Cocktails & Conversation

Welcome, New Faces!

We’re hosting temporary special book club nights just for NEW MEMBERS. With our usual dinners on pause for a few months, it provides the perfect chance to meet more new members.

Why New Members only? This way, everyone starts on the same page - no insider knowledge, no pressure. It’s also our way of opening the door wider as our regular events are limited to one new member at a time, this gives more of you a chance to join us. And it gives us Hosts the perfect excuse to gather over cocktails and plot next year’s adventures with fresh perspectives.

What to expect: We’ll start with a lighthearted, book-inspired icebreaker (nothing too intense, promise), then let the conversation flow. Bring your thoughts, questions, or just your curiosity - this is your space to connect. And to keep our events enjoyable for everyone, we keep things friendly and free of politics or self-promotion.

A note from your Hosts: We’re a mix of personalities - some of us loud (me), some of us quiet - but all of us here to make sure you feel at home. No pressure, no pretenses, just good books (🤞) and good company. Interested?

New Year, New… Identity? Happy 2026! We’re ringing in the new year with a story that asks: Why resolve to be better when you could just become someone else? Perfect for those of us who’ve ever daydreamed about a fresh start…though maybe not this extreme, as our protagonist skips the self-help aisle and goes straight for identity theft.

THIS IS ONE HELL OF A STORY. IT’S JUST NOT HERS TO TELL.

When failed writer June Hayward witnesses her rival Athena Liu die in a freak accident, she sees her opportunity. And takes it.

So what if it means stealing Athena’s final manuscript? So what if it means ‘borrowing’ her identity? And so what if the first lie is only the beginning. Finally, June has the fame she always deserved.

But someone is about to expose her . . .

What happens next is entirely everyone else's fault.

336 pages
[This book is being adapted into a TV series by Lionsgate Television.]

• British Book Award - Fiction (2024)
• She Reads - Book of the Year (2023)
• New England Book Award - Fiction (2023)
• Barnes & Noble - Book of the Year Nominee (2023)
• Audie Award Nominee - Fiction (2024)

Haunting tale of love, lies, and the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.

A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with the water level rising and the weather getting rougher, the Salts stand alone. Then a strong storm hits the island and a woman washes up on their shores. Literally.

Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman (Rowan) back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. And Rowan, who’s spent a lifetime trusting no one, starts to wonder if she’s found the one place she belongs.

But Rowan didn’t wash ashore by accident. She came here to find a missing scientist. And while they all know where he is . . . they're not telling. As the storms worsen, Rowan races against the clock to uncover the truth, while the Salts rush to bury their secrets.

They all must decide: Do they save the seeds, save each other, or let the past drag them all into the dark?

A tale of love, ferocious hope, and the stories we bury to stay alive, Wild Dark Shore is a race against time, nature, and the lies we tell the people we need the most.

352 pgs

Haunting tale of love, lies, and the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.

A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with the water level rising and the weather getting rougher, the Salts stand alone. Then a strong storm hits the island and a woman washes up on their shores. Literally.

Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman (Rowan) back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. And Rowan, who’s spent a lifetime trusting no one, starts to wonder if she’s found the one place she belongs.

But Rowan didn’t wash ashore by accident. She came here to find a missing scientist. And while they all know where he is . . . they're not telling. As the storms worsen, Rowan races against the clock to uncover the truth, while the Salts rush to bury their secrets.

They all must decide: Do they save the seeds, save each other, or let the past drag them all into the dark?

A tale of love, ferocious hope, and the stories we bury to stay alive, Wild Dark Shore is a race against time, nature, and the lies we tell the people we need the most.

352 pgs

Exploring the Letters We Write, the Ones We Don’t & the Ones We Keep . . .

Sybil Van Antwerp is seventy-three, sharp as a tack, and armed with a pen that could charm the socks off a statue. Or make it bleed. Every morning, she sits down to write letters. To her brother, to her best friend, to the university president who won’t let her into the class she’s dying to take (rude), and to her favorite authors, because why not tell them exactly what she thinks of their latest masterpieces? And then there’s that letter, the one she writes over and over but never sends.

For decades, Sybil has used her wit and wisdom to make sense of the world from the safety of her writing desk. And while her letters may be insightful, her real life has been a masterclass in keeping everyone at arm’s length. That is, until a stack of letters from her past lands in her lap, forcing her to confront a heartbreak she’s spent thirty years trying to outrun.

Now, Sybil has a choice: keep hiding behind her perfectly crafted words, or finally send the one letter that could change everything. But to do that, she’ll have to dig up the courage to forgive. Not just others, but herself.

Because some stories can’t be rewritten until you face the blank page of your own heart.

288 pgs

• Carnegie Medal, Longlisted (2025)
• The Center for Fiction - First Novel Prize, Longlisted (2025)
• She Reads Best Best - Book of the Year, Nominee (2025)