Newsletter: 16 Sept 2026 News and Book Reviews

September 16, 2026 10:12 am No Comments

Hello Readers,

This newsletter concentrates on what some of us here are reading, and what we are publishing. Our events – as always – are listed on our website, and there’s plenty of them. Many sell out…as we go to press our talk by Owen Jones over at Himmah has just been booked out.

Publishing then…

We have reprinted our Leaves of Southwell in paperback. This was a facsimile hardback of the 1945 edition, text by Nikolaus Pevsner and photographs by FL Attenborough (yes, father of…) with a new introduction by Gillian Darley. We should perhaps have continued to print the hardback as it was a nice chunky edition (mea culpa) but at least it’s out again! Winter in the Bookshop by Sylvia Riley has also been reprinted – our memoir of “poverty and politics” in the old St Anns, based round the second hand bookshop there, which was also the world headquarters of a Trotskyist movement. All life was in St Anns in the 60s. We have a new edition of Colin Wilson’s autobiographical novel Adrift in Soho. The title will do for a precis of the story, but for this edition Colin Stanley has written a new introduction.

Our recent Caribbean Pioneer Gardeners about the Windrush generation allotment-holders on Hungerhill Gardens, St Anns, is about to go into reprint after only a few weeks. We have 29 copies left, which will not be enough for the exhibition and event at Beeston Library… see our events pages. Thanks to all who have promoted this book, especially Kemet Radio, the local Black and Caribbean station.

And then it’s our sixth, seventh and eighth book on D.H. Lawrence and his circle. D.H. Lawrence and the Gypsies has been mentioned before but we’ve only just done a talk on the book, at the D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum, which was full. Last Friday the author, John Pateman, ran a guided walk for his latest, D.H. Lawrence in Nottingham, which is out now. That walk ended with afternoon tea in the sunshine in our alleyway. We’ll run it again down the line. Finally, we have a new edition of Jessie Chambers’ memoir D.H. Lawrence: a personal record, with a new introduction by Kate Foster. Kate has done a lot to keep the memory of Jessie Chambers and Haggs Farm alive as an important part of the Lawrence story. To be launched in Eastwood, then later sometime here.

Poetry

We’re currently revamping our poetry section, having discovered we have so many books unsold for two, three, four or even five years. The good news is that our in-store sale of these books at between 25-75% has resulted in a lot of poetry books being sold. The sale continues (in-store only) until September 20.

If you want to talk about poetry, we recommend our friends at Nottingham Stanza – they are now meeting at the central library where they are already picking up new members.

What We’re Reading: Non-Fiction

	Reds: A Global History of communism by Paul Mason (Bloomsbury £30) A brick of book, which manages to be too big and too small at the same time. It’s a narrative history, starting with utopian thinkers and ending up with the current market communism of China. He races along, concentrating on the most important bits – the Russian Revolution, Stalin, Spanish Civil War, Mao, the hereditary communist kingship of North Korea, Prague Spring, it’s all there. Too big because it tries to do the impossible cramming everything in, yet too small as every story is only partly told. The Holodomor, for example, the mass famine in Ukraine gets two pages. Specialists will know this stuff. People who want a quick guide but who have done some weight-lifting will be happier. –Ross
	The World Within by Guy Stagg (Scribner £10.99) Guy Stagg takes a journey through the lives and minds of three of the last century’s most fascinating thinkers, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, the poet and painter David Jones, and the writer, philosopher and ‘secular saint’, Simone Weil. They all had one thing in common, the need to retreat and withdraw. Blending history, travel and biography, of himself as much as his subjects, it is also a literary pilgrimage of sorts, through a wandering, circuitous route, without a fixed destination. Both relaxing and meditative. Also a gentle call to ‘action’ and resistance through rest and inactivity. Not so much throwing yourself on the gears of the modern world, more ignoring them altogether and letting them rust. –Carl
	Into Being: The radical craft of memoir and its power to transform by Lily Dunn (Manchester University Press £10.99) I’m writing a memoir at the moment and have read a lot of how to books. This was my favourite and the one that got me unstuck when I was unsure how to proceed. Insightful and practical, it dives deep into why we write memoirs, how the writing changes us, and how to craft them, with lots of memoir examples and extracts from author conversations. Highly recommended. –Giselle
	Magic Maker: The Enchanted Path to Creativity by Pam Grossman (Hay House £16.99) There are two main strands in this book: one looks at the creative and (in varying ways) magical practices of a wide range of culture makers including the likes of David Bowie, Sylvia Plath, Hilma af Klint, William Blake, and Beyoncé. The other is a practical guide to using magical techniques to unlock the reader’s personal creativity, whatever it is they’re creating, from music and visual art to writing and scientific innovation. The book is at once funny and light hearted – not taking itself too seriously, but also a powerful guide to getting on with turning our creative fantasies into real things, and launching them out into the world. –Kate
	Danse Macabre by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton £13.99) I’m excited to see this book in the shop. An absolute must-read classic by the master of horror, Stephen King. A mixture of autobiography and observation on horror in popular culture it spans books, movies, radio and TV in King’s wonderfully relaxed style, including commentary on his own novels. It will keep you reading as much as his novels do. Originally published in 1981, this version includes a new essay called ‘What’s Scary’. What’s not to like? –Giselle

What We’re Reading: Fiction

	**My Dreadful Body by Egana Djabbarova, translated from the Russian by Lisa C. Hayden (Linden Editions £12.99)*** A brick of book, which manages to be too big and too small at the same time. It’s a narrative history, starting with utopian thinkers and ending up with the current market communism of China. He races along, concentrating on the most important bits – the Russian Revolution, Stalin, Spanish Civil War, Mao, the hereditary communist kingship of North Korea, Prague Spring, it’s all there. Too big because it tries to do the impossible cramming everything in, yet too small as every story is only partly told. The Holodomor, for example, the mass famine in Ukraine gets two pages. Specialists will know this stuff. People who want a quick guide but who have done some weight-lifting will be happier. –Sarah *not available for web orders at time of posting, email us to order a copy
	*Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (Granta £9.99)* Keiko, a 36-year-old woman who has worked in a convenience store for most of her adult life, finds comfort in the store’s routines and rules, but society views her as abnormal because she is unmarried, childless, and working a part-time job. In a short novel that I found sharp, funny, and quietly unsettling, Murata questions what is considered a “normal” life. Through the microcosm of the store, modern capitalism outside, plus the dichotomy of tradition and modernity in Japanese culture is critiqued with a razor sharp efficiency. –Carl
	The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili, translated from the Georgian by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin (HarperCollins £20) August was ‘Women in Translation’ month, a favourite focus of mine. This book, which is just shy of 1,000 pages, took up a lot of my month, but I was very happy to spend that long in this sprawling family history. Haratischwili introduces us to a century of Georgian women living through tsarist Russia through to today. We move with them through their highs and lows, through huge political changes, brutal situations and family schisms. Don’t be intimidated by its size, embrace a big book! –Sarah
	Danse Macabre: Strange Stories from France edited by Mike Ashley (British Library £10.99 ) In an unlikely coincidence, I’ll recommend you a second book called Danse Macabre. This is the latest from the wonderful British Library Tales of the Weird series. Almost as interesting as the chilling short stories are the short author biographies preceding each chapter, showing how writers of horror rubbed elbows with philosophers and other literary greats in the salons of Paris in the 18th and 19th centuries. I particularly loved Judith Gautier’s ‘The Serpent Flower,’ a story of botanical horror where a mysterious and lethal plant enacts the revenge of a long-dead, jilted lover. Perfect for reading before bed… if you want nightmares. –Kate
	Fawn by C. N Vair (3AM Books £20) The first signs of rain and evenings closing in has me reaching for horror to snuggle up with. This is an atmospheric pastoral gothic and was the perfect ease into spooky season. Our protagonist runs a wildlife sanctuary and is called to rescue a fawn that there is something unnatural about. There’s a fight for land, a zealous pastor, witchcraft, greed and the devil himself. I really enjoyed the way Vair created a sense of quiet dread throughout this. The claustrophobia of small town politics, fickle friends and fighting for what you’ve built. –Sarah

Making Palestine’s History: Women’s Testimonies, by Jehan Helou (Spokesman Books)

January 27, 2023 11:44 am No Comments

This interesting book brings to the forefront the struggle of Palestinian women for National and women’s liberation between 1969 to 1984. Comprising eighteen oral testimonies with Palestinian women, including a round table discussion, the author is to be commended on the quality of the translation and her perseverance in bringing these to the attention of a wider audience. That it took two years to translate the testimonies from colloquial Arabic into English, highlights the passion and commitment to this project.

The introduction to the testimonies by the author is a necessary requirement as it reminds the reader of the long period of struggle waged by women from the diaspora, as well as the occupied territories as part of the Palestinian Revolution, with most of the grassroots mobilisation and organisation through the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) – the umbrella organisation for the women’s movement.

As the Women’s Liberation movement emerged during the 1970s, many dedicated women’s journals, magazines and newsletters portrayed prominently the image of the Palestinian woman fidayi guerrilla fighter, which in turn became a symbol for revolutionaries all over the world. What this book does particularly well is not to underestimate the importance of those women who did not carry a gun. Reflecting instead on the equal importance of women organising and working in the fields of education, politics, health and providing child- care during periods both of relative peace and full-scale war.

The book is available here: fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk/product/making-palestines-history-womens-testimonies/

Val Wood

Women Against Fundamentalism: stories of dissent and solidarity, edited by Sukhwant Dhaliwal and Nira Yuval-Davis (Lawrence and Wishart, £17.99)

August 17, 2014 3:31 pm No Comments

In the mid-80s, for my sins, I joined the Labour Party in Nottingham. Several inner-city wards were riven by two competing Kashmiri factions, groups of men who voted as a block depending on what their leader said. These whipped votes were, at times, obeyed by “members” who did not speak English and who had little idea what they were voting for. I say “members” because often their membership was paid for them by their wealthy leaders. Kashmiri women were almost entirely absent. In return, Nottingham Labour parcelled out favours to these “community leaders”. Similar things were going on nationally, not just with Kashmiris, and not just with Labour. Community leaders could get some of what they wanted by packing meetings and delivering the votes come election time.

It was something of a tradition – in certain areas it used to be the Irish, now it was the Kashmiris, Bangladeshis and, in some areas, strictly Orthodox Jews.

In the outside world there were some feminist women from ethnic minorities who were less than keen on these, invariably male, community leaders. After 1989 these women came together as Women Against Fundamentalism. Many had already been in local groups such as Southhall Black Sisters or in distinct ethnic groups, but WAF brought together women of Hindi, Muslim, Jewish, Irish Catholic and other backgrounds who had a history of opposing communalism and religious orthodoxy and could see the similar patterns across different communities.

Women Against Fundamentalism waxed and waned and waxed and waned again. This book marks the end of WAF as a campaigning group, but draws together many of their members’ individual stories and revisits the many campaigns they fought.

The group was sometimes seen as “anti-Muslim”, which was convenient, but a quick look at the individual stories contained here shows how wide the group’s background was and the wide canvas on which members operated.

What marks out the stance of many members is that while many of them did work and campaign within general groups – CND, Israel/Palestine or whatever – they chose to remain within their communities rather than become outsiders. The first choice was often personal, as Sukhwant Dhaliwal puts it “On not becoming a Southall Stepford wife”.

Since the high water mark of WAF some things have changed for the better – the power of the Catholic church in Ireland has been much reduced whereas there really are UK supporters of the Islamic State and, hilariously, some people are currently boycotting the Jewish Chronicle because it is not just not right wing enough.

Just as the current wave of feminism in dominated by young women, it feels (to this male outsider) that we would all benefit for a new wave of women against fundamentalism. This book provides a fascinating and personal history on which to draw.

Ross Bradshaw