The Library will be closed for the Easter bank holidays on Friday 29 March and Monday 1 April

Reading Group: A Long Petal of the Sea (Wednesday)

Reading Group: A Long Petal of the Sea (Wednesday)

Wednesday 7 June - 19.30-21.00

In June the Reading Group will discuss A Long Petal of the Sea, the epic historical novel by international bestselling author Isabel Allende.

September 3, 1939, the day of the Spanish exiles' splendid arrival in Chile, the Second World War broke out in Europe.

Victor Dalmau is a young doctor when he is caught up in the Spanish Civil War, a tragedy that leaves his life – and the fate of his country – forever changed. Together with his sister-in-law, the pianist Roser, he is forced out of his beloved Barcelona and into exile.

When opportunity to seek refuge arises, they board a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda to Chile, the promised 'long petal of sea and wine and snow'. There, they find themselves enmeshed in a rich web of characters who come together in love and tragedy over the course of four generations, destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world.

A masterful work of historical fiction that soars from the Spanish Civil War to the rise and fall of Pinochet, A Long Petal of the Sea is Isabel Allende at the height of her powers.

It's free and you don't need to book. For more information or to reserve a copy of the book call 720392 or email Jodie on [email protected]

Can't make it on Wednesday? Why not come on Saturday instead.