Hadlow Down Book Club Review for March

Words define us, they explain us, and on occasion, they serve to control or isolate us.’

We think of a dictionary as giving objective, authoritative definitions of words, based on their usage and written sources. This is not entirely the truth, however – they also reflect the dominant culture. In this month’s book The Dictionary of Lost Words (2022) Pip Williams gives an account of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary – the first dictionary since Samuel Johnson’s (1755). Work began in 1857 and it was published in full in 1928. Her novel explores those words that are omitted or inadequately defined. Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review for March”

Hadlow Down Book Club Review for February

An act of free and general pardon, indemnity, and pardon.”
Last month we read The Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (2022), a historical thriller set in the 17th century in the aftermath of the Restoration. The Act of Oblivion (1652) was the edict that pardoned those who had fought against the king except for those directly responsible for his execution. One of the most prominent of these was Colonel Edward Whalley, a cousin and friend of Oliver Cromwell, who fled to America with his son-in-law Colonel Will Goffe. The novel follows their pursuit through the wilds of pre-revolutionary New England. Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review for February”

Book Club Review – November

I’ve always believed in inherited pain’

This month our chosen book is The island of Missing Trees by the Turkish writer Elif Shafak, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022. It is about the Cypriot civil war and how the trauma of such a war imperils future generations as well as uprooting ordinary lives. It is also a Romeo and Juliet story of the passionate love affair between Kostas, a Greek Cypriot and Defne a Turkish Cypriot and it centres on the story how their daughter Ada comes to terms with the past she has never known. Continue reading “Book Club Review – November”

Driftwood Gardens Visit

Those wanting to join the Hadlow Down Horticultural Society car trip to the remarkable Driftwood Gardens on Thursday 16th. June need to let Heather Mines know by Saturday 11th.
May be an image of flower, tree and outdoors
The inclusive price for entrance and reputedly excellent refreshments is £11.50. Please contact Heather at heathermines2@hotmail.com or on 07974204231 to confirm.
All meet at the gardens located at 4, Marine Drive Seaford BN25 2RS at 10.30 am.
An article about the gardens from BBC Gardeners World Magazine can be viewed at
http://www.geoffstonebanks.co.uk/media/gwmay2021.pdf