Every month a group of willing and hungry readers gather at the International Library to discuss a new book, have a nice chat and practice their English. New members are welcome!
This month's book of choice is:
"Pigeon English" (2015) by Stephen Kelman.
Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fates reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to a cotton-picking plantation in Mississippi; from a village missionary school to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel - an intense, heartbreaking story of one family and through their lives the very story of America itself.
Epic in its canvas and intimate in its portraits, Homegoing is a novel about how history shapes us all. It is a searing and profound debut from a masterly new writer.
Eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku, the second best runner in Year 7, races through his new life in England with his personalised trainers - the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker pen - blissfully unaware of the very real threat around him. Newly-arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister Lydia, Harri absorbs the many strange elements of city life, from the bewildering array of Haribo sweets, to the frightening, fascinating gang of older boys from his school. But his life is changed forever when one of his friends is murdered. As the victim's nearly new football boots hang in tribute on railings behind fluorescent tape and a police appeal draws only silence, Harri decides to act, unwittingly endangering the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to keep them safe.
From Autumn 2015, Stephen Kelman's deeply funny, moving idiosyncratic and unforgettable novel will be an AQA GCSE English Literature set text.