GenevaBookClub: A group of school boys desperate to join the German army at the outbreak of the First World War for a great adventure. Spured on by their school master. They discover the horrors of war all too soon. As in many war novels the character discovers on returning home on leave that the view of war of the people back home and the reality are far removed from one another and that he does not belong there any more. The novel gives a vivid account of the physical and mental horror of war. Wriiten in 1929 between the war it is an antiwar book and written at a time when the world was starting the descent into the Second World War.

GenevaBookClub: The series follows the lives of two perceptive and intelligent girls, Elena (sometimes called “Lenù”) Greco and Raffaella (“Lila”) Cerullo, from childhood to adulthood and old age, as they try to create lives for themselves amidst the violent and conservative culture of their home – a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Italy. The novels are narrated by Elena Greco. “We were twelve years old, but we walked along the hot streets of the neighbourhood, amid the dust and flies that the occasional old trucks stirred up as they passed, like two old ladies taking the measure of lives of disappointment, clinging tightly to each other. No one understood us, only we two—I thought—understood one another.” Growing up in violent domestic and social environments The power, fierceness and violence of friendship Class conflict, the role of literature and the social responsibility of the writer amidst social upheaval.

GenevaBookClub: Against the background of a thousand years of vivid history, acclaimed writer Marie Arana tells the timely and timeless stories of three contemporary Latin Americans whose lives represent three driving forces that have shaped the character of the region: exploitation (silver), violence (sword), and religion (stone). Marie Arana is an extraordinary woman of letters and multicultural background in South and North America. She writes as someone who has a great comfort with words and writing that makes her easy to read. This book has a high concept: that much of Latin America history and culture can be explained by three elements: Silver - so much of the wealth of Latin America was and still is in the extraction of natural resources Sword - brutal violence has been central to its history and today with military coups and drug cartels Stone - the symbol of the old and new religions with the deep desire of the settlers to convert the indigenous souls, no matter what 400 pages, published in 2019 Longlisted for the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal.

GenevaBookClub: A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.