Classics can be intimidating. They have a reputation of being too highbrow and incomprehensible for us mere mortals. We at Books on the Hill, however, think that is just not true. Classics speak of a universal theme we all have first hand experience of: love, loss, friendship, hope. They are for all of us. To tackle this, come along to our Book Club focusing on "The Classics" from recent and not so recent history.

For October, we have chosen White Teeth by Zadie Smith as our Classics Book Club book.

To book your place please click here, or to purchase a year long subscription to our Classics Book Club, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

This Book Club will be held on the last Thursday of the month, and is suitable for ages 18+. Tea and coffee will be provided, as well as glasses should you chose to bring your own tipple.

Here at Books On The Hill, we love all things books so thought it would be great to get people together to have a chat about books. Discussions will be around books you love or books you are currently reading and how you are finding them. So if you love to talk about books, but don't have the time to read a set text, join us at 7pm in store for a fun-filled evening.

To reserve your space please click here or to purchase a year long subscription to our afterhours book club, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

Tea & coffee will be available for free on the night or if you prefer please feel free to bring your own alcoholic drinks with you (glasses will be provided).

A bold and moving debut, exploring Black identity in Britain with warmth and ambition.

The book club will be held upstairs in our reading rooms and are suitable for ages 18+ years.

To book your place, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

About the book -

London, 1936. Two sisters are ready to take the city and the world by storm. Bath, 2012.

Two young Black men are figuring out who they are, and who they want to become. Manny Powell is forthright, intellectual, and determined to make her mark on the London literary scene. Her younger sister, Rita ‘The Baby’, just wants to dance.

Chasing their dreams across smoky Soho jazz clubs, they soon find themselves part of the burgeoning Black ambition movement, and must learn how to navigate it as women. As tensions rise, and fascism and war snap at their heels, Rita finds herself drawn to the mysterious mimic and trumpeter, Ezekiel Brown, from Jamaica, and the trio are faced with choices that will alter their lives forever. Itai has fled London to his late father’s flat in Bath.

Listening to cassette tapes his father made, he realises there is a lot he doesn’t know about the man’s life — who is Rita? Why did his father record her life story? And might she hold the answers to Itai’s questions? Meanwhile, his developing friendship with Josh, a young athlete who moonlights as a dealer to fund his training, is on unsteady ground. As the country prepares for the 2012 Olympics, Josh is under increasing pressure from his bosses to find out just what the hell Itai is really doing in their city. Manny and the Baby is a character-driven debut novel, full of heart, about what it means to be Black and British, now and in the past.

We are delighted to be welcoming back award winning broadcaster, comedian and author Robin Ince in-store for a discussion about his latest book and first poetry collection, Ice Cream for a Broken Tooth : Poems about life, death, and the odd bits in between.

Robin Ince is a comedian, actor and writer. With Professor Brian Cox, he created and presents the award-winning BBC Radio 4 show The Infinite Monkey Cage, which ranks among the most popular science podcasts worldwide. 

To book your place, please click here.

About the book

An instinctual first collection pursuing the psychological essence of personal and societal wellbeing, explored through experiential neurodivergence and humanism.

Following the discussion, there will be time for an audience Q+A, as well as a book signing with Robin.

Please note this event is 18+.

Tea and coffee will be provided. Feel free to bring your own tipple.

We are delighted to announce our next text lecture with Michael King will explore The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon.

Tea and coffee with be provided.

To book your place, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

About the book -

At Waterloo Station, hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies step off the boat train, ready to start afresh in 1950s London.

There, homesick Moses Aloetta, who has already lived in the city for years, meets Henry 'Sir Galahad' Oliver and shows him the ropes. In this strange, cold and foggy city where the natives can be less than friendly at the sight of a black face, has Galahad met his Waterloo? But the irrepressible newcomer cannot be cast down. He and all the other lonely new Londoners - from shiftless Cap to Tolroy, whose family has descended on him from Jamaica - must try to create a new life for themselves.

As pessimistic 'old veteran' Moses watches their attempts, they gradually learn to survive and come to love the heady excitements of London.

Here at Books On The Hill, we love all things books so thought it would be great to get people together over breakfast to have a chat about books. Discussions will be around books you love or books you are currently reading and how you are finding them. So if you love to talk about books, but don't have the time to read a set text, join us at 10 am in store for a fun-filled morning.

This event is charged and is suitable for 18+ years.

Book here for your individual book club ticket or click here to purchase a one-year ticket.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

During the event, the team may ask if we can take pictures of the event to promote future events held in store. By purchasing a ticket you are consenting to the team using these pictures for our social media channels but you are able to withdraw your consent at any time during the event.

We are delighted to announce our next poetry afternoon with lecturer Michael King will explore poet Langston Hughes.

Tea and coffee with be provide throughout the event.

To book your place, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

About the book -

With a new introduction by the multi-prizewinning young poet Kayo Chingonyi. For over forty years, until his death in 1967, Langston Hughes captured in his poetry the lives of black people in the USA. This edition is Hughes's own selection of his work, and was first published in 1959.

It includes all of his best known poems including 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers', 'The Weary Blues', 'Song for Billie Holiday', 'Black Maria', 'Magnolia Flowers', 'Lunch in a Jim Crow Car' and 'Montage of a Dream Deferred'. A key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes is now seen as one of the great chroniclers of black American experience - and one of the great artists of the twentieth century.

To book your place please click here.

In March 1603, Queen Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, lay dying at Richmond Palace. The queen's ministers clustered round her bedside, urging her to name her successor - something she had stubbornly resisted throughout her reign.  Almost with her last breath, she whispered that James VI of Scotland should succeed her. She died shortly afterwards and the throne of England passed peacefully from Tudor to Stuart. Or so we've been led to believe. In this illustrated talk based on her new book, bestselling author, historian and broadcaster Tracy Borman will reveal the shocking truth behind one of history’s best-kept secrets.

Classics can be intimidating. They have a reputation of being too highbrow and incomprehensible for us mere mortals. We at Books on the Hill, however, think that is just not true. Classics speak of a universal theme we all have first hand experience of: love, loss, friendship, hope. They are for all of us. To tackle this, come along to our Book Club focusing on "The Classics" from recent and not so recent history.

For September, we have chosen Macbeth by William Shakespeare as our Classics Book Club book.

To book your place please click here, or to purchase a year long subscription to our Classics Book Club, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

This Book Club will be held on the last Thursday of the month, and is suitable for ages 18+. Tea and coffee will be provided, as well as glasses should you chose to bring your own tipple.

Here at Books On The Hill, we love all things books so thought it would be great to get people together to have a chat about books. Discussions will be around books you love or books you are currently reading and how you are finding them. So if you love to talk about books, but don't have the time to read a set text, join us at 7pm in store for a fun-filled evening.

To reserve your space please click here or to purchase a year long subscription to our afterhours book club, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

Tea & coffee will be available for free on the night or if you prefer please feel free to bring your own alcoholic drinks with you (glasses will be provided).

Explore this account of a security guard working in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. A touching exploration of grief, community and the power of art.

The book club will be held upstairs in our reading rooms and are suitable for ages 18+ years.

To book your place, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

About the book -

A revelatory portrait of a great museum and the moving story of one guard's quest to find solace and meaning in art. When Patrick’s older brother dies at twenty-six, all he wants is to retreat. So, he does. He quits his job and seeks refuge in the most beautiful place he can think of: New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

All the Beauty in the World recounts Patrick’s time as a museum guard, keeping quiet vigil over some of our greatest treasures and uncovering the Met’s innermost secrets. As his connection to the art and the life that swirls around it grows, so does Patrick – and gradually he emerges transformed by heartbreak, community and the power of art to illuminate life in all its pain, pleasure and hope.

We are huge fans of Cally Beaton and indeed The Radlett Centre, we are delighted to be supporting this event. To book your place please click here.

Cally Beaton: Namaste Motherf*ckers

Namaste Motherf*ckers is the new show from Cally Beaton (QI, Live at the Apollo) - a quick-witted, unexpected and unapologetic insight into life in midlife. Combining Cally’s comedic and storytelling prowess with extracts from her provocative, stereotype-busting book of the same name, the show has at its heart her own story of radical reinvention – taking her from meetings in boardrooms to treading the boards, thanks to a chance conversation with the late, great Joan Rivers. A funny show about a deadly serious subject, Namaste Motherf*ckers is a celebration of and for the female of the species. Invisible no more. The show includes a Q&A and there will be an opportunity to meet with Cally as she is promoting her new book in the foyer after the show (who knows, Jeff the wonder dog may even be there too).

'Sprightly wit and considerable storytelling prowess', 4**** The Scotsman
'Original and clever', 4**** The Arts Desk – pick of the Edinburgh Fringe
'Gripping, perceptive and uplifting', Chortle
'Exciting and hilarious talent…she’s got it', Time Out

[Photo credit - Natasha Pszenicki]

We are delighted to announce our next text lecture with Michael King will explore Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Tea and coffee with be provided.

To book your place, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

About the book -

A haunting Modernist masterpiece and the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning film Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness explores the limits of human experience and the nightmarish realities of imperialism. Conrad's narrator Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey in search of the infamous ivory trader Kurtz: dying, insane, and guilty of unspeakable atrocities. Travelling upriver to the heart of the African continent, he gradually becomes obsessed by this enigmatic, wraith-like figure.

Marlow's discovery of how Kurtz has gained his position of power over the local people involves him in a radical questioning, not only of his own nature and values, but also those of western civilisation.

To register for the course and to embark on a journey for your wellbeing please click here and for further information please email bibliotherapyforme@outlook.com.

Would you like to discover the link between reading and wellbeing and how this can enhance your everyday life?

“Literature offers us a powerful language that can help us understand ourselves and others and gives us the words and perspectives that can help us talk about difficult experiences.” Dr Jane Davis, Founder of The Reader

“One sheds one’s sicknesses in books – repeats and presents again one’s emotions, to be master of them.” DH Lawrence, The Letters of DH Lawrence

Bibliotherapy dates back to ancient times when libraries were seen as sacred places where answers and healing could be found. My course explores reading as an active strategy to help cope with life’s challenges, looking at the wider and deeper ways in which fiction and non-fiction can 'find' people, emotionally and imaginatively, helping develop self- esteem, emotional granularity and interpersonal relationships. Participants will be introduced to the neurological benefits of reading “for pleasure” and to a wellbeing model to help us tailor our book choices in order to thrive.

Course Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, participants will gain:

1. An understanding of the key principles of bibliotherapy and how to apply them, including choosing books ‘on prescription’ and making use of a practical, interactive approach

2. A powerful tool to foster group cohesion

3. The experience of using literature as a form of remedy and healing within our daily lives

The course does not require any prior reading ability or experience and absolutely everyone is welcome!

Fortnightly course schedule – Autumn 2025 Classes run at Books on the Hill on the Fridays listed below, from 10.15am-12pm

CLASS ONE - Friday 12th September

What is Bibliotherapy?

· A potted history of Bibliotherapy and its origins

· Differences approaches to bibliotherapy and what they mean

· The neurological processes behind reading and how they help us flourish.

CLASS TWO - Friday 26th September

Options:

Travel from St. Albans or meet directly in the lobby of the British Library, 96 Euston Road, (times TBC)

The Library

· The role of libraries as memory keepers for societies and as a ‘house of healing’ for the soul · The role of librarianship, libraries as ‘safe spaces’/warm hubs and the libraries of the future Activity: Journey through The British Library, Euston Road, London with your instructor as guide The British Library (BL) is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s largest libraries. Its collections include more than 150 million items, in over 400 languages including books, magazines, manuscripts, maps, music scores, newspapers, patents, databases, philatelic items, prints and drawings and sound recordings. The activity includes access to the Library “Treasures section” as a springboard for using literature as remedy

CLASS THREE – Friday 10th October

Poetry therapy and the benefits of therapeutic writing

· Poetry Therapy and the qualities that make poems particularly helpful as a wellbeing tool

· The link between reading poetry and therapeutic writing.

· How to apply an interactive approach to poetry

CLASS FOUR – Friday 31st October

Excursion to Spitalfields and its Bookstores

Options: Travel from St Albans or meet directly in London, Liverpool Street, for a guided tour of the Spitalfields area and its independent bookstores

Guided visit to this historically rich and diverse area, including visits to Libreria and the Brick Lane Bookshop, to consider the changing face of the bookstore, its relationship with its local community and to our wellbeing.

• Optional tea and cake in a café (not included in the course fee).

CLASS FIVE – Friday 21st November

Putting bibliotherapy into practice

· Adopting a practical approach to bibliotherapy as an art therapy for ourselves and others

· How to set boundaries, create a safe environment and help select appropriate reading choices

· Incorporating reading for wellbeing into our daily routine · Wrap up and farewell

What is included in the course fee of £145?

Qualified, experienced and evaluated Bibliotherapy instructor

Venue for classes in central St Albans at Books on the Hill, 1 Holywell Hill, St Albans, AL1 1ER

Instructor as guide to two excursions to London: The British Library and the bookstores of Piccadilly

Reading materials, articles and online contact with the instructor throughout the course

10% discount at “Books on the Hill” in St Albans to spend on a book of your choice

NOT included-

Travel to, from and around London on excursions

Afternoon tea and cake at The Wolseley or other (optional)

Places are limited – first come, first served!

www.bibliotherapyforme.com

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

To book your place please click here.

‘Bird School is a feast for mind and soul, a treasure trove of insights into the enigmatic and enchanting world of the birds we share our lives with but barely notice. I have learnt so much. Every page is a thrill. Bird School has opened my eyes.’ Isabella Tree, author of Wilding

Step into the hide for the evening in The Apple House, with bestselling and award-winning nature writer Adam Nicolson and bestselling author and esteemed horticulturist Sarah Raven for a glorious encounter with the wild to mark the publication of Adam’s brilliant new book: Bird School.

Over the last two or three years Adam and Sarah have embarked on getting to know the birds they have found around them at Perch Hill, their home in Sussex, engaging with a layer of life they had previously almost taken for granted.

Close to Perch Hill, there is a forgotten field overrun by bracken and thicketed by brambles. It is the haunt of deer and many birds–nightingales, the occasional cuckoo, ravens, robins, owls and in summer the sweet-singing warblers that come north from Africa to breed in English woods.

Adam Nicolson wanted to look and listen, to return to ‘bird school’ and see what it might teach him. He built a small shed amongst the trees with nesting boxes and bird feeders. Cocooned inside, season after season, he got to know the birds: where they nest, how they sing, how they mate and fight, what preys on them, what they are like as living things.

At the same time Sarah embarked on a long and careful study of how to make the garden more bird-rich, providing food, shelter and diversity for the birds, while coming to understand just how much a garden benefits from its birds.

The natural world is under siege. This event will illustrate that knowing and understanding more about the birds that surround you, is one way of doing something about it.

Hosted in The Apple House eco-barn, in an old orchard, guests can explore Tom Stuart-Smith’s Plant Library of over 2000 herbaceous perennials and bulbs ahead of the talk and enjoy a drink while they do so.

The event will host a pop-up plant sale from 4pm–6pm including plants propagated by gardeners Millie Souter and Emma Youngman of The Plant Library and Sunnyside Rural Trust’s Orchard Nursery.

It will also be followed by a book signing with books provided by our local independent bookshop, Books On The Hill, St Albans.

We are delighted to announce our next poetry afternoon with lecturer Michael King will explore poet Sylvia Plath.

Tea and coffee with be provide throughout the event.

To book your place, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

About the book -

The response of one writer to the work of another can be doubly illuminating. In this series, a poet selects and introduces another poet whom they have particularly admired. Ted Hughes's classic selection of Sylvia Plath's poetry provides the perfect introduction to a major body of work in twentieth-century poetry.

Hughes draws upon the collections Ariel, The Colossus, Crossing the Water and Winter Trees, and from Sylvia Plath's Pulitzer Prize-winning Collected Poems.

Here at Books On The Hill, we love all things books so thought it would be great to get people together over breakfast to have a chat about books. Discussions will be around books you love or books you are currently reading and how you are finding them. So if you love to talk about books, but don't have the time to read a set text, join us at 10 am in store for a fun-filled morning.

This event is charged and is suitable for 18+ years.

Book here for your individual book club ticket or click here to purchase a one-year ticket.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

During the event, the team may ask if we can take pictures of the event to promote future events held in store. By purchasing a ticket you are consenting to the team using these pictures for our social media channels but you are able to withdraw your consent at any time during the event.

Classics can be intimidating. They have a reputation of being too highbrow and incomprehensible for us mere mortals. We at Books on the Hill, however, think that is just not true. Classics speak of a universal theme we all have first hand experience of: love, loss, friendship, hope. They are for all of us. To tackle this, come along to our Book Club focusing on "The Classics" from recent and not so recent history.

For August, we have chosen Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin as our Classics Book Club book.

To book your place please click here, or to purchase a year long subscription to our Classics Book Club, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

This Book Club will be held on the last Thursday of the month, and is suitable for ages 18+. Tea and coffee will be provided, as well as glasses should you chose to bring your own tipple.

Here at Books On The Hill, we love all things books so thought it would be great to get people together to have a chat about books. Discussions will be around books you love or books you are currently reading and how you are finding them. So if you love to talk about books, but don't have the time to read a set text, join us at 7pm in store for a fun-filled evening.

Tea & coffee will be available for free on the night or if you prefer please feel free to bring your own alcoholic drinks with you (glasses will be provided).

To reserve your space please click here or to purchase a year long subscription to our afterhours book club, please click here.

Once you have entered your email at the checkout, the option for ‘store collection’ will appear. This will prevent you from being charged any fees when purchasing event tickets. If you are purchasing a book with your ticket, postage is only required if you wish to have it delivered.

We are delighted to announce our next text lecture with Michael King will explore The Garden Party and other short stories by Katherine Mansfield.

To book your place, please click here.

Tea and coffee with be provided.

About the book -

Fifteen exquisite tales from one of the world'd greatest writers of the short storyInnovative, startlingly perceptive and aglow with colour, these stories were written towards the end of Katherine Mansfield's tragically short life. Many are set in the author's native New Zealand, others in England and the French Riviera. All are revelations of the unspoken, half-understood emotions that make up everyday experience - from the blackly comic 'The Daughters of the Late Colonel', and the short, sharp sketch 'Miss Brill', in which a lonely woman's precarious sense of self is brutally destroyed, to the vivid impressionistic evocation of family life in 'At the Bay'.

'All that I write,' Mansfield said, 'all that I am - is on the borders of the sea. It is a kind of playing.'

The Safekeep is a tender story of desire and obsession set in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024 and won the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025.

The book club will be held upstairs in our reading rooms and are suitable for ages 18+ years.

To book your place, please click here.

About the book -

An exhilarating tale of twisted desire, histories and homes, and the unexpected shape of revenge - for readers of Patricia Highsmith, Sarah Waters and Ian McEwan's Atonement. It is fifteen years after the Second World War, and Isabel has built herself a solitary life of discipline and strict routine in her late mother's country home, with not a fork or a word out of place. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel's doorstep - as a guest, there to stay for the season…In the sweltering heat of summer, Isabel's desperate need for control reaches boiling point.

What happens between the two women leads to a revelation which threatens to unravel all she has ever known.

We are delighted to announce our next poetry afternoon with lecturer Michael King will explore poet John Clare.

Tea and coffee with be provide throughout the event.

To book your place, please click here.

About the book -

In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to the most important poets in our literature. The birds are gone to bed; the cows are still,And sheep lie panting on each old mole hill,And underneath the willow's grey-green bough --Like toil a resting -- lies the fallow plough.

-- Hares at Play

Here at Books On The Hill, we love all things books so thought it would be great to get people together over breakfast to have a chat about books. Discussions will be around books you love or books you are currently reading and how you are finding them. So if you love to talk about books, but don't have the time to read a set text, join us at 10 am in store for a fun-filled morning.

This event is charged and is suitable for 18+ years.

Book here for your individual book club ticket or click here to purchase a one-year ticket.

During the event, the team may ask if we can take pictures of the event to promote future events held in store. By purchasing a ticket you are consenting to the team using these pictures for our social media channels but you are able to withdraw your consent at any time during the event.

Classics can be intimidating. They have a reputation of being too highbrow and incomprehensible for us mere mortals. We at Books on the Hill, however, think that is just not true. Classics speak of a universal theme we all have first hand experience of: love, loss, friendship, hope. They are for all of us. To tackle this, come along to our Book Club focusing on "The Classics" from recent and not so recent history.

For July, along the theme of Nostalgia, we have chosen The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro as our Classics Book Club book.

To book your place please click here, or to purchase a year long subscription to our Classics Book Club, please click here.

This Book Club will be held on the last Thursday of the month, and is suitable for ages 18+. Tea and coffee will be provided, as well as glasses should you chose to bring your own tipple.

About the book -

A contemporary classic, The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro's beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House. In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside and into his past.

Here at Books On The Hill, we love all things books so thought it would be great to get people together to have a chat about books. Discussions will be around books you love or books you are currently reading and how you are finding them. So if you love to talk about books, but don't have the time to read a set text, join us at 7pm in store for a fun-filled evening.

Tea & coffee will be available for free on the night or if you prefer please feel free to bring your own alcoholic drinks with you (glasses will be provided).

To reserve your space please click here or to purchase a year long subscription to our afterhours book club, please click here.

This month, we have chosen the theme of nostalgia. The Gentleman from Peru is a beautiful story of a lone traveller’s recollections on a life of love and regrets. A warm and touching summer read.

To book your place, please click here.

The book club will be held upstairs in our reading rooms and are suitable for ages 18+ years.

About the book -

We spend more time than we know trying to go back. We call it fantasising, we call it dreaming. . .

but we're all crawling back, each in his or her own way. A group of college friends find themselves marooned at a luxurious hotel on the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

While their boat is being repaired, they can't help but observe the daily routine of a fellow hotel guest - a mysterious, white-bearded stranger who sits on the veranda each night and smokes one cigarette, sometimes two. When the group decides to invite the elegant traveller to lunch with them, they cannot begin to imagine the miraculous abilities, strange wisdom, and a life-changing story he is about to impart to one of the friends in particular. . .

Deeply atmospheric and sensual, The Gentleman From Peru weaves achingly poignant insight into a story of regret, fate and epic love.

We are delighted to announce our next text lecture with Michael King will explore Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf.

To book your place, please click here.

Tea and coffee with be provided.

About the book -

Between the Acts is Virginia Woolf's last novel, and in her own opinion it was `more quintessential' than any of her others. Set in the summer of 1939 on the day of the annual village pageant at Pointz Hall, the book weaves together the musings of several disparate characters and their reactions to the imminence of a war which is to change the pattern of history. Before the book was published in the spring of 1941, Virginia Woolf had taken her own life.

Please note, this event is not held in-store at the bookshop, but rather in the The Apple House eco-barn at The Serge Hill Project.

To visit the Serge Hill Project website and to book your place onto the event, please click here.

About the event -

Join us for an inspirational evening in The Apple House with Charles Dowding, the leading proponent of no dig gardening, as he shares his advice from more than 40 years of vegetable growing and no dig experiments, to allow everyone to grow more food for less effort.

He will also introduce key insights from his new book Compost: Transform Waste Into New Life, exploring how to reduce waste, nourish your soil, and enhance your plants with homemade compost.

Since starting his vegetable-growing journey in 1981, Charles has gardened in four different locations and grown hundreds of thousands of crops. His decades of experience have led to the development of the highly effective no dig system, which focuses on supporting the web of organisms in the soil to promote healthy, weed-free crops.

In this session, Charles will offer practical tips and advice on all aspects of no dig vegetable growing, with a focus on compost including:

• What to compost and how to do it

• How to achieve the ideal balance of compost materials

• A seasonal timeline for successful composting

• Debunking common composting myths, such as:
  How to add weeds to your compost
  Why heat in your compost bin is not essential
  Why worms are not vital to the composting process
  Why no dig gardening doesn’t require more compost than traditional methods

Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting out, this evening will provide invaluable insights to help you grow vegetables and transform your compost with ease and efficiency.

Here at Books On The Hill, we love all things books so thought it would be great to get people together over breakfast to have a chat about books. Discussions will be around books you love or books you are currently reading and how you are finding them. So if you love to talk about books, but don't have the time to read a set text, join us at 10 am in store for a fun-filled morning.

This event is charged and is suitable for 18+ years.

Book here for your individual book club ticket or click here to purchase a one-year ticket.

During the event, the team may ask if we can take pictures of the event to promote future events held in store. By purchasing a ticket you are consenting to the team using these pictures for our social media channels but you are able to withdraw your consent at any time during the event.

Please note, this event is not held in-store at the bookshop, but rather in the The Apple House eco-barn at The Serge Hill Project.

To visit the Serge Hill Project website and to book your place onto the event, please click here.

About the event -

‘Why do I like bogs so much? I think it is because I feel very at home with them, I think this has something to do with my queerness and their queer nature as a space.’–Alys Fowler

The value of peat bogs as a natural resource and haven of biodiversity is undisputed, yet few of us have been lucky enough to experience their beauty and richness.

Sink deep into the dark, black earths of these rugged places and take a close look at the birds, animals, plants and insects that live within them, with award-winning journalist, author, gardener and presenter Alys Fowler as she launches her compelling new book Peatlands.

Blending memoir with environmental insight, she charts her experiences across places like the Border Mire and the Flow Country, uncovering the rich biodiversity and singular character of these wild spaces.

This is a book about connection—to land, to history, and to the delicate balance of nature. As peat continues to be harvested for horticultural use, Fowler urges us to reconsider what we’re sacrificing—and what it truly means to care for such rare, irreplaceable places.

Alys will reflect on the nature of peat, its cultural and environmental significance and the urgent need to change how we value and care for it.

Hosted in The Apple House eco-barn, in an old orchard, guests can explore Tom Stuart-Smith’s Plant Library of over 1500 herbaceous perennials and bulbs ahead of the talk and enjoy a drink (included in the ticket price) while they do so.