📚 🚶Introducing our October book
Discover To Sir with Love by E.R. Braithwaite
Dear walking book clubbers,
This October, celebrating Black History Month, we are reading To Sir with Love by E.R. Braithwaite.
In this first email of the month you’ll find:
Details of our October events
Introduction to and ideas about our October book, To Sir with Love by E.R. Braithwaite
Links to find out more about the book and author
A glance ahead to November and beyond.
Our October Events
Emily’s Walking Book Club on Hampstead Heath:
Sunday 15th October, 11.30-1pm setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
Join me for a walk-talk on Hampstead Heath. Please ensure you’ve read the book before joining the walk.
Emily’s Zoom Book Club:
Monday 16th October, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
Feel free to tune in even if you’ve not read the book - our zooms are open to all.
On Our Reading Radar: October, Race relations
Friday 27th October, 1.30-2pm
Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from the month, and any particular recommendations on the theme of RACE RELATIONS - What books / films / music / art have provided you with insight into the complex relationships within a diverse group of people?
Buy To Sir With Love from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
Introducing To Sir With Love by E.R. Braithwaite
When I mentioned the book at our last walk, many of you were immediately familiar with the title from the classic film, starring Sidney Poitier (see below). It’s a wonderful film (not least for the footage of London in the 1960s) so I was fascinated to learn that ER Braithwaite really didn’t like the adaptation, largely because of its downplaying of interracial romance. There are certainly some interesting points of comparison for those who’ve both read the book and seen the film.
For those of you who (like me) hadn’t heard of the film, or the book, here’s the jist: it’s set in post-war London ( written in 1959), when Rick Braithwaite - the narrator - resorts to teaching in a tough East-End school, after failing to get a job in engineering due to widespread institutional racism. This well-educated, impeccably dressed black teacher goes on to tame and inspire his class of unruly disrespectful teenagers, in a rather heartwarming tale that interrogates prejudice on all sides.
Rick Braithwaite the narrator is heavily based on the author. Eustace Edward Ricardo Braithwaite (1912-2016!!) was from Guyana - born and raised there when it was the colony British Guiana. The child of privileged Oxford graduate parents, he was well educated and became a pilot in the RAF before reading physics at Cambridge. After teaching, Braithwaite became a London County Council social worker, a human rights officer in Paris for the World Veterans Federation, an education consultant to Unesco, then a diplomat for the newly independent Guyana, before going into academia in America. Many of his novels were inspired by the racism he personally endured. See below for a far more detailed account of his life in Danuta Kean’s excellent Guardian piece.
I love the way To Sir with Love shows the collision of very different cultures. Perhaps it’s easy to feel nostalgic for the London East End, with its sense of community, markets and rhyming slang and overlook its problems… What did you make of this portrait of London at this time? How does it sit alongside our previous book, The World my Wilderness by Rose Macaulay? Are there other novels you’ve read and enjoyed that provide an interesting historical perspective on the city?
Braithwaite is a fascinating outsider-observer, documenting the East End’s many flaws, while also looking beyond them to nurture and appreciate his pupil’s strengths. There’s prejudice on both sides - Braithwaite the narrator against his pupils’ lack of manners and discipline; the white East Enders’ racism against him. How do the characters connect with one another in spite of these prejudices? Where are the flashpoints of tension in the book - the instances where prejudice rears up and impedes connection? How did these moments make you feel? Do you think much has changed since then?
I have a real soft spot for books and films about inspirational teachers and I know there are more than a few teachers in our own book club community! What did you make of the teaching methods in the book? The rebuttal of corporal punishment would have felt radical - I was shocked to read that in England it was only banned in 1986 (in state schools; in private schools it was over a decade later!). And see the link below for a different take on what happened, ‘The Braithwaite Knock’.
There’s masses more to discuss, and I can’t wait to do so with you on our walk and zoom. In the meantime, I really recommend Caryl Phillip’s introduction to the book, which you can find on the British Library website HERE. And keep on reading for more links to learn more about the author and book.
Discover more about E.R. Braithwaite
Danuta Kean in the Guardian wrote THIS INFORMATIVE PIECE about E.R. Braithwaite’s life, when he died in 2016, aged 104.
I really enjoyed THIS piece by Susie Taylor for the London Literary Society, which very much places To Sir with Love in the context of London’s East End after the First World War.
Here is a trailer for the classic film adaptation, starring Sidney Poitier. It’s widely available to rent or buy online, and it’s brilliant (I think!). Interesting to note that Braithwaite criticised the adaptation, in particular its downplaying of the mixed-race love affair.
It’s worth reading THIS PIECE on British 60s Cinema, which compares the film adaptation to the original book in some detail. Keep on reading it and at the bottom of the piece, there’s a fascinating PDF upload, ‘The Braithwaite Knock’ by Alfred Gardner, who was one of Braithwaite’s pupils at the school on which the book’s based. It gives a wildly different perspective on Braithwaite, especially regarding corporal punishment!
November - tickets are now on sale!
Just Kids by Patti Smith
In her evocative and inspiring memoir, artist Patti Smith tells us how it was to be young, talented, passionate and broke in New York in the 1960s-70s, and chronicles her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, before his tragic death from AIDS. Fascinating for anyone remotely intrigued by the iconic scene of Coney Island, Warhol’s Factory, the Chelsea Hotel and its many notorious characters; required reading for anyone struggling to pursue their dreams against the odds.
Why did I pick it? I remember reading this when it first came out a decade or so ago and being completely floored by it. I gave many copies to friends, including - I fear - my own! And it was only when I recently came across it again on display at the lovely Gay’s the Word bookshop, that I decided it was time to rebuy and revisit it. Once again, I was moved to tears by Mapplethorpe’s death, and loved immersing myself in the wild time of New York in the 60s/70s, but above all I’m inspired by Patti Smith’s absolute devotion to her art. You can listen to her discuss the book on NPR radio, by clicking on the little player HERE.
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 19th November, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
On Zoom: Monday 20th November, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 1st December, 1.30-2pm: New York Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from this month, and any particular recommendations to do with NEW YORK - Where do you love in the Big Apple? And what books / films / music / art have proved to be reliable travelling companions for you?
Buy Just Kids from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
For details about December, check out this post:
Happy reading!
Emily