To book your place please click here.

Join beloved historian Lucy Worsley for a fascinating journey into the life and mind of one of the world’s most treasured novelists. In this special anniversary event, Lucy opens the doors to the real rooms Jane Austen lived in — revealing how this celebrated author quietly changed the world and transformed literature.

Far from the genteel world of ballrooms and bonnets glimpsed in her books, discover the fierce determination, heartbreak, and passion behind Jane's 'life without incident'. With fresh research and compelling new insights, Lucy brings to life the story of a woman who defied expectations — and dismissed five marriage prospects — and became one of our most cherished wordsmiths. 

Don’t miss this powerful celebration of Jane Austen’s life, love, and legacy. 

We are delighted to announce our next poetry afternoon with lecturer Michael King will explore various poets from A Literary Christmas: An Anthology including Christina Rossetti, G. K. Chesterton, Thomas Hardy and William Wordsworth.

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 -

This seasonal compendium collects together poems, short stories, and prose extracts by some of the greatest poets and writers in the English language. Like Charles Dickens's ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, they are representative of times old and new--from John Donne's Elizabethan hymn over the baby Jesus to Benjamin Zephaniah's "Talking Turkeys," from Thomas Tusser counting the cost of a Tudor feast to P. G.

Wodehouse's wry story about Christmas on a diet. Enjoy a Christmas Day as described by Samuel Pepys, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, or Nancy Mitford. Venture out into the snow in the company of Jane Austen, Henry James, and Dickens's Mr.Pickwick. Entertain the children with the seasonal tales of Dylan Thomas, Kenneth Grahame, and Oscar Wilde.

To book your place please click here.

In 1290, England mourned the death of a queen, Eleanor of Castile, beloved wife of King Edward I. Her body was carried on a 200-mile journey from Lincoln to London, a solemn procession that would become immortalized in stone. To mark the places where her cortege rested, a heartbroken Edward commissioned twelve magnificent Eleanor Crosses.

More than seven centuries later, bestselling historian Alice Loxton set herself an epic challenge: following in history's footsteps by walking the entire 200-mile funeral route on the corresponding dates. As Alice journeys in search of England’s forgotten queen, over ancient paths and modern motorways, history comes alive in surprising ways. Lively and entertaining, Eleanor uncovers the extraordinary life and formidable character of this lesser-known royal, revealing her inspiring legacy and the hidden history of Britain.

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 The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle 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).

We are delighted to announce our next text lecture with Michael King will explore The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

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 -

Step into the unsettling world of Shirley Jackson with a collection of her finest, creepiest short stories, revealing the queen of American gothic at her mesmerising best. This selection includes 'The Lottery', Jackson's masterpiece and one of the most terrifying and iconic stories of the twentieth century.

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 -

Edward Carey's witty and entrancing story of a young woman trapped in a ramshackle English playhouse – and the mysterious figure who threatens its very survival.

Norwich, 1901. Edith Holler spends her days among the eccentric denizens of the Holler Theatre, warned by her domineering father that the playhouse will literally tumble down if she should ever leave. Fascinated by tales of the city she knows only from afar, young Edith decides to write a play of her own about Mawther Meg, a monstrous figure said to have used the blood of countless children to make the local delicacy, Beetle Spread. But when her father suddenly announces his engagement to a peculiar woman named Margaret Unthank, Edith scrambles to protect her father, the theatre, and her play – the one thing that’s truly hers – from the newcomer’s sinister designs. Teeming with unforgettable characters and illuminated by Carey’s trademark illustrations, Edith Holler is a surprisingly modern fable of one young woman’s struggle to escape her family’s control and craft her own creative destiny.

To book your place please click here.

Survivor. Rebel. Conspirator. Mother and grandmother of kings. Margaret Beaufort was one of the most remarkable and influential women of the Middle Ages. Married at twelve; a mother and widow at thirteen; Margaret rode the vicissitudes of the Wars of the Roses, and two further marriages, to see her only child ascend the throne of England as the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Join historian Lauren Johnson as she brings Margaret Beaufort vividly and memorably to life. Signed copies of her latest book will be available after the talk.

We are delighted to announce our next poetry afternoon with lecturer Michael King will explore poet Ted 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 -

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 some of the greatest poets in our literature. Ted Hughes (1930-98) was born in Yorkshire.

His first book, The Hawk in the Rain, was published in 1957. His last collection, Birthday Letters, was published in 1998 and won the Whitbread Book of the Year, the Forward Prize and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1984 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1998.

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 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.'