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RISC Bookclub Future Meeting Dates and Titles
These titles are voted for by the bookclub members themselves.
If you are not a member of the bookclub, please email liz@risc.org.uk before coming along to a meeting. Thank you.

Ancestor Stones - Aminatta Forna
July 24th 7.30pm
Recommended to us by a bookclub member, this stunning debut novel is about the untold stories of four remarkable African women. Abie follows the arc of a letter from London back to Africa to a coffee plantation that could now be hers. Thus begins the gathering of her family's history, through the tales of her four aunts, each born to a different wife of her grandfather. 'A writer of startling talent...' Daily Telegraph

A Golden Age - Tahmima Anam
28th August 7.30 pm
An incredible novel about motherhood, a country's war and a moving love story, this is set in East Pakistan in the 1970s, during the Bangladesh War of Independence. There were widespread, rave reviews of the hardcover edition, and it was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. 'A Golden Age pays tribute, with sensitivity and restrained passion, to those who fought for one such arbour: a country to call home'

The Book of Not - Tsitsi Dangarembga
25th September 7.30 pm
This much awaited second novel from one of the most acclaimed Zimbabwean writers of her generation is already fulfilling the promise of her first novel "Nervous Conditions", par excellence. The novel chronicles the plight of the main protagonist Tambu in trying to find her identity and meaning of her existence. Dangarembga's authorial voice delves into the education system, the liberation struggle and attitudes of contemporary Zimbabweans.

When Memory Dies - A Sivanandan
23rd October 7.30pm
Through the viewpoints of three generations of a Sri Lankan family (taking the reader from 1920 through the 1980s), Sivanandan explores a culture destroyed first by colonization, then through the ethnic divisions that are released when the country achieves independence. The family, which lives at a level of poverty that makes survival a constant struggle, must also balance love for one another with a deep love of their homeland. This is a compelling, award winning novel.

The Yacoubian Building - Alaa Al Aswany
27th November 7.30pm
The mesmerising international bestseller which caused an unprecedented stir when it was published in Egypt. Currently being made into an Arabic-language film, it's a celebration and a ruthless dissection of a society dominated by bribery and corruption. 'Captivating and controversial...' New York Review Of Books

Book of Chameleons - Jose Eduardo Agualusa
17th December 7.30pm
Set in contemporary Angola, The Book of Chameleons is populated with characters whose stories never quite settle. The main character Felix trades in an usual commodity - he sells pasts. If you don't like yours, he can come up with an entirely new one for you, full of better memories and with a complete lineage. This is a book about the landscape of memory, its inconsistencies and its randomness.