📚 🚶Introducing our September book
Welcome back + discover more about Rose Macaulay's The World my Wilderness
Dear walking book clubbers,
Welcome to the Autumn! I can’t wait to read our wonderful and inspiring books together.
Thank you to all those who stayed in touch over the summer via email with your reading news and views - I loved feeling connected to you all over the break and I’m really looking forward to seeing you over the coming months.
In this first email of the season, you’ll find:
Details for our September events
Introduction to and ideas about our September book, The World my Wilderness by Rose Macaulay
Links to discover more about Rose Macaulay
A special announcement about Maggie’s Night Walk
A glance ahead to October and beyond.
Our September Events
Emily’s Walking Book Club on Hampstead Heath:
Sunday 17th September, 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 18th September, 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: September, Urban Wilderness
Friday 29th September, 1.30-2pm
Join this month’s discussion thread on substack to share your cultural highlights from this month, as well as your recommendations on the theme of URBAN WILDERNESS - Where are your wild spaces in the big cities? What books / films / music / art aid your explorations?
Buy The World My Wilderness 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 The World My Wilderness by Rose Macaulay
As many of you will know, I can never resist a good coming-of-age novel (see previous picks: I Capture the Castle, A Touch of Mistletoe, A Girl Returned, A Long Way from Verona and many more). This is a great one, with seventeen-year-old Barbary struggling to adjust to her new drab, post-war London surroundings with her father and his new wife, having spent the Second World War running wild with the maquis (guerillas in the French Resistance) in Provence, where she lived with her mother.
It is such a change for Barbary - not only is she growing up, but she has to do this while coming to terms with a new country, an urban life, a different parent, and a world coming to terms with the fall-out of war. I wonder, as you read it, if you can think of a similar moment of massive change in your life? Have you found, like Barbary (and me!) that changes all seem to happen together? It’s never just one thing to which we have to adjust, but somehow everything changes all at once…
Set in 1946, the novel picks up rather neatly from where our July pick, Noel Streatfeild’s Saplings, leaves off in terms of time-scale and the impact of war on children. (If you missed our July pick, you can catch up with some of our thoughts on my 15-minute webcast about it, here.) I would love to know how you find the two books sit together. Have you enjoyed delving a little deeper into this time period? (Look out for our October book for another take on this moment in history!). Have you discovered, in your reading, anything unexpected about the impact of war?
Barbary finds shelter and solace in the flowering bombed wastelands around St Paul’s Cathedral. In the heart of the oppressive city, she finds wild nature, and here she can come to terms with the wildness inside her. I first heard about the surprising flourishing of nature in London bombsites in Richard Mabey’s landmark book, The Unofficial Countryside, beautifully published by the wonderful Little Toller Books. I’m always keeping an eye out for hidden patches of wildness in London. Do you live in a city? Do you treasure any hidden patches of nature? Please share them on our discussion thread at the end of the month, along with any nature writing or works of art that inspire you to treasure wildness in the metropolis.
I hope this has given you a taste of what’s inside the book, and some topics to fuel your thoughts. I can’t wait to discuss The World my Wilderness with you!
Discover more about Rose Macaulay
No pressure at all, but for those who would like to read around the book, here are some useful links:
Start HERE with Lucy Scholes’s insightful piece about it for The Paris Review.
The kind people at Slightly Foxed magazine have lifted the paywall for us on THIS fantastic piece about it by Anne Boston. On the website, just enter the promotional code: EMILYBOOKGROUP
I unearthed THIS piece written by Rose Macaulay herself about losing her books in the Blitz for The Spectator in 1941.
These two great podcasts only mention The World my Wilderness in passing, as they are about two of Macaulay’s other books, but they are fascinating about her life and background. THIS episode of the inimitable Backlisted features super-librarian Nancy Pearl discussing Told by an Idiot. And I loved THIS episode of Lost Ladies of Lit, with special guest publisher and writer Kate Macdonald, who has pretty much singlehandedly rescued Macaulay from oblivion, in which they discuss her speculative novel What Not, which inspired Huxley’s Brave New World.
Thank you to Tricia, who reminded me about THIS INTRIGUING BOOK, The Love-Charm of Bombs by Lara Feigel, about a handful of London wartime writers - including Macaulay.
Finally, here you can enjoy watching Fran from Persephone Books, who was the expert guest for our July On Our Reading Radar, read out a very dramatic and emotional short story by Rose Macaulay, ‘Miss Anstruther’s Letters’, written in 1942:
Maggie’s Night Hike
I know that, sadly, I’m not the only one of us walkers who has been affected by cancer, so I’m sharing here news of Maggie’s Night Hike, which is taking place this year on Friday 29th September. Here are details in case you would like to take part and fundraise for this wonderful charity. As the event takes place through the night - and as I will have to be looking after my three young children the next morning - I don’t think I will be able to do it this year, but Kate at Maggie’s, has suggested some of you might like to walk it together. The simplest way to do this is when you register put ‘EMILY’S WALKING BOOK CLUB’ in the box that asks where you heard about the Night Hike, and then Kate will join you up.
N.B. Spaces on the hike are filling up fast, so Kate suggests registering asap, ideally by the end of this week.
This is what Kate says about Maggie’s and the night hike:
Maggie’s is a charity that provides free support to anyone affected by cancer through our qualified cancer support specialist, benefits advisors and psychologist. Whether someone has just been diagnosed, is struggling with their treatment, or they are a family or friend of someone with cancer we are here for them.Â
On Friday 29 September we are hosting our Night Hike and this event will involve our fantastic supporters walking through the night. There is a 10 mile and an 18 mile route and glow products, Maggie’s T-Shirts and snacks will be handed out at the start and there will be plenty of food and refreshments at both finish points and the break stops along the way! It’s a great event to do as a team to cheer each other on, fundraise together and enjoy the beauty of London and its landmarks at night.Â
It is £29 to register and for the 10 mile route the sponsorship target is £150 and for the 18 mile route it is £225. Please get in touch with me at kate.oliver@maggies.org with any questions.
October and beyond …
Tickets for our October events, discussing To Sir with Love by E.R. Braithwaite - a powerful novel about overcoming prejudice and teaching in London’s East End - have just gone on sale. You can find details, and links to book tickets, as well as info about ALL our Autumn books in this post:
It now includes a wobbly little video walk with me, introducing the books for you…
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed the first newsletter of the autumn. There’ll be one arriving in your inbox every Monday …
Happy reading!
Emily