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The Meeting and Discussion Schedule
Tuesday, 19th May 2026 The Colonel and the Eunuch by Mai Jai (Irene)
Tuesday, 16th June 2026 Flashlight by Susan Choi (Kevin)
Tuesday, 21st July 2026 The Artist by Lucy Steeds (Alison)
Tuesday, 18th August 2026 Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Irene)
Details of each of these meetings are listed further down this page ---->>
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Tuesday, 19th May 2026 The Colonel and the Eunuch by Mai Jai Suggested by Irene 10/02/2026
Tuesday, 19th May 2026 The Colonel and the Eunuch by Mai Jai Suggested by Irene 10/02/2026
Pages 400
Amazon Paperback £9++
Amazon 3.7/5
Goodreads 4.09/5
Shortlisted for the 2024 Translated Literature Award as part of the Baifang Schell Book Prize
The phenomenal #1 Chinese bestseller, with over 4 million copies sold.
This is a searing exploration of what makes a hero: a literary masterpiece, available in the English language for the very first time.
The boy grows up in a small village in south China listening to stories about the Colonel: some say he was a legendary army doctor during the war, some say he was a traitor to the Party, still others say he is a wicked sex machine. The stories are bawdy and mesmerizing, always larger than life. Yet in reality, the Colonel is just a middle-aged man who loves his cat. And why on earth does everyone call him 'the Eunuch'?
From these disparate sources, the boy tries to piece together who the Colonel really is, just as he himself grows up in a rapidly changing China. It is not until many years later, when the boy also becomes a middle-aged man, that he would look back and finally solve the puzzle.
Review
Reading this book is akin to summiting a perilous peak, trekking upwards until a faint path reveals itself, then looking back on the expansive view below... Mai Jia takes many risks, occasionally writing himself into what seem to be impossible situations, but he always dances away from disaster. We fear for him, but then we are forced to admire his skill even more -- Mo Yan, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
The novel's disgraced Colonel is emblematic of our parents' generation. The Colonel and the Eunuch is a cello sonata for our fathers -- Su Tong, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize
Mai Jia's masterpiece; it's both perfectly representative of his work, while also being completely different. I think the term 'hypnagogia' - that transitional state between dreams and reality - might be the best one to describe the book -- Wong Kar-wai
With its story of great changes across history, its melding of deceitful battlefields with every day life, and its plots and characters that are by turns startling and touching, The Colonel and the Eunuch leads us to an understanding
of the inevitability and frustration of existence. In the end, the hardest code to decipher turns out to be life itself. ― David Der-Wei Wang
Uses the mythic adventures of its protagonist to connect the dots of China's 20th century history... In this latest work, Mai Jia, noted for his spy novels, leaves his comfort zone to explore the mysteries of human nature... [A] testament to the author's ambition and commitment to his artform ― Southern Metropolis Daily
Through the winding, extraordinary journey of a single life, we glimpse the vast and unfathomable sea of human existence. Astonishing stories and unforgettable characters rise and fall like waves, moving with power through suspense and mist. In this book, individual suffering is transformed into a profound quest for the meaning and essence of life. The painful scars left by history gradually take on a golden sheen as time passes; the dignity once wounded by prejudice is ultimately restored through the return of love. -- Cixin Liu, author of The Three-Body Problem
Book Description
Mai Jia's first new novel in eight years, a literary coming-of-age story set in twentieth-century China.
From the Back Cover
Mai Jia's first new novel in eight years, a literary coming-of-age story set in twentieth-century China.
About the Author
Mai Jia was born in 1964 and spent many years in the Chinese intelligence services. His first novel in English, Decoded, was published by Penguin Classics in 2002, and has been translated into over twenty languages. Jia's novels have sold over 10 million copies and he is a winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize, the highest literary honour in China
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Flashlight by Susan Choi (suggested by Kevin 19.03.26)
Flashlight by Susan Choi (suggested by Kevin 19.03.26)
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025
WATERSTONES FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2026
Pages 528
Amazon 4.4/5
Goodreads 3.93/5
Paperback Feb 2026 £8.99 +
One evening, ten-year-old Louisa and her father, Serk, take a walk out on the breakwater. They are spending the summer in a coastal Japanese town. Hours later, Louisa wakes on the beach, soaked to the skin. Her father is missing: presumably drowned.
This sudden event shatters their small family. As Louisa and her American mother return to the US, Serk's disappearance reverberates across time and space, and the mystery of what really happened that night slowly unravels.
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Tuesday, 21st July 2026
Tuesday, 21st July 2026
The Artist by Lucy Steeds
The Artist by Lucy Steeds
WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
WINNER OF THE WATERSTONES DEBUT PRIZE 2025
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025
A RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME
A TELEGRAPH AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
Suggested by Alison 17/01/2026
Pages 304
Paperback 7th May 2026
Amazon 4.4/5 £10.99
Goodreads 4.3/5
PROVENCE, 1920
Ettie moves through the remote farmhouse, silently creating the conditions that make her uncle's artistic genius possible.
Joseph, an aspiring journalist, has been invited to the house. He believes he'll make his name by interviewing the reclusive painter, the great Edouard Tartuffe.
But everyone has their secrets. And, under the cover of darkness, Ettie has spent years cultivating hers.
Over this sweltering summer, everyone's true colours will be revealed.
Because Ettie is ready to be seen.
Even if it means setting her world on fire.
'A furiously romantic, sun-drenched mystery . . . The Artist will leave you yearning in every sense of the word' Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep
'The Artist is a lush, impressive debut; the writing is rich and sensuous, especially in descriptions of food, the landscape and the act of creation. Lucy Steeds is one to watch' Sunday Times, BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Beautiful' Daily Telegraph, BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Dextrous and powerful . . . a hugely accomplished portrait of ambition and self-fulfilment' Guardian
'The year's most lauded debut novelist . . . A sultry, headily perfumed portrait of monstrous male egos and oppressed overlooked women . . . The Artist uncovers its secrets by stealth' Telegraph
'A blaze of a book, poetic, passionate and quietly powerful' Daily Mail
'This compelling, evocative debut will transport you to idyllic, sun-drenched Provence in 1920 . . . An absorbing, poetic read' Mail on Sunday
'Captivating . . . with imagery as lush as an oil painting' Washington Post
'Enthralling . . . the descriptions of the landscape, the meals they eat and the art created are so rich and evocative it's as if you're there' Good Housekeeping
'Lucy Steeds transports the reader with her sensuous depictions of food, art, and landscape . . . an assured and atmospheric debut' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent
'An intoxicating tale of creativity, possession and freedom. An impressively assured debut which asks questions about all those who are painted over by history' Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre
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Tuesday 18th August
Tuesday 18th August
Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar (suggested by Irene 18.03.26)
Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar (suggested by Irene 18.03.26)
Martyr!: by Kaveri Akbar
Suggested by Irene 18/03/26
The Instant New York Times Bestseller
Goodreads Choice Award
Pages 325
Amazon 4.1/5
Goodreads 4.15/5
Paperback Feb 2025 £7.40 +
'Profoundly moving' Elif Shafak
'Dazzling' Ann Patchett
‘Gorgeous’ Tommy Orange
‘Radiant’ Lauren Groff
‘Stunning’ John Green
‘Miraculous' The New York Times
‘Sensational’ Daily Mail
‘Kaleidoscopic’ The Guardian
A young man uncovers the truth behind his mother’s death in this haunting debut that takes you from New York to Tehran.
Cyrus Shams has always been lost. He’s grown up tangled in the mysteries of his past – an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields, a haunting work of art by an exiled painter, and his mother, whose plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf when he was just a baby.
Now, newly sober and maybe in love, he’s headed for an encounter that will transform everything he thought he knew. Can a final revelation change the truth of Cyrus's life?
Electrifying, funny, and all-consuming, Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! is a masterpiece.
An instant New York Times Bestseller
Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Prize
Book of the Year in The Observer, The New York Times, and The New Yorker
A National Book Award Finalist
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Meeting Attendance
Meeting Attendance
Meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. Please be cautious of months where the 1st day of the month is actually a Wednesday. This can be confusing.
Admin will send out a Meeting Reminder via email, without fail, at least 3 days before the meeting day.
2 days before a meeting, members will be prompted via email, to indicate if they will be attending or not.
Out of simple courtesy to the group, if you are unable to attend a meeting please send in an apology before the meeting so we are not holding up the meeting for your arrival. A simple NO in the subject line of an email will be sufficient. No excuses, please, are necessary. If you haven't sent an apology before the meeting, you will not receive the Minutes of the meeting you didn't attend as it will be assumed you were not interested in the content of that particular meeting. Three no-shows/no-apologies in a row and your position in the group will be marked as Vacant.
You will need to try to commit to attend around 9 of the 12 sessions a year.
Life never goes as planned and your circumstances or priorities can change. In this case let us know as soon as possible so your position can be offered to someone on the Waiting List. You will always be welcome to re-join the group.
Once a year, after the February meeting, you will be asked via email to confirm your interest and commitment to the group. This will give people a chance to review their circumstances and bow out gracefully, if this reading group no long is relevant to you.
If less than 5 members say they will be attending a meeting, then the meeting will be disbanded due to lack of interest.
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