Events Search and Views Navigation
February 2019
Literature Lecture and Lunch: The Third Man by Graham Greene
Unusually for Greene this was written first as a screenplay for the famous film with Orson Welles. Later Greene wrote it as a novella for the public with a happy ending which Carol Reed had rejected for the film. Come and enjoy mysterious Vienna just after World War Two.
Find out more »March 2019
Literature Lecture and Lunch: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
The youngest Bronte had a much deeper understanding of the reality of governessing than either of her sisters. This wonderful novel shows what that reality was. Come and meet the lovely patient Anne/Agnes as she tries to control her sometimes appalling charges.
Find out more »April 2019
Literature Lecture and Lunch: The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis
Better known for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe this is different Lewis. Here he wonderfully introduces us to a persuasive Devil who knows just how to get under a Christian’s skin. Funny and thought-provoking!
Find out more »May 2019
Literature Lecture and Lunch: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Based on the Nobel Prizewinner’s own experience, this novel shocked the world with its open criticism of Stalinist Russia. Come and find out why this is great writing in a time of great fear.
Find out more »June 2019
Literature Lecture and Lunch: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Gaskell’s wonderful study of mid 19th century Manchester with the mills that she knew so well as wife of a Unitarian minister. Atmospherically quite beautiful with a realistic love story … come and enjoy.
Find out more »July 2019
Literature Lecture and Lunch: Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
Not a novel this time but one of the best travel books and the only one where the young German author had full access to one of the most remote and mysterious lands. A classic and the forerunner of many later Harrer travel books, it introduces us to the Dalai Lama as a curious child.
Find out more »August 2019
Literature Lecture and Lunch: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
This is, in a way, Dickens’ own story told in novel form. Full of wonderful characters and the atmosphere of growing up but not strictly auto-biography. A curious book which has kept its place as one of England’s favourites.
Find out more »