This is the English version of an article first published in Polish: read the Polish original.
On Wednesday, September 30 at 18:00, the Book Discussion Club meets at the Main Library of Biblioteka Wilanowska, on ul. Kolegiacka 3. This time the topic is In Memoriam, the debut novel by British author Alice Winn, first published in 2023 and named Waterstones Book of the Year. The Polish translation, by Anna Halbersztat, was released by Wydawnictwo Poznańskie in the autumn of 2024. Entry is free. Sign up by emailing wilanow@bibliotekawilanowska.pl with "Dyskusyjny Klub Książki" in the subject line, or by phone at +48 22 423 57 55.
A love that could not speak its name, and the Western Front
The novel opens in 1914, at an English boarding school, where Sidney Ellwood and Henry Gaunt feel closer to each other than the era allows them to say out loud. Both hide their feelings, because the period and their surroundings treat love between men as forbidden. Shortly after turning eighteen, both are sent to fight on the Western Front, and the novel follows how the war tests everything that was left unspoken between them. Winn wrote In Memoriam as her literary debut, and the book quickly collected awards, including the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and Waterstones Novel of the Year.
The Book Discussion Club has been running at Biblioteka Wilanowska for a while, in cooperation with the Instytut Książki, and meets on selected Wednesdays of the month, always at 18:00, in a room at the Main Library. In May the club discussed Disgrace by John Maxwell Coetzee, a book the librarian leading the meeting described as a conversation about love and loneliness. September's meeting follows a similar thread, this time seen through war and a forbidden feeling that had to be hidden even from oneself.
There is nothing to prepare in advance and no presentation to give. The club is open to anyone who likes to read and talk about books, and new members can join at any time after signing up. It is worth reserving a spot ahead of time, since the room at the Main Library on ul. Kolegiacka 3 is not large, and the club's meetings tend to fill up.