Missed this event? Listen to the podcast recording of the discussion with Christophe van Gerrewey here

 

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Looking for new reading material? Want to engage with readers from all over the world? Want to discover books from emerging fiction writers? Join us for a digital EUPL Book Club!

 

Our second edition of EUPL book club will spotlight family and relationships dynamic, and we are bringing three novels to the table. To be able to participate in the book club, you only need to read one. But if you have time, you can definitely read two, or even all of them! Make sure to register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/digital-eupl-book-club-family-and-relationships-tickets-104419603846

 

The author of one of the three books, Christophe Van Gerreway, will join us to discuss his book Op de Hoogte and more during an online Q&A session!

 

 

For our second meeting. we will be discussing: 

 

Vom Ende der Einsamkeit (On the end of loneliness) by Benedict Wells 

“A troubled childhood is like an invisible enemy: you never know when it is going to strike.” Although being fundamentally different, Jules and his siblings Marty and Liz have all been shaped by a tragic event in their childhood: growing up in a sheltered family home, they lost their parents in an accident. Although subsequently sent off to the same boarding school, the siblings each make their own way in life and over time become estranged and lose touch. Notably, the once so confident Jules slowly retreats into an imaginary world. His only friend is the mysterious Alva, but it will take him years to discover what she means to him and what she has been hiding from him all these years. As adults, Alva and Jules meet again and for a moment it seems as if they could make up for lost time. Then, however, they are caught up by their past… A heartfelt novel which deals with overcoming loss and loneliness, and addresses the difficult question of which characteristics are so intrinsically linked to a person that, no matter how their life develops, they will remain unchanged. But, above all, this is a great love story.

 

Op de Hoogte (Up to date) by Christophe van Gerrewey

A young man awakens in a house belonging to friends. They are on holiday, and he is taking care of their cat. He remembers how he spent the previous summer in exactly the same house, accompanied by his lover. She is no longer there, and he decides to write her a letter, to give her an account of everything that has changed since their breakup. While writing, the nameless narrator realises that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to actually mail his letter. Wouldn’t it be better to publish the letter as a novel? Not everything goes according to plan: in an increasingly perverse mix-up, the addressee turns the tables, and she starts talking to him, instead of the other way around. Soon, the real purpose of this letter (and this book) becomes unclear: is this a letter of complaint from a jilted lover, an exhibitionist confession to the world, or a scrupulous, somewhat ridiculous self-examination? And then there is the cat, still recovering from the flea infestation of last year, and probably the real protagonist in the novel, or at least the only living creature the narrator is able to make contact with.

 

Longshore drift by Karen Gillece 

In the blink of an eye, in a busy Brazilian marketplace, a small boy disappears without a trace... His mother's free-living existence, travelling South America with her lover and son, comes to a sudden, bru tal end. Two years later, broken from searching for her missing son, Nacio, and desolate at her lover's departure, Lara returns to her childhood home on the southwest coast of Ireland. As she struggles to come to terms with her loss, Lara once again befriends Christy, her childhood sweetheart, who finds himself increasingly drawn to her bohemian nature. But what starts as an interest in her past grows into an obsession. As Lara tries to piece her life back together, never losing hope for Nacio, Christy begins to fall apart. Longshore Drift is a tale of passion and betrayal, of the consequences of searching for love in all the wrong places, and of a heartbroken mother's unswerving conviction that her child will be returned to her – even when all hope seems to be gone.

 

Join our Facebook Book Club group to follow the discussion: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2962720170415310/