📚 🚶What did we make of Elizabeth Taylor?
Catching up with our Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Walk and Zoom
Dear walking book clubbers,
Thank you for two emotional meetings to discuss Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont.
I am so grateful that Emily’s Walking Book Club is a space to share not just our thoughts about books, but also our feelings about so much that books touch upon. Sadness ran close to the surface for many of us during our two Elizabeth Taylor meetings, in these grief-stricken times, in the immediate wake of the Queen’s passing, in the aftermath of Covid, and of course remembering our own Carrie - one of the first walking book clubbers. These felt like very special discussions; thank you so much to those who participated.
Thank you also for your many generous donations for a memorial bench for Carrie - we’ve raised £460! If you’d still like to contribute, the Just Giving page is HERE.
*** This newsletter will always be free for those who need it to be, but if you are able to help keep the show on the road / on the Heath, and support Emily’s Walking Book Club by paying a small annual subscription of £20/year, then please do. Alternatively, you can pay £50/year to include a bespoke literary consultation with me. Feel free to drop me a line for more info. ***
September Webcast
Here is this month’s webcast, in which I cover a few of the topics discussed on our walk and Zoom. While there was a great deal in Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont on which we agreed - the sadness, the brilliantly bitter humour, the all-pervasive loneliness - it was a refreshing change that we really disagreed over the book’s large cast of minor characters: we couldn’t decide whether they were convincingly drawn or crude caricatures. The question remains open!
It’s not too late to join the discussion - our Live Discussion Thread will be next Friday 30th at 2-2.30pm - look out for the link that will land in your inbox then. The thread will begin with Mrs Palfrey, and move on to encompass what else we’ve been reading this month. It’s always such a treat to hear about your wider reading habits, so please do show up and share if you can.
More Links
In addition to THIS PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER’s cornucopia of links, here are a few more that arose during our meetings:
While we were discussing the South Kensington location of the book, one walker said it reminded them of Roman Polanski’s film Repulsion. You can watch it on YouTube HERE.
All our talk about laundrettes, and the dream of romance in one, made me think of the 1980s Stephen Frears film, My Beautiful Laundrette, which you can rent HERE.
When we were discussing the period in which it was set as being just after the collapse of the British Empire, and how Mrs Palfrey is almost a symbol of the fallen Empire, someone wisely said it was like a sequel to Somerset Maugham’s short stories. You can listen to the great man himself read his funny, well-observed ‘The Three Fat Women of Antibes’ HERE.
Finally, those of you who are looking ahead to November, when we’ll be discussing A Fortunate Man by John Berger & Jean Mohr, you may enjoy THIS RADIO 4 DRAMA adaptation (20 days left to listen) - thanks so much to you sharp-eared book clubbers for letting me know about this!
Coming Soon…
Look out for something totally new in Monday’s newsletter!
A reminder of our monthly Live Discussion Thread next Friday 30th, at 2-2.30pm, topics: Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont & what else we’ve been reading in September.
Tickets for October - By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah - are now on sale:
Saleh Omar arrives at Gatwick Airport, seeking asylum from Zanzibar, having left his entire life behind. When he meets a figure from his past, their intertwined stories gradually unravel, revealing love and betrayal, seduction and possession ... Abdulrazak Gurnah, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021, entrances with his elegant telling of Saleh Omar's past - and his secrets - in this beautiful, quietly gripping novel.
On the Heath: Sunday 16th October, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB
On Zoom: Monday 17th October, 8-8.40pm
Live Discussion Thread: Friday 28th October, 2-2.30pm
Buy By the Sea 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.
Happy reading,
Emily