Event Type: Libraries

Love reading and discussing books written by women? Then join our Rapid Reads Sharing Circle to share and discuss our favourite quick reads for Women’s History Month! 

The featured reads are “A Fresh Start” edited by Fanny Blake and “84 Charing Cross Road” by Helene Hanff. We’ll be gathering to chat about them over a cuppa.

Prefer a different book? Choose any Women’s History Month-appropriate book under 200 pages to discuss and recommend. It would be great to hear your thoughts and recommendations!

You can join the book chat in person at Redbridge Central Library (Bring a drink in a covered cup or thermos. Biscuits will be provided).

Or you can join online (registration required via Eventbrite). The online joining details will be emailed to you one week before the book chat and again on the morning of 25 March.

For more information or to request a copy of “A Fresh Start” or “84 Charing Cross Road”, please email library.information@visionrcl.org.uk.

The event takes places at Redbridge Central Library – meet in the foyer of the library.

Join us and connect with fellow book enthusiasts while celebrating women’s literary voices for Women’s History Month!

This event is part of Women’s History Month.

If you enjoy reading and talking about books, then join us for a lively book chat celebrating Women’s History Month!

The main book for discussion will be ‘I Who Have Never Known Men’ by Belgian author Jacqueline Harpman, originally published in French in 1995 as Moi qui n’ai pas connu les hommes. It is a haunting, heart-breaking science fiction novel and the first of Harpman’s novels to be translated into English. It was a finalist for the 1995 Prix Femina.

You can join the book chat in-person at Redbridge Central Library.

Or you can join via Teams. Please register via Eventbrite to receive the Teams joining details.

For more information or to arrange a copy of the book, please email library.information@visionrcl.org.uk.

If attending in-person, you can bring a drink in a covered cup or thermos. Biscuits will be provided.

This event is part of Women’s History Month.

---

About the book:

Harpman begins by introducing us to our unnamed narrator, a young woman held captive in a mysterious underground prison with 39 other women of various ages. The guards, all men, remain silent and never speak to the prisoners. The girl, notably, is the only one among them without any memory of the world beyond their prison. None of the captives understand why they are being held or why a single child is among thirty-nine adults.

One day, a piercing alarm reverberates through the facility, prompting the guards to flee. Taking advantage of the chaos, the prisoners manage to escape. Emerging into the unknown, they discover a vast, desolate plain—silent, uninhabited, and inexplicably empty. There are no signs of life, no clues as to what might have happened to the world they once knew.

Set against this eerie and isolating backdrop, the post-apocalyptic narrative delves into themes of loneliness, female friendship and intimacy and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation.