restless by william boyd book club questions

“And she can't take a gamble on a young unknown, because what if they turn out to be a palace-storming anarchist or, like the much-feted Sally Rooney, author of Normal People, a self-proclaimed Marxist? Too embarrassing.”Īs such, the Duchess went for historical choices that should evade controversy. “She can't pick a book that stirs readers into asking questions about modern British politics – the brilliant Booker winner Shuggie Bain, for instance, would be off-limits for its depiction of 1980s welfarism – lest she be accused of trying to bring down the Government. You won't find her kicking off a discussion about Anna Karenina, for instance. “Any choice will be scrutinised for potential allegory about her own personal life, so she has to avoid books that are primarily about relationships. “It was always going to be tricky for the wife of a future King to recommend books to the nation,” she said. Iona McLaren, The Telegraph’s deputy arts editor, noted that the Duchess had opted for “tried and tested” authors, avoiding anything overtly romantic or political. Of her hopes for The Reading Room, she added: 'I’d like it to be something that everybody could delve into and find something that suited them and enjoy it – I think it's for people's enjoyment.” There’s every type of emotion humans experience in a book.”

“You can escape, and you can travel, and you can laugh and you can cry. “I’ve loved it since I was very small, and I’d love everybody else to enjoy it as much as I do. “To me, reading is a great adventure,” she said. The Duchess has read and enjoyed all four, a combination of recent reads and old favourites, and chose them because she wanted to share them with others.

When the Duchess met Ms Shafak in 2019, she told the British-Turkish author she was one of her 'greatest fans' and described The Architect's Apprentice as a 'magical, colourful tale.” She will recommend four titles each season and her inaugural choices are Ms Mantel’s The Mirror and The Light, Restless by William Boyd, Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owns, and The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak. With The Reading Room, the Duchess – herself an avid reader – aims to create a global community in which book lovers can engage and debate. The Duchess of Cornwall launches her own book club on Friday with four historical choices, including the final instalment of Dame Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, that she hopes will allow readers to “escape, travel, laugh and cry.”

Restless by william boyd book club questions