To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but
remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'
A lawyer's advice to his
children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a
black man charged with the rape of a white girl.
Through the young eyes of
Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality
of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties.
The
conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by
the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will
only tolerate so much.
To
Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age
story, an anti-racist novel, a historical drama of the Great Depression and a
sublime example of the Southern writing tradition.
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
Heroism or cowardice? A stunning story of the First World War
from a master storyteller.
Told in the voice of a
young soldier, the story follows 24 hours in his life at the front during WW1,
and captures his memories as he looks back over his life. Full of stunningly
researched detail and engrossing atmosphere, the book leads to a dramatic and
moving conclusion.
Both
a love story and a deeply moving account of the horrors of the First World War,
this book will reach everyone from 9 to 90.
The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of
Pagford is left in shock.
Pagford is, seemingly,
an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what
lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war.
Rich at war with poor,
teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers
at war with their pupils... Pagford is not what it first seems.
And the empty seat left
by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war
the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion,
duplicity and unexpected revelations?
NEXT MEETING: We will be discussing Hard Times by Charles Dickens on Thursday 18th September at 8.00 PM in The Hundred.
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