to explore the history of witchcraft and witch hunts. As well as investigating some of the most famous trials from the middle ages to the 18th century, it takes us in new and surprising directions. It shows us how witchcraft was decriminalised in the 18th century, only to be reimagined by the 1780s Romantic radicals. We will learn how it evolved from being seen as a threat to Christianity to perceived as gendered persecution, and how trials against chieftains in Africa stoked anger against colonial rule.

Significantly, the book tells the stories of the victims - women, such as Helena Scheuberin and Joan Wright - whose stories have too often been overshadowed by those of the powerful men, such as King James VI and “Witchfinder General” Matthew Hopkins, who hounded them.

Just choose the book you most like the sound of or read both of them if you have the time! We are very much looking forward to seeing you! If you have read any of our previous book choices, 'The Hike' by Lucy Clarke or 'The Museum of Ordinary People' by Mike Gayle please let us know any thoughts and comments.

**EXTRA!** We also have a new 'classic' book choice. This time it is **Erich Maria Remarque's 'All Quiet on the Western Front'**. There is now just one month to read this one so we will discuss it when we meet in November.

The joy of Book Club is it opens you up to reading something different from your usual choice! We are a small, fun book club where you're invited to come along and join other fellow book lovers, like yourself, and enjoy some interesting discussions as well as share all our varied reading interests and experiences together, over a drink in a relaxed friendly environment.

IMPORTANT ATTENDANCE: This event can be oversubscribed at times so please amend your RSVP to NO at your earliest convenience if you can no longer attend to allow others to take your place. Thank you.

MEETING POINT 4.30pm: COOPERS ARMS, ROCHESTER ME1 1TL ...If you don't spot us straight away just ask for our specially reserved area for 'Readaholics'. ... Everyone welcome, with first priority of places going to members who previously attended our previous month's event & committed to reading the current book.

'Rochester Readaholics'

Hobbies & Passions

New In Town

Intellectual Discussions

Books and Drinks

Coffee & Books

Book Swap

Book Club

Fiction

Literature

Reading

Women's Book Club

Classic Books

Non-Fiction Writing

Novel Reading

Authors

Writing

 Readaholics - November 2024

This content is available only to members

Share this event

Readaholics - November 2024

Details