Name: Book Club
Start: 2026-01-15T19:30:00+00:00
Location: The Hothampton Arms

Wednesday 17th December is our Book Club Christmas get together for all our regulars, there's mince pies and drink so "Come All Ye Book Lovers".

The next regular book Club is on Thursday 15th January*, the third Thursday of the month. Our chosen book is 'The Gingerbread Christmas Village' by Kiley Dunbar.
Synopsis: The annual Wheaton gingerbread exhibit (a model village made of gingerbread) and grotto has been an important part of the sleepy Cotswold hamlet’s Christmas celebrations for decades.
For years the gingerbread exhibition drew visitors from across the region and each year the model town grew more elaborate and ambitious but recently, interest has been dwindling. The gingerbread grotto needs to be rehomed or close forever.
Sixty-four-year-old Margi, the event’s founder, has had enough of village life (and its total lack of eligible men) and is planning to sell up and head to Birmingham to live closer to her niece.
She has lost her spark and her Christmas spirit and decides this will be her last gingerbread village, but despairs when she finds her only support is her old friend, Izzy, her niece Lucy from Birmingham, and Fern, the shy young farmer’s daughter. Oh, and Patrick, the gorgeous, reliable school caretaker.
As if this wasn’t enough, Lucy is determined to get her out dating again and persuades her to try some online dating apps but Margi’s had her heart broken too many times and wonders if she has just missed her chance.
Can they save the Gingerbread Grotto and can Margi get her old spark and her Christmas spirit back?
Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198541152-the-gingerbread-christmas-village

* As the next regular Book Club is not until January there is an optional second book for December/January - If you would like to read a second book, please choose one book from the list below.
● Sandwich - Catherine Newman
● Rivers of London - Ben Aranovich
● The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson
● Small Great Things - Jodi Picoult
● Normal People - Sally Reynolds
● Frankie - Graham Norton
● The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah
● Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers
● Crash - Catherine Miller
● The Secrets of Blythswood Square - Sara Sheldon
● Four Seasons in Japan - Nick Bradley
● The 100 yr old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
● Dear Girls - Ali Wong
● 10 mins 38 seconds in this strange world - Elif Shafak
● What Fresh Hell - Lucy Vine
● Glorious Exploits - Ferdia Lennon
● The Thread - Victoria Hislop
● Less - Andrew Sean Greer
● The Singularities - John Banville
● On The Red Hill - Mike Parker
● The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
● The Garden - Nick Newman
● Everyone in the Group Chat Dies - L.M. Chilton

Everyone is welcome.
For more information email: [email protected] - Subject: Book Club