Book Groups 📚
We discuss a book that we have read and express our opinions, likes and dislikes, but most importantly, we have an enjoyable chat.
The books we read are varied and sometimes from authors or in genres that you perhaps wouldn't normally consider. Groups use a mix of books chosen by the members: sometimes purchased and sometimes these can be Library sets (ie, the Leeds library service will reserve them).
For more information: E. groups@u3aleeds.com
Programmes for Each Group
Group A (Janet Powell) 📘
2025
4th December - Olive Collins - The Tides Between Us - 2017
In the early 1800’s, a young boy is deported from Ireland to a plantation in Jamaica. When a skeleton is unearthed in 1990’s Ireland, so too are the long-buried truths of family links to the slave trade. (Alison)
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2026
8th January - Lisa Jewell - The Night She Disappeared - 2021
A teenage mum goes out on a date but doesn’t return home. One year later, a sign is nailed to a fence near the woods where she was last seen –it reads: DIG HERE.
5th February - Andrew Miller - The Slowworm’s Song - 2022
An ex-soldier is summoned to appear at an inquiry in Belfast, but to testify now could wreck his fragile relationship with his daughter - so he writes her a letter, which is a confession and a defence.
5th March - JoJo Moyes - Me Before You - 2012
Having lost her job and seeking a new one, Lou is employed as a carer for Will, a quadriplegic, whose life has shrunk to the confines of a wheelchair - but can Lou open up his life?
2nd April - Ocean Vuong - On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - 2019
A letter written from a son to a mother who cannot read, unearths a family’s history from before his birth. It tells of the lasting impact of war in Vietnam and of his family’s struggle to forge a new future.
7th May - Francis Spufford - Golden Hill - 2016
New York, 1746: A handsome young stranger is fresh off a boat from England, and he has a letter of credit for £1,000 to cash - and so begins the adventurous comedy of young Mr Smith.
4th June - Penelope Fitzgerald - The Beginning of Spring - 1988
Moscow, 1913: Frank Reid’s wife has just left him without an explanation, leaving him to run his print works and look after their 3 children - how is the seemingly unflappable Frank going to cope?
2nd July - Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - 2005
When their 85-year-old émigré engineer father falls in love with the voluptuous gold-digger, Valentina, sisters Vera and Nadezhda must put aside a lifetime of feuding to save him.
6th August - Joseph Conrad - Victory: An Island Tale - 1915
Axel Heyst has retreated from the world to live alone on the island of Samburan, but when he rescues a young English girl from an exploitative situation, their love affair rescues him from isolation.
3rd September - David Lodge - Deaf Sentence - 2008
Retired linguistics professor, Desmond Bates is going deaf, a constant source of domestic friction and social embarrassment. Then his deafness leads to a misunderstanding with a young woman, which threatens to destabilise his life completely.
1st October - Mark Sullivan - Beneath a Scarlet Sky - 2017
Based on a true story, an Italian teenager joins a resistance group helping Jews escape over the Alps. In a bizarre twist, he is recruited to be the personal driver for one of Hitler’s most powerful commanders, giving him the chance to spy for the Allies.
5th November - Eowyn Ivey - The Snow Child - 2012
Set in 1920’s Alaska: A middle-aged couple have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead. Following the first snow of winter a young girl appears mysteriously from the woods – is she what she seems?
3rd December - Naill Williams - This Is Happiness - 2019
It’s 1958, and after dropping out of seminary school, 17-year-old Noel Crowe returns home. But all is about to change in the small parish of Faha, when the news reaches town that electricity is finally arriving, and a lodger comes to stay in Noel’s grandparents’ house.
Group B (Anne Smith) 📗
2025
Pending
Group C (Sue Buchan) 📕
2025
27th November - W Somerset Maugham - The Painted Veil - 1925
A doctor’s wife is forced to travel to a Chinese city with a cholera outbreak. (Sarah)
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2026
22nd January - Victoria Hislop - The Island - 2005
Alexis needs to find out how her mother’s past is linked to a leper colony off Crete. (Linda)
26th February - Samantha Harvey - Orbital - 2023
SF/Literary Fiction/Philosophical Drama – It follows six astronauts over 24 hours on a space station. (John)
26th March - Ann Patchett - The Dutch House - 2019
Maeve and Danny’s father become rich: Then a stepmother arrives and their lives change. (Sue V)
23rd April - Elif Shafak - The Island Of Missing Trees - 2022
Teenagers on Cyprus are divided by war in 1974: Decades later, a London girl seeks her family history. (Anne)
28th May - Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger - 2008
Darkly humorous view of Indian class struggles: Balram’s rise from poverty to success. (Sally)
25th June - Jane Austen - Mansfield Park - 1814
Shy Fanny is adopted, as a child, by rich relatives. (Amanda)
23rd July - David Park - Travelling In A Strange Land - 2018
Tom ventures out into snowbound landscapes, driving from Belfast to Sunderland to his sick son. (Alison)
27th August - Chris Whitaker - All The Colours Of The Dark - 2024
Coming of age tale, love story and thriller about kidnapped children. (Hazel)
24th September - Kate Atkinson - Life After Life - 2013
Ursula Todd, born 1910, has multiple alternate possible lives - and deaths. (Carol)
Group D (Sue Buchan) 📙
Please open this link to view the list of titles the group will consider between August 17 2026 and May 17 2027.