Your Friendly Book Club Reminder

Hi Reader,

I have a really good feeling about the books we’d be reading this year. (if this is your first time receiving this letter, you should read this first)Are you ready for book club? Also, please don’t feel pressured to read every single book, this is not that kind of space, okay? But, I highly recommend you save the books to your TBR though.

In January, we’re off to Zimbabwe via A Family Affair by Sue Nyathi. (pub 2020)

Meeting Information: We’re meeting on the 18th of January, 2026 at 5pm West African Time. Here’s the link to register so that it automatically adds to your calendar. PS the author will be joining us for this chat.

SYNOPSIS: Meet the Mafus, a close-knit, traditional family with three daughters. As leaders of their church, The Kingdom of God, Pastor Abraham and his wife Phumla are guiding the community of Bulawayo in faith, while trying to keep the different branches of their family intact. Independent and feisty Xoliswa returns home, after a hiatus abroad, hoping for a fresh start and a chance to steer the family business; rebellious Yandisa has met the love of her life and is finally getting her act together; while dutiful newlywed Zandile is slowly becoming disillusioned with her happily ever after. The Mafus always present a united front, but as their personal lives unravel, devastating secrets are revealed that threaten to tear the family apart. For how long will they be able to hide behind the façade of a picture-perfect family?

In February, we’re off to the United Kingdom via Jaded by Ela Lee and our protagonist is of Korean-Turkish heritage (pub. 2024)

Meeting Information: We’re meeting on the 15th of February, 2026 at 5pm West African Time. Here’s the link to register so that it automatically adds to your calendar.

SYNOPSIS: Jade has become everything she ever wanted to be. Successful lawyer. Dutiful daughter. Beloved girlfriend. Loyal friend. Until one night, something terrible happens after a work event, and she starts to wonder if she really wants to be the person she’s become. She’s learned to laugh when she’s felt like crying, opted to be invisible when she wanted to speak up and changed her identity to please people. But now Jade has to make a decision for herself. The question is, which is the right one? This searing novel explores the strength we find in female friendship, the hope that lights up the dark moments and recovery that’s far from linear, and will leave you asking yourself: what would you have done in Jade’s situation?

In March, we’re off to Mexico via Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey (pub. 2020)

Meeting Information: We’re meeting on the 22nd of March, 2026 at 5pm West African Time. Here’s the link to register so that it automatically adds to your calendar.

SYNOPSIS: Still Born, Guadalupe Nettel’s fourth novel, explores one of life’s most consequential decisions – whether or not to have children – with her signature charm and intelligence. Alina and Laura are independent and career-driven women in their mid-thirties, neither of whom have built their future around the prospect of a family. Laura has taken the drastic decision to be sterilized, but as time goes by Alina becomes drawn to the idea of becoming a mother. When complications arise in Alina’s pregnancy and Laura becomes attached to her neighbour’s son, both women are forced to reckon with the complexity of their emotions. In prose that is as gripping as it is insightful, Still Born explores maternal ambivalence with a surgeon’s touch, carefully dissecting the contradictions that make up the lived experiences of women.

In February, we’re off to 1930s Shanghai via Half A Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang, translated by Karen Kingsbury (pub. 1948)

Meeting Information: We’re meeting on the 22nd of February, 2026 at 5pm West African Time. Here’s the link to register so that it automatically adds to your calendar.

SYNOPSIS: Shanghai, 1930s. Shen Shijun, a young engineer, has fallen in love with his colleague, the beautiful Gu Manzhen. He is determined to resist his family’s efforts to match him with his wealthy cousin so that he can marry her. But dark circumstances—a lustful brother-in-law, a treacherous sister, a family secret—force the two young lovers apart. As Manzhen and Shijun go on their separate paths, they lose track of one another, and their lives become filled with feints and schemes, missed connections and tragic misunderstandings. At every turn, societal expectations seem to thwart their prospects for happiness. Still, Manzhen and Shijun dare to hold out hope—however slim—that they might one day meet again. A glamorous, wrenching tale set against the glittering backdrop of an extraordinary city, Half a Lifelong Romance is a beloved classic from one of the essential writers of twentieth-century China.

In April, we’re off to Sudan and South Sudan via Edo’s Souls by Stella Gaitano, translated by Sawad Hussain (pub. 2023)

Meeting Information: We’re meeting on the 26th of April, 2026 at 5pm West African Time. Here’s the link to register so that it automatically adds to your calendar.

SYNOPSIS: Edo’s Souls is a compelling, multi-generational epic that sees the three main characters trapped in a nation gripped by the terrors of civil war, forcing each one to confront their past selves, and to resolve what is most important to them - love, family, or country. When a young Lucy-Eghino, who is coming of age in a 1970s village in southern Sudan, is beset by rumours of approaching violence, she has no choice but to flee - first to Juba, then northwards to Khartoum. Marco, a gentle young father, wages a daily battle to keep his family together while avoiding friction with any northerners. Peter, a soldier unsure of where his loyalties lie, is forced to carry out night raids searching for bands of rebels.

Please note that if there’s a change in schedule, it’s always communicated early enough for us to plan accordingly. There’s a Storygraph page but if you want to join the Whatsapp group chat, you can send me a message here.

Introducing the cliterature collective…

I created this book club because I need a SAFE space to talk about sex and intimacy in novels. It’s a subject/art that has always fascinated me and I have been nurturing the idea for this book club for over 10 years. (Lore drop: I used write erotica once upon a time, I had a blog and everything lol)

For this first year, I’d like to host physical and virtual meetings, that’s why we’d be reading one book per quarter. We’d be dissecting smutty books that cover all orientations, so you kinda need to be cool, being open-minded is a requirement.

And because we’d be operating on a “secret society format”, that’s all I can share about the group on Substack, if you’d to join, send me a message HERE.

HAPPY READING! x