7  Sept 2026   Heatwave by Penelope Lively (192 pages) (+discussion of summer reads)

Heatwave is the story of a family fragile and teetering on the edge of potential destruction. Pauline, a writer, is spending the summer at World’s End, her cottage in an unknown place in middle England. The neighbouring cottage is inhabited by her daughter Teresa, her husband Maurice and their baby son Luke. Maurice is a writer, and in the midst of a book with which he is increasingly preoccupied. This frequently takes him to London and his female copy editor. Pauline watches from the sidelines as her daughter begins to make the same mistakes in love Pauline herself has previously made.

5 Oct 2026   The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell (384 pages)

Winner of the 2010 Costa Novel Award and a Sunday Times bestseller (2010), The Hand That First Held Mine is a gorgeously written story of love and motherhood from the author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait. 

When the sophisticated Innes Kent turns up on her doorstep, Lexie Sinclair realises she cannot wait any longer for her life to begin, and leaves for London. There, at the heart of the 1950s Soho art scene, she carves out a new life. In the present day, Elina and Ted are reeling from the difficult birth of their first child. Elina struggles to reconcile the demands of motherhood with her sense of herself as an artist, and Ted is disturbed by memories of his own childhood that don't tally with his parents' version of events. As Ted begins to search for answers, an extraordinary portrait of two women is revealed, separated by fifty years, but connected in ways that neither could ever have expected.

2 Nov 2026   When The Cranes Fly South by Liza Ridzén (289 pages)

When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén is a moving Swedish bestseller about an elderly widower named Bo navigating the struggles of ageing. Isolated in rural northern Sweden, he fights to maintain his independence and his dog's companionship, while desperately hoping to mend his relationship with his son before he dies. 

7 Dec 2026   James by Percival Everett (320 pages)

In James, Percival Everett reimagines Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by focusing on Jim, an escaped slave. A secondary character seen only through Huck's perspective in Twain’s original, Jim becomes a central and complex character in Everett's narrative. While revealing Jim's inner world, this acclaimed novel revisits familiar events and characters, crafting new outcomes that redefine the classic tale. Published in 2024, James explores themes of identity, freedom, and survival with poignancy, humour, and relevance to our world today

4 Jan 2027   Ordinary Human Feelings by Megan Nolan (240 pages)

It’s 1990 in London and, after the death of a young girl on an estate, the finger of suspicion is pointing at one reclusive Irish family: the Greens. At their heart sits Carmel: beautiful, other-worldly, and once destined for a future beyond her circumstances until life – and love – got in her way. Now, as the scandal unfolds and the tabloids hunt their monster, she must confront the secrets and silences that have trapped her family for so many generations. Longlisted for The women’s Prize for Fiction 2024. Shortlisted for Fiction - 2023 Nero Book Awards

1 Feb 2027  The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (464 pages)

The Nightingale is a historical fiction novel by Kristin Hannah that follows two vastly different sisters in France during World War II. Separated by circumstance, they embark on dangerous, inspiring paths toward survival, love, and freedom under German occupation, highlighting the incredible, often-overlooked bravery of women on the home front.

1 Mar 2027   Guilty by Siobhan Mc Donald (352 pages)

Doctor Luke Forde lives a happy life in a gorgeous house in County Clare - but when he wakes up one morning with the word 'guilty' spray-painted onto his boathouse, it's clear that his dark secret is no longer a secret. Desperate to keep his daughter Nina safe, he does everything he can to cover up the threatening notes and anonymous packages, but is he doing enough to keep his past hidden and his secret safely locked away?

5 April 2027   Kin by Tayari Jones(368 pages)

From the bestselling, award-winning author of An American Marriage, this is a novel that sparkles with wit, intelligence and deep feeling about two lifelong friends whose worlds collide in the face of a devastating tragedy. A profound story about mothers and daughters, friendship and sisterhood, and the complexities of being a woman in the American South. Kin is exuberant, emotionally rich and impossible to put down!

10 May 2027*   Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks (368 pages)   

Snow Country, tells the story of Lena, a girl born with nothing but her own strength of character to an alcoholic mother in a small town in southern Austria in 1906 and Anton, the restless son of a bourgeois family who sets out to make his fortune in pre-First World War Vienna.

7 June 2027   Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover (400 pages)

Educated is a 2018 memoir by American author Tara Westover in which she recounts overcoming her survivalist Mormon family in order to go to college and emphasizes the importance of education in enlarging her world. 

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When and Where?

The Sperrin U3A Book Club meets on the first Monday of the month from September to June apart from Bank Holidays when we meet on the second Monday of the month instead. Meetings start at 2pm and are held in Magherafelt Library, situated in the Bridewell.

Materials and Tips

Whilst some of our members use audio books or e-books, most still like the feel of a book in their hand. Below are some tips for accessing books, e-books and audiobooks.

·      It can be worthwhile checking if your local library has a copy of a book or can order it from another library for you.

·      Another member of the book club may already have read the book and be willing to lend it to you.

·      Amazon often has second hand copies of books that can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of the new version

·      World of Books www.wob.com has been recommended by some of our members as a good website for second hand books. It has free UK delivery and usually delivers within a few days. Another suggested website is www.abebooks.co.uk/ and most deliveries are free.

·      NI Libraries’ Libby App lets you download e-books and audiobooks for free if you are a library member. For more details see the NI Libraries website https://www.librariesni.org.uk/