Zola Readers

Emile Zola is most famous for his Rougon-Macquart sequence of twenty novels depicting with almost brutal realism the struggles of life across all classes of society in France during the second half of the nineteenth century through the experiences of the two families across several generations.

Classic: Germinal – the story of a strike in a coal mining community in northern France notable for the detailed description of the appalling working conditions of the miners.

Buy Germinal

Try this first: The Ladies’ Paradise – a fictionalised account of the development of the first department store in Paris which revolutionised the way we shopped for the next 125 years Buy Ladies Paradise

Best biography/critical analysis: Emile Zola – A Bourgeois Rebel by Alan Schom Buy the biography

Zola Readers is an online group which meets through Facebook to discuss Zola and his works. You can join the group at: (4) Zola Readers | Facebook

The ALS supports local, independent bookshops and encourages you to buy from them. For those who prefer to shop online we include the links above.

The Martineau Society

The Martineau Society aims to highlight the principles of freedom of conscience advocated in the nineteenth century by Harriet Martineau and her brother, Dr. James Martineau.  Harriet Martineau journalist and writer (1802-1876), is the more widely known member of the family, and was a populariser of political economy, though her career spanned many other aspects of Victorian literary culture. Although much of Harriet Martineau’s work was closely tied to social and political events of her day, she remains significant as a campaigner for the rights of women, against slavery, and for other minority groups who lacked a voice. 

Martineau’s 1839 novel Deerbrook has been hailed as bridging the literary gap between Jane Austen and George Eliot, and was a strong influence on the writing of Charlotte Bronte. For anyone looking to find the most insightful biographical background to Martineau, there can be no better place to visit than her own 1855 two volume Autobiography written when she was diagnosed as being terminally ill. At the time it was viewed as controversially ground-breaking and outspoken: it continues to be considered one of the best autobiographies by a woman in the nineteenth century.

For further information on Martineau Society information and events, our website is https://martineausociety.co.uk/

The ALS supports local, independent bookshops and encourages you to buy from them. For those who prefer to shop online we include the Society chosen links above.

The Rattigan Society

Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE (10 June 1911 – 30 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background. He wrote The Winslow Boy (1946), The Browning Version (1948), The Deep Blue Sea (1952) and Separate Tables (1954), among many others.  A troubled homosexual who saw himself as an outsider, Rattigan wrote a number of plays which centred on issues of sexual frustration, failed relationships, or a world of repression and reticence.

Classic: The Winslow Boy – many will have read this at school but it remains a favourite, (available on DVD).

Try this first: Deep Blue Sea – Rattigan’s works are not performed frequently at present so try any Rattigan plays that are put on near you but do try Deep Blue Sea if you can.  There is a 2011 screen version of The Deep Blue Sea, directed by Terence Davies, starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston (available on DVD).

Biography: Michael Darlow: Terence Rattigan – The Man and His Work but also try The Rattigan Enigma by Benedict Cumberbatch a BBC documentary on Rattigan’s life and career.

Find out more and join the Terence Rattigan Society HERE

The ALS supports local, independent bookshops and encourages you to buy from them. For those who prefer to shop online we include the links above.

The Kipling Society

Once hailed as the uncrowned laureate of the British Empire, Rudyard Kipling excelled in many literary modes, including poetry, journalism, short stories, novels, children’s books, public speaking, travel writing, science fiction and autobiography. His themes were wide and varied, including wry glances at imperial India, the glories of rural Sussex, the stories of English history, the British ’Tommy’, the strength of comradeship, and, after the first world war, the pain of bereavement and the effects of post-traumatic stress.

Classic: Kim – A street-wise orphan crosses 19^th century India as the disciple of a Buddhist lama whilst also assisting the British in the ‘Great Game’. Buy Kim

Try this first: For adults, Stories and Poems – A broad spectrum of Kipling’s works curated and introduced by Danny Karlin, or, for children, The Jungle Book Buy Stories and Poems    Buy The Jungle Book

Best biographies/critical analyses: The Unforgiving Minute by Harry Ricketts, or, for authoritative completeness, Rudyard Kipling by Andrew Lycett. Buy The Unforgiving Minute    Buy Rudyard Kipling

To find out more and to join the Kipling Society go to https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk or visit his house at https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/batemans

The ALS supports local, independent bookshops and encourages you to buy from them. For those who prefer to shop online we include the Society chosen links above.

The Charlotte M. Yonge Fellowship

Action adventure, romantic heroes, family life, artistic Bohemia, murder, fraud and addiction – Charlotte M Yonge (1823-1901) tackled all these themes, viewing them through a High Church lens. A bestseller in her time, she was read by all classes of society and appealed to all walks of life, from servants to soldiers, from priests to princesses.

Classic: The Heir of Redclyffe: A story of love, repentance and redemption, with a dashing but virtuous hero, it showed contemporary readers that chivalry and romance could exist in the modern world.

Or try this: The Daisy Chain: Foremost among the May children, whose mother dies at the start of the book, is Ethel May: awkward, intense, and deeply committed to her ideals, she is one of Yonge’s most loved characters.

Best biography or analysis of their work: Alethea Hayter’s Charlotte Yonge (Writers and their Work Series) packs a great deal of scholarship into this short and highly readable study of Charlotte M Yonge’s work.

To find out more about CMY’s life and works see www.cmyf.org.uk To find out more about the Fellowship’s activities, including our hosting of this year’s ALS AGM, and to join us, see  https://charlottemyonge.org.uk/cmy/

The ALS supports local, independent bookshops and encourages you to buy from them. For those who prefer to shop online we include the Society chosen links above.

The Orwell Society

George Orwell is known throughout the world for his masterpieces, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.  Any one of his other books or collections of essays, letters and journalism contain further pleasures and important writing, from a description of the perfect pub or how to make a cup of tea to the dangers of nationalism and how it differs from the patriotism deeply felt by Orwell.

Classic: Nineteen Eighty-Four – widely regarded as relevant today and worth a re-read even if you’ve read it before. Buy Nineteen Eighty-Four
Try this first: Down and Out in Paris and London.  Orwell’s first full-length work: entertaining and liable to get you hooked on the rest of Orwell’s writing. Buy Down and Out in Paris and London

Biography: Coming up in 2023, an updated version of D.J.Taylor’s Orwell –
The Life. (first edition 2004)

To find out more and to join The Orwell Society go to: www.orwellsociety.com
<http://www.orwellsociety.com> .

The ALS supports local, independent bookshops and encourages you to buy from them. For those who prefer to shop online we include the Society chosen links above.