The DEN's Dozen
As we score our books it is very easy for us to pick out and recommend The Den's Dozen. This could be a good starting point for your book club as these are all superb reads and much loved in book clubs.
- for people who love books -
SHUGGIE BAIN
By Douglas Stuart
'Shuggie Bain' is the 2020 Booker Prize winner. A 10/10 favourite in the Den, it is a brutally honest and brilliantly observed story about a working class family living in 1980s Glasgow, set against the backdrop of high unemployment and poverty.
430 pages
EDUCATED
By Tara Westover
An astonishing and wonderful memoir from Tara Westover about growing up in a strict Mormon family in rural Idaho before discovering the power of education. A remarkable story and still an inspiring choice for book clubs.
380 pages
MADAME BOVARY
By Gustave Flaubert
If you are looking for a classic read, this could be the time to try or re-visit Madame Bovary. And discover an original desperate housewife. Flaubert gets under the skin of his characters and this is a passionate and erotically charged novel.
311 pages
ON CHESIL BEACH
By Ian McEwan
On Chesil Beach is a short intense story of two young lovers in the 60s - when honeymoons were often a couple’s first sexual experience. As in the case of the McEwan’s characters - Edward & Florence. Great McEwan novel and recently released as a film.
166 pages
HAMNET
By Maggie O'Farrell
Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020, this exquisitely written novel tells the story of Shakespeare's son Hamnet who dies from the plague. A magnetic and compelling tale, beautifully capturing England in the 16th century.
365 pages
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW
By Amor Towles
The Den's favourite book in 2019 and a richly deserved novel in our Den's Dozen. Loved by book clubs and a great choice for those feeling 'trapped' by the year of lockdown.Join the 'alluring, amororous adventure' with the Count.
462 pages
THE GOLDFINCH
By Donna Tartt
A modern day epic adventure, kicking off with a bomb explosion in the NYC’s Metropolitan Museum and follows the child survivor who escapes with a piece of art, The Goldfinch and finds himself sucked in to an intoxicating criminal underworld.
850 pages
The WASP FACTORY
By Iain Banks
A disturbing cult read and definitely the wildest card in the Den's Dozen. The Wasp Factory was Iain Bank's debut novel, written in 1984. A modern gothic horror story about a psychopathic teenager living on a remote Scottish island.
240 pages
WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING
By Delia Owens
A mesmerising and lyrical novel by Delia Owens about a young girl alone in the wild beauty of North Carolina marshlands. A bestselling book club read and a superb debut novel from this wildlife scientist.
368 pages
CUTTING FOR STONE
By Abraham Verghese
Cutting for Stone is simply a stunning, tremendous read and unanimously made it into the Den's Dozen. Ask any one in the den (and beyond) and Cutting for Stone will usually make a book club's 'favourite read' list.
530 pages
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
By Harper Lee
Originally published in 1960 To Kill A Mocking Bird uses warmth and humour to deal with the issues of rape and racial inequality in America. A Pulitzer Prize winner the novel has become a classic of modern American literature. And reading it again is a delight!
300 pages
ALIAS GRACE
By Margaret Atwood
Make room in your Den for a Margaret Atwood novel. Alias Grace is a dark but addictive murder story, based on a true mid 19th century scandal. Alias Grace revisits the domestic murder scene and the suspects, one of them being a young house girl.