BookBar is all about bringing people together through books. We know that half the fun of reading a book is discussing it with fellow readers afterwards over a glass of wine or cup of coffee.
BookBar's BookClub is created especially for that purpose. So we launched our virtual book club, which promises all the fun of the real thing, and some additional surprises. Receive a paperback book, watch a virtual interview with the author, and meet other members to discuss it each month.
Scroll down for this season's line up. Got questions? Visit our FAQs here.
Buying a membership as a gift? Just fill in your details for now and email hello@bookbaruk.com with the details of the recipient when you are ready to update them.
This Month's bookclub
April: Seascraper with Benjamin Wood
Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpa’s trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey, gloomy beach to scrape for shrimp; spending the rest of the day selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyeth down the street and rehearsing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream.
When a striking visitor turns up, bringing the promise of Hollywood glamour, Thomas is shaken from the drudgery of his days and begins to see a different future. But how much of what the American claims is true, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas?
Read a paperback copy of Seascraper, listen to a virtual author talk, and meet with other BookClub members to discuss the book.
Your ticket price includes a paperback copy of the book, as well as access to the virtual event. Buy a ticket to a single event for £18 or subscribe to the book club for £15 a month. Sign up for our discussion group for an additional £5 (including a drink).
UPCOMING BOOKCLUBS
May: The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson
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Long-listed for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction, The Mercy Step is a sharply-witted and tender portrait of a young girl's quiet rebellion and her refusal to be brokenSet in 1960s Bradford.
The Mercy Step follows Mercy, a precocious young child facing a world far too big for her small body. She lives with her Windrush-generation parents in a crowded household where her mother's attention is stretched between church and family, and her father's temper is something to be endured or avoided. Feeling like an outsider within her own home, Mercy retreats into books and the companionship of her beloved doll, Dolly, while learning early how to navigate the flaws and failings of the adults around her.
Yet Mercy is nothing if not resilient. Armed with humour, style and fierce imagination, she quietly begins to plot her escape from a traumatic childhood. A raw and deeply affecting novel of childhood, family and survival in 1960s Britain.
Read a paperback copy of The Mercy Step, listen to a virtual author talk, and meet with other BookClub members to discuss the book. The author interview will go live on 25th May and dates for the in-person meet up will be announced soon.
Your ticket price includes a paperback copy of the book, as well as access to the virtual event. Buy a ticket to a single event for £18 or subscribe to the book club for £15 a month. Sign up for our discussion group for an additional £5 (including a drink).
June: Dusk by Robbie Arnott
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Dusk has escaped her captors and reports of killing sprees soon follow. Twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt. As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there's far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they're forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and deeply personal.
Read a paperback copy of Dusk, listen to a virtual author talk, and meet with other BookClub members to discuss the book. The author interview will go live on 29th June and dates for the in-person meet up will be announced soon.
Your ticket price includes a paperback copy of the book, as well as access to the virtual event. Buy a ticket to a single event for £18 or subscribe to the book club for £15 a month. Sign up for our discussion group for an additional £5 (including a drink).
July: The Corespondent by Virginia Evans
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Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, we adored this tender, moving novel that is all about what makes a life well-lived.
Every morning, Sybil Van Antwerp sits down to write letters – to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to attend a class she desperately wants to take, to her favourite authors to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter. Because at seventy-three, Sybil has used her correspondence – witty and wise – to make sense of the world.
But beyond the page, she has spent the last thirty years keeping the people who love her at arms’ length... Until letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life. Now, Sybil must send the letter she has been writing for all these years - and find forgiveness within herself in order to move on.
Read a paperback copy of The Correspondent, listen to a virtual author talk, and meet with other BookClub members to discuss the book. The author interview will go live on 27th July and dates for the in-person meet up will be announced soon.
Your ticket price includes a paperback copy of the book, as well as access to the virtual event. Buy a ticket to a single event for £18 or subscribe to the book club for £15 a month. Sign up for our discussion group for an additional £5 (including a drink).