The Book Club - A literary Gathering on 26th May 2025 at 3pm - Profit to Help for Heroes
Monday 26. May at 15:00 - 17:00
Arundel Museum
Meet acclaimed authors - Annabelle Thorpe & Jacquie Bloese, enjoy a live panel discussion led by Arundel's own James Doyle owner of Crow Road Books, and take home a signed copy of your favourite books. An unforgettable event for readers and book lovers a like.
Annabelle Thorpe is the author of four novels and has been a travel and features journalist for over twenty five years, spending six years on The Times Travel desk, before becoming deputy travel editor for Express Newspapers, and then taking the same role at the Observer. She was named one of the top 50 travel writers in the UK. Her first novel, The People We Were Before, was set in the Croatian civil war of the 1990s, her second, What Lies Within, is set in Marrakech. Her third, The Village Trattoria, is the first in the 'Casa Maria' series, set in wartime Italy in 1943, in the small Umbrian town of Amatino. She has also written two travel books. Home is rural Sussex, with her husband and cat.
Her recently released novel, The Moonlit Piazza, picks up the story from The Village Trattoria, following the fortunes of the Capaldi family and the trattoria they run, Casa Maria, after Mussolini has fallen and the Germans occupy Italy in all but name. A celebration of the resilience of the human spirit in times of extreme adversity, hidden loves, dangerous secrets, suspicion and lies swirl around Casa Maria, as the Nazis tighten their grip on power.
Jacquie Bloese is a writer of immersive historical book club fiction, originally from the Channel Island of Guernsey. After teaching English in Turkey and Spain, she took up a career in English Language Teaching publishing, a job which combined her love of travel, languages, and different cultures. Her debut novel -The French House was a Richard and Judy 2022 winter book club pick and a finalist in the Mslexia First Novel Award. Her second novel The Secret Photographs/The Golden Hour is set in the underground world of erotic photography in 1890's Brighton and is out now. Jacquie lives in Brighton, where she combines writing fiction with her work in educational and children's publishing.
In line with our VE80 celebrations Jacquies debut novel compliments the theme perfectly. "The French House" is set on the island of Guernsey during the German occupation in WWII and inspired by family history. A heart wrenching story, told with great empathy about how love is complicated and untidy; how life can be brutal, but how strength and courage are found through acts of kindness and compassion.
Ticket price - £10 including Interval refreshments - All profits and donations will be given to Help for Heroes
Arundel Museum • BN18 9PA Arundel, England, United Kingdom
