• Welcome - A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

London Falling: by Patrick Radden Keefe

A spellbinding account of a family devastated by the sudden death of their nineteen-year-old son, only to discover that he had created a secret life which drew him into the dangerous criminal underworld that lies beneath London’s glittering surface

In the early morning of November 29th, 2019, surveillance cameras at the headquarters of MI6, Britain’s spy agency, captured video of a young man pacing back and forth on a high balcony of Riverwalk, a luxury tower on the bank of the river Thames. At 2:24 AM he jumped into the river.

In a quiet London neighborhood several miles away, Rachelle Brettler was worried about her son. Zac had told her that he had gone to stay with a friend, but then he did not come home. Days later, a police car pulled up and two officers relayed the dreadful news: her son was dead.

In their unbearable grief, Rachelle and her husband, Matthew, struggled to understand what had happened to Zac. He had his troubles, but in no way seemed suicidal. As they would soon discover, however, there was a lot they did not know about their son. Only after his death did they learn that he had adopted a fictitious alter-ego: Zac Ismailov, son of a Russian oligarch and heir to a great fortune. Under this guise, Zac had become entangled with a slippery London businessman named Akbar Shamji, and a murderous gangster known as “Indian Dave.” As the Brettlers set about investigating their son’s death, they were pulled into a different and more dangerous London than the one they’d always known, and came to believe that something much more nefarious than a suicide had claimed Zac’s life. But to their immense frustration, Scotland Yard seemed unable—or unwilling—to bring the perpetrators to justice.

In a bravura feat of reporting and writing, Patrick Radden Keefe chronicles the Brettlers’ quest, peeling back layers of mystery and exposing the seedy truths behind the glamorous London of posh mansions and private nightclubs, a city in which everything is for sale, and aspirational fantasies are underwritten by dirty money and corruption. London Falling is a mesmerizing investigation of an inexplicable death and a powerful narrative driven by suspense and staggering revelations. But it is also an intimate and deeply poignant inquiry into the nature of parental love and the challenges of being a parent today, a portrait of a family trying to solve the riddle not just of how their son died, but of who he really was in life.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

• Welcome - A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

New Skin by Sarah Wang

A scalding, darkly humorous debut following an enmeshed mother-daughter duo, both best friends and enemies, and the plastic surgery addiction that warps their lives into a perilous spiral

At twenty-six, Linli Feng is still trying to escape her mother Fanny’s orbit. But after three years of estrangement, just when Linli has been accepted into a prestigious graduate program, she is dragged back by Fanny’s latest medical catastrophe and forced to return home. 

For decades, Fanny has been addicted to plastic surgery, getting bargain procedures in the basements of LA’s bootleg beauty industry. Now Fanny’s disfigured face is in dangerous revolt, infected and collapsing yet again from black-market injectables.

But even as Linli wades through the wreck of family finances and juggles her mother’s medical care, Fanny has another secret in store. Fanny has won a spot on America’s Beauty Extreme, a reality television competition in which botched plastic surgery addicts compete for reconstructive surgery as riveted audiences tune in. When Linli attempts to rescue Fanny from the sinister subculture that has already claimed her mother’s face, she must at last confront the corrosive reality of American success that is at the fraught heart of their relationship.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

• Welcome - A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

Our book club regulars are choosing this month’s book. Join the club and make your book suggestion for next month.

Our book club regulars are choosing this month’s book. Join the club and make your book suggestion for next month.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

A traditional American woman, a “tradwife” influencer, suddenly awakens in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them.

Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children―they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.

As darkly funny as it is shocking and gripping, Yesteryear is an electrifying examination of tradition, fame, faith and the grand performance of womanhood, from a thrilling new talent in fiction.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

• Welcome - A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

• Book swap - Wrap up to two books and label each one with a hint about the book or just the theme. Bring two, take two. Bring one, take one.

Our book club regulars are choosing this month’s book. Join the club and make your book suggestion for next month.

Our book club regulars are choosing this month’s book. Join the club and make your book suggestion for next month.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Authors Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena is a literary darling while June is a nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls?, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse, stealing Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Timesbestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

• Welcome - A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

• Book swap - Wrap two books and tag each one with a hint about the the book or just the theme. Bring two take two. Bring one, take one.

Our book club regulars are choosing this month’s book. Join the club and make your book suggestion for next month.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Authors Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena is a literary darling while June is a nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls?, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse, stealing Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Timesbestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

Our book club regulars are choosing this month’s book. Join the club and make your book suggestion for next month.

The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji!!!

The Valiat family are in crisis. Elizabeth, the regal matriarch, remained in Tehran despite the revolution with only the Islamic law-breaking Niaz for company. Meanwhile, in America, Shirin, Seema and Bita are wondering if their gleaming lives in ‘the land of plenty’ are all they had hoped for.

When an annual vacation goes wildly awry and Shirin is arrested, long-held Valiat family secrets begin to surface. As their lives are turned upside down, could revealing the truth save their family or might it break them apart, once and for all?

• Welcome – A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

In this wildly funny and heartwarming office comedy, an admin worker accidentally gains access to her colleagues’ private emails and DMs and decides to use this intel to save her job. A laugh-till-you-cry debut novel you’ll be eager to share with your entire list of contacts, perfect for fans of Anxious People and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

• Welcome – A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

• Book swap - wrap and bring up to exchange. Make you include a tag indicating the book genre or provide a hint about the storyline.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

The Names by Florence Knapp

Tomorrow - if morning comes, if the storm stops raging - Cora will register the name of her son. Or perhaps, and this is her real concern, she'll formalise who he will become. It is 1987, and in the aftermath of a great storm, Cora sets out with her nine-year-old daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and call the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates. Going against his wishes is a risk that will have consequences, but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? The choice she makes in this moment will shape the course of their lives. Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, and one that will prove as cataclysmic as the storm from which it emerges. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, believing it will enable him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his cruel image - but is there still a chance to break the mould? Powerfully moving and full of hope, this is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. It is the story of one family and love's endless capacity to endure, no matter what fate has in store.

• Welcome – A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

‘A woman has to be tough as steel up here. You can’t count on anyone to save you and your children. You have to be willing to save yourselves’

Thirteen-year-old Leni is coming of age in a tumultuous time. Caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, she dares to hope that Alaska will lead to a better future for her family, and a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

As Leni grows up in the shadow of her parents’ increasingly volatile marriage, she meets Matthew. And Matthew – thoughtful, kind, and brave – makes her believe in the possibility of a better life

• Welcome – A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

• Book swap - Wrap and bring up to 2-3 books to swap and receive the same amount you bring. Wrap your book in wrapping paper and add a tag or write a clue, the genre or a bit from the blurb.

• It’s Christmas, and our group has grown. Feel free to order some food and get to know everyone better.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…

Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of…

• Welcome – A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

This month’s book: So Thrilled For You by Holly Bourne

Is being a mother the most defining role a woman can have?

Nicki, Lauren, Charlotte and Steffi have been friends since university. Now in their thirties, life is pulling them in different directions, and motherhood is at the forefront of their minds. But when Charlotte organises a baby shower for Nicki on a swelteringly hot summer's day, it changes their friendship group forever.

In the aftermath, each woman has a different view on what happened that day - but the truth will shock everyone. Even you.

• Welcome – A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)

The Secret of the Blue Lake by Marcy Blesy

At what point do you make a decision so radical that it hurts those you love but saves yourself, if only for a moment in time?

The only true certainty in life is dying, but there’s a whole lot of life to live from beginning to end if you’re lucky.

When Chicago news reporter Meg Popkin’s dad makes a surprise move to a tiny town called Blue Lake, Michigan, in the middle of nowhere and away from his family after losing his wife to cancer, she wonders if there is more to the move than just a change of scenery.

With the help of a new, self-confident reporter at the station, Brian Welter, she tries to figure out what the secret attraction to Blue Lake is for its many new residents and along the way discovers that maybe she’s been missing out on some of the joys of living herself.

• Welcome – A gentle ease-in, because we understand socialising can sometimes feel like a high-stakes interview. Grab a drink, settle in, and meet your fellow book lovers. No pressure, no pop quizzes, just good conversation.

• Book Review – A brief and lively (or possibly chaotic) discussion about this month’s book. Read the whole thing? Fabulous. Read half and then Googled the ending? Also valid. Barely made it past page 10? No one’s judging, your insight is still welcome, and honestly, we've all been there.

• Book Swap - Wrap-up to two of your old books, add a tag with the genre and swap them at the event.

If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s and fancy an evening of book chat, cultural musings, and potentially forming lifelong friendships over a shared love of fictional characters—this is your kind of thing.

The Fine Print (Not That Fine, Really)