“Pilgrim” by Timothy Findley (Canada) Book Club Favourite of Season 3 Synopsis and Review “Pilgrim”: a journey well worth taking Pilgrim is a man who cannot die. On 17 April 1912, he fails, once again, to commit suicide, his heart miraculously beginning again, hours after he is found hanging from a tree. Admitted to the Burgholzi Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich, Pilgrim begins a battle of … Continue reading Pilgrim
“Welcome to Paradise” by Mahi Binebine (Morocco) Book Club Favourite of Season 2 Synopsis and Review “Welcome to Paradise”: a Difficult but Inescapable Journey “Welcome to Paradise” opens with a group of people waiting on a beach for the signal to start their crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar for the shores of Spain. They are a disparate group but all are seeking the ‘promise … Continue reading Welcome to Paradise
“Empress Orchid” by Anchee Min (China) Book Club Favourite of Season 1 Synopsis To rescue her family from poverty and avoid marrying her slope-shouldered cousin, seventeen-year-old Orchid competes to be one of the Emperor’s wives. When she is chosen as a lower-ranking concubine she enters the erotically charged and ritualised Forbidden City. But beneath its immaculate facade lie whispers of murders and ghosts, and the … Continue reading Empress Orchid
