Tea and Cake with Simon Mayo
Wednesday 25th April, 1.30pm
Simon Mayo needs no introduction – he is one of Britain’s best-loved and well-known radio presenters. He has worked on BBC radio since 1981 and is now the presenter of Drivetime on BBC Radio 2, and co-presenter of Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review on Radio Five Live. But this is something very different – Simon’s first […] See more »
Robert Goddard
Tuesday 1st May, 7.30pm
High on a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion. Uninhabited except for Blake, a young woman of dubious background, secretive and alone, currently acting as housesitter. But her remote existence is going to be invaded when people come looking for the house’s owner, missing rogue entrepreneur, Jack Harkness. Suddenly the whole world wants to […] See more »
Middlemarch – a Study Day. Sold out.
Sunday 13th May, 10.30am
Building on the success of our recent study days, we are pleased to host a day with experienced WEA lecturer Fiona Lucraft. For Virginia Woolf Middlemarch was “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people”, for Henry James it was “a treasure house of detail, but an indifferent whole”, while for Martin Amis […] See more »
Reading Group – Fathers and Sons
Monday 14th May, 7.30pm
With its graceful narrative and unforgettable characters, Turgenev’s haunting study of the clash between idealism and cynicism, as embodied in different generations of the Russian aristocracy, has long been regarded as one of the finest and most appealing of 19th Century European novels, as well as one of the most innovative and influential. See more »
Reading Group – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Monday 14th May, 7.30am
Eleanor leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her life. Except sometimes, everything. A simple act of kindness is about to […] See more »
Lindsey Davis
Tuesday 15th May, 7.30pm
Flavia Albia is offered a sleuthing job by her new husband’s scheming ex-wife – then on the same day he disappears. As a victim of a lightning strike, he may have brain damage. Who knows where he has rambled off to – or even if he remembers who he is? Unable to find him, Albia […] See more »
Emma Healey
Thursday 17th May, 7.30pm
15-year-old Lana goes missing for four agonising days. When she is found, unharmed, in the middle of the desolate countryside, everyone thinks the worst is over. But Lana refuses to tell anyone what happened, and the police draw a blank. The once-happy, loving family returns to London, where things start to fall apart. Lana begins […] See more »
An Evening with Frank Gardner
Friday 8th June, 7.30pm
We are delighted to welcome the BBC Security Correspondent, Frank Gardner, to Ely, to talk about his new thriller, Ultimatum. SIS officer Luke Carlton, hero of the acclaimed bestseller Crisis, returns for an action-packed and unerringly authentic new adventure. Frank brings his wealth of experience covering international and national security matters and his in-depth knowledge […] See more »
New fiction: Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott in Ely
Wednesday 13th June, 7.30pm
They told him everything. He told everyone else. Over countless martini-soaked Manhattan lunches, they shared their deepest secrets and greatest fears. On exclusive yachts sailing the Mediterranean, on private jets streaming towards Jamaica, on Yucatán beaches in secluded bays, they gossiped about sex, power, money, love and fame. They never imagined he would betray them so absolutely. […] See more »
Mick Herron
Wednesday 20th June, 7.15pm
Twenty-six-year-old Maggie Barnes is someone you would never look at twice. Living alone in a month-to-month sublet in London, with no family but an estranged sister, no boyfriend or partner, and not much in the way of friends, Maggie is just the kind of person who could vanish from the face of the earth without […] See more »
An Evening with Tim Winton
Saturday 23rd June, 7.30pm
A new book from Tim Winton is always a very good thing, and it’s even better to be able to hear him talk about his writing. We are delighted to welcome him back to Ely, to talk about his newest novel, The Shepherd’s Hut. For years Jaxie Clackton has dreaded going home. His beloved mum […] See more »
Professor Christopher Andrew
Tuesday 3rd July, 7.30pm
Professor Christopher Andrew is undoubtedly the world’s leading authority on intelligence, having pioneered its study at Cambridge University. The author of many books, including Defence of the Realm: the authorized History of MI5 ,and the two volumes of the Mitrohkin Archive, Professor Andrew has now written the widest ranging history of intelligence and security operations yet […] See more »
An Evening with Matt Haig
Wednesday 11th July, 7.30pm
The world is messing with our minds. Rates of stress and anxiety are rising. A fast, nervous planet is creating fast and nervous lives. We are more connected, yet feel more alone. And we are encouraged to worry about everything from world politics to our body mass index. How can we stay sane on a planet that makes us mad? […] See more »
An Evening with Michael Palin
Tuesday 2nd October, 7.30pm
Each £20 place booked includes admission to the event and a copy of the book (rrp £20). For an additional £4 you can bring a friend to the event. Michael Palin, Monty Python stalwart and much-loved television globe-trotter, brings to life the world and voyages of HMS Erebus, from its construction to the part it played in […] See more »