The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir by André Leon Talley
Probably not a book, or someone, who needs any introduction or recommendation from us, but this is an unforgettable and eye-opening account of a life lived in the heart of the fashion world, told with startling honesty.
The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown
Another front-row account of the inner workings of the media industry, written with great wit and precision and verve, The Vanity Fair Diaries also explores and reflects wryly upon the differences in British and American attitudes to fame and success—which we also explore in The Club.
Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter by Lizzie Pook
We love novels which take you somewhere you’ve never been before and paint a rich and detailed picture in your head—something we aimed to do with The Club and the resort of Island Home where it’s set. We were lucky enough to read an early copy of this debut novel (out in June in the USA) and its atmospheric, evocative descriptions of the Western Australian landscape are an absolute masterclass in place—as well as being a proper, page-turning adventure. Set in a pearling town in the 1880s, you follow determined, smart, and brave Eliza as she tries to uncover the truth behind her father’s disappearance at sea in a town teeming with prejudice, corruption, and secrets.
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
It is hard to describe this book as it does so many things, so wonderfully, and we have never read anything like it. It is both wildly, read-passages-aloud-to-each-other funny and incredibly, heart-breakingly poignant—there’s something especially compelling about a book that bounces you between, well, sorrow and bliss. Martha, the book’s protagonist, who suffers from an unnamed mental illness, is charismatic and warm but not always likeable, although you are always rooting for her and the friends and family who surround her. Also, she works in magazines (like Annie in The Club) and there are some brilliantly accurate and acerbic descriptions of that world.
To The Lions by Holly Watt
An overheard conversation in an exclusive nightclub catapults reporter Casey Benedict into a global investigation which takes her from London to St Tropez to Libya in this startlingly plausible, atmospheric, and chilling thriller, the first in a series. One of the things we really like in a thriller (and something we aim to do in our own) is when—as well as keeping you gripped—it takes you into a world and helps you understand it better. Holly Watt is a former investigative reporter herself, and this is a novel which feels (in a slightly terrifying way) like it is genuinely lifting the lid on the business of news and how it is gathered.
