Dear walking book clubbers,
I was out walking in Highgate Woods when it snowed last Sunday. It reminded me of our magical meetings in happier winters, when snow on the Heath covered our tracks, dampened the pages of our books, and muffled the world. Our first snowy book walk was to discuss Iris Murdoch’s Under the Net - a very London book (absolutely brilliant - her first novel!) - and the sudden snowfall felt like exactly the sort of thing that would happen to the book’s protagonist Jake Donoghue.
This year, sadly, a snowy meeting is not to be. But I will look forward to seeing you on Zoom THIS SUNDAY to discuss Hilda Bernstein’s The World that was Ours - a book that is filled with heat and dust and dryness. It compellingly reveals the everyday details of what it meant to live a deeply committed political life fighting Apartheid in South Africa in the 1960s as a journalist, wife and mother of four children. There is so much to inspire, and its close - about Bernstein’s very risky flight from South Africa - reads like a thriller.
I had a great chat with the book’s publisher, Nicola Beauman of Persephone Books, who told me about how she came to publish the book and what it meant for her. I’ll include this in my next webcast - to come in the newsletter following our meeting.
Sunday’s The World That Was Ours Zoom book club
Here are the details again for our Zoom meeting.
Sunday 31 January, 11.30 -12 noon
Meeting ID: 791 0280 9796
Passcode: Bernstein
Click on the blue button to join:
Zoom book clubs F.A.Q.
How can I book a place for the Zoom?
You don’t need to book a place for these Zoom meetings, just click on the link (here) at 11.30 on Sunday.
How can I pay for the Zoom book club?
Thank you, it is so lovely of you to offer to pay, but these Zooms are freebies (as opposed to the £5 walks). If you would like to make a contribution, and enjoy these newsletters, then please consider paying the annual £15 subscription fee to support Emily’s Walking Book Club (by signing up HERE) if you don’t already do so. Or else, you might like to pay a bit more for the next walk (when that happens …). But please don’t feel you ought to pay for these Zooms - it is my pleasure to give you something that might brighten up the dreariness of Lockdown life.
What is Zoom and how can I get it?
Zoom is an app that allows video meetings between lots of people. You can download and install Zoom by following the instructions here.
A reminder that this newsletter will always be free to those who need it to be, but if you are able to support Emily’s Walking Book Club by paying £15/year to subscribe, then please do so. There is also the option to pay £50/year, which includes a literary consulation with me to create a bespoke book list for you.
More on Hilda Bernstein
Here is the link again to Anne Sebba’s fascinating interview with Hilda Bernstein for The Times.
You can listen to Hilda Bernstein here, talking passionately and articulately about the situation in South Africa to Studs Terkel in 1975.
Here is the Guardian’s obituary of Hilda Bernstein, from when she died in 2006.
Our next meetings
February’s discussion of William Maxwell’s short, spare, beautiful novel So Long See You Tomorrow will now be on Zoom, not on the Heath, due to the continuation of Lockdown. Everyone who has booked tickets for the walk will have got a refund.
Our Zoom will be on Sunday 28th February, 11.30-12, link to come. Watch this space for more details about the book, along with some interesting links.
You can buy the book with 10% off from Daunt Books by using the code WBC at checkout, here.
Let’s hope we can be back on the Heath to discuss Penelope Mortimer’s unsettling and powerful novel The Pumpkin Eater on Sunday 28th March. Tickets for the walk go on sale on 1st February, and you can book your place here:
Buy the book from Daunt, with 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, here.
Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday.
Happy reading!
Emily