You must be a Member of Ealing u3a to take part in an Interest Group

The group has face-to-face meetings on the first Tuesday of each month starting at 10:30 am at a group member's house.

Our current category of books is 'Novels based on Historical events'. The list of books selected and the order in which we will read them are:

• The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes, chosen by Phil (A historical fiction novel, published in 2019, that tells the story of five women who become packhorse librarians in Depression-era Kentucky, delivering books to remote communities)
• Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier, Sibil's choice (The story of Mary Anning, who has a talent for finding fossils, and whose discovery of ancient marine reptiles such as that ichthyosaur shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world)
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Gail's choice (a historical fiction novel, published in 2014, that tells the intertwined stories of a blind French girl named Marie-Laure and a German boy named Werner during World War II, exploring themes of survival and the impact of war)
• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, chosen by Marion (a collection of linked short stories about a platoon of American soldiers fighting on the ground in the Vietnam War, published in 1990)
• Atonement by Ian McEwan, Jane's choice (A 2001 novel set in three time periods, 1935 England, Second World War England and France, and present-day England, it covers an upper-class girl's half-innocent mistake that ruins lives, her adulthood in the shadow of that mistake, and a reflection on the nature of writing)

Our meetings are usually held at Uschi's flat in South Ealing, London, W5. Meetings start at 10:30 am on the first Tuesday of the month. The nearest station is South Ealing (Piccadilly line), and the 65 bus also stops nearby.

This book circle has been meeting since 2016, and we currently have eight members.

---

Originally, each group member selected 2 books, and we finished reading the last of these in early 2018. Our selection of books to read during 2018 was those that had been written in a foreign language and translated into English. In 2019 we read books which were all written by Canadian authors, then from Autumn 2019 to Summer 2020 we read a selection of American novels published in the second half of the 20th Century. For the second half of 2020 and into 2021 we read books which had all been Prize Winners of various Book prizes, then from Summer 2021 to Spring 2022 we read a selection of Our Favourite Books. In 2022/23 we read books that had been Published in the 21st Century. Since then we have read a selection of our Books that we Liked, then read a selection where each member chose a Book that they have Never Read but always wanted to. Next we read a selection of First novels from Authors we have read previously, and are currently reading books written in Diary or Memoir form.

A full list of all the books we have read as a group is shown below.

Group Convener: Ursula Hilton-Jones, tel - 020 8567 5993, or email through the link at the top of this page.

List of books read:

Novels based on Historical events

• Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi (Ingrid), August 2026 (A memoir published in 2021, where she reflects on her childhood in Albania during the fall of communism and the complexities of freedom)
• Little Man - What Now? by Hans Fallada (Ursula), July 2026 (Originally published in 1932, it includes descriptions of the harsh life in Germany in the years after the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the first years of the Great Depression)
• Precipice by Robert Harris, (John) June 2026 (A novel about a young woman's affair with the Prime Minister and a spy's investigation of a leak in 1914 London, published in 2024)

Memoirs/Diaries/Books written in Diary form (July 2025 - May 2026)

• My Name is Why – a Memoir by Lemn Sissay, (Gail) May 2026
• No meeting in April 2026
• Giving up The Ghost - a Memoir by Hilary Mantel, (Marion) Mar 2026
• The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith, (Jane) Feb 2026
• Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, (Jill) Jan 2026
• No meeting in Dec 2025
• The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen 83 1/4 years old, Hendrik Groen, (Phil) Nov 2025
• The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, (Ingrid) Oct 2025
• Memoir by John McGahern, (Uschi) Sept 2025
• No meeting in Aug 2025
• Shackleton’s Boat Journey by F. A. Worsley, (John) July 2025

First Novels by Authors we have read previously (Sept 2024 - June 2025)

• Under the Net by Iris Murdoch (Gail's choice) June 2025
• A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow (Chosen by David) May 2025
• Scenes from Clerical Life by George Eliot (Marion’s choice) April 2025
• Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout (Chosen by Jane) Feb 2025
• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Jill’s choice) Jan 2025
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt (Chosen by Phil) Dec 2024
• The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (Chosen by Ingrid) Nov 2024
• If nobody speaks of remarkable things by Jon McGregor (Uschi’s choice) Oct 2024
• Burmese Days by George Orwell (Chosen by John) Sept 2024

A Book that I have never read but wanted to (Jan to Aug 2024)

• The Other Hand by Chris Cleave (David's choice)
• The Island by Victoria Hislop (Marion’s choice)
• The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing (chosen by Jane)
• In Every Face I Meet by Justin Cartwright (Jill’s choice)
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (Phil’s choice)
• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Ingrid’s choice)
• The Radetsky March by Joseph Roth (chosen by Uschi)
• Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (John's choice)

A Book that I Like (March to Dec 2023)

• Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich as related to and edited by Solomon Volkov (David's choice)
• The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting (chosen by Marion)
• The Rain before it falls by Jonathan Coe (Jane’s choice)
• An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine (chosen by Johnny)
• Me before You by Jo Jo Moyes (chosen by Phil)
• Birds without Wings by Louis de Bernieres (Jill’s choice)
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri (Ingrid’s choice)
• An Education by Lynn Barber (Uschi’s choice)
• The Riders by Tim Winton (John's choice)

The list of books read by this group, previous to those shown here, can be found in the Book Circle 4 - Books Read file.

Links

• Book Circle 4 - Books Read