OW Book Club - Book group ideas

Herewith some reading suggestions for our OW Book Groups.
With huge thanks to Louise Haines (WS staff 1986-2018) and Dr Scott Wilson (WS staff 1979-2010).

MF = Modern Fiction; C = Crime; FSF = Fantasy and Science Fiction; NF = Non-fiction

Title	Author	Genre	Date	Notes
A Gentleman in Moscow	Amor Towles	MF	2016	1922. Aristocrat under house arrest in Moscow.
A Gun For Sale	Graham Greene	MF	1936	Hit man on the run
Echoes from the Dead	Johan Tehorin	C	2008	Impressive scandi noir thriller
Everybody Brave is Forgiven	Chris Cleave	MF	2016	Sparky and tragic novel, set in WW2 in London and Malta.
Expo 58	Jonathan Coe	MF	2013	Set at the World’s Fair in Brussels, 1958
Exposure	Helen Dunmore	MF	2016	Cold War, 1960. (Read anything by Helen Dunmore!)
Fragrant Harbour	John Lanchester	MF	2002	Set in Hong Kong
Girl, Woman, Other	Bernadine Evaristo	MF	2019	12 black British women and their lives. Booker winner
How late it was, how late	James Kelman	MF	1994	Stream of consciousness, set in Glasgow
In Our Mad and Furious City	Guy Gunaratne	MF	2018	Teenagers in North London. Hard-hitting.
Invisible Women	Caroline Criado Perez	NF	2019	‘Exposing data bias in a world designed for men.’
Lincoln in the Bardo	George Saunders	MF	2017	Multiple voices. Fascinating but tricky. Won Booker Prize.
Middle England	Jonathan Coe	MF	2018	‘The first great Brexit novel’. Perhaps read ‘The Rotters Club’ first.
Never Let Me Go	Kazuo Ishiguro	FSF	2005	Dystopian world of cloning
Old Filth	Jane Gardam	MF	2014	Man looking back on his life
Pietr the Latvian	Georges Simenon	C	1931	The first Maigret novel. Very atmospheric.
Prisoners of Geography	Tim Marshall	NF	2015	The realities of geo-politics
Safe House	Chris Ewan	C	2013	Pacy, violent thriller set on Isle of Man
Sapiens	Yuval Noah Harari	NF	2015	History of humankind
Sarah Jane	James Sallis	C	2019	Woman with past becomes a cop
Spinning Silver	Naomi Novik	FSF	2018	Bothers Grimm meet ‘Game of Thrones’.
The Dark Circle	Linda Grant	MF	2016	Set in post WW2 tuberculosis hospital
The Dutch House	Ann Patchett	MF	2019	Family saga (and more)
The Gods of Gotham	Lindsay Faye	C	2012	New York City forms its first police force of copper stars.
The House of the Spirits	Isabel Allende	MF	1982	South American country undergoing huge changes/
The Man in the Red Coat	Julian Barnes	NF	2019	Exploration of a late 19^th century gynaecologist
The Man Who Fell to Earth	Walter Tevis	FSF	1963	Extra-terrestrial trying to help earth people. Also a film.
The Midnight Library	Matt Haig	MF	2020	Possibilities of living alternate lives
The Nickel Boys	Colson Whitehead	MF	2019	Set in a US reform School.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane	Neil Gaiman	FSF	2013	‘A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable’.
The Places in Between	Rory Stewart	NF	2006	Author walks across Afghanistan.
The Psychopath Test	Jon Ronson	NF	2011	Exploration of mental health
The Queen’s Gambit	Walter Tevis	MF	1983	Life of female chess prodigy
The Rotters Club	Jonathan Coe	MF	2001	Growing up in South Birmingham in the 1970’s.
The Teardrop Island	Cherry Briggs	NF	2013	Unpretentious account of teacher’s explorations in Sri Lanka
The Undercover Economist	Tim Harford	NF	2005	Exposé of economic principles behind daily events
The Woman in the Window	A J Finn	C	2018	Psychological thriller.
The Year of Living Danishly	Helen Russell	NF	2015	Journalist experiences Danish way of living.
Time and Time Again	Ben Elton	MF	2014	Suppose you could stop the assassination in Sarajevo, 1914.
Villa America	Liza Klausman	MF	2015	Based on real lives of Sara and Gerard Murphy. Echoes of ‘Gatsby’
Where the Crawdads Sing	Delia Owens	MF	2018	Murder mystery but also a coming of age novel.
Who Owns England?	Guy Shrubsole	NF	2019	Who is really in charge of this country?