A glorious new edition of the original gem at the heart of bestselling food writer Diana Henry’s much-loved repertoire, Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons gathers together dishes that combine colourful, aromatic and perfumed ingredients to bring pleasure to your kitchen and an intoxicating whiff of warmer climes to your table.

‘An all-time classic. The book I’m happy to return to, over and over again. It’s an utter joy to cook from, as it is to dig deep into the stories’ Yotam Ottolenghi

Diana Henry is one of the UK’s best-loved food writers. She has regular columns in the Sunday Telegraph and Waitrose Weekend , her work has appeared in BBC Good Food , House & Garden , delicious. and beyond, and her broadcast appearances include BBC Radio 4. Diana has won numerous awards for her journalism and books.

Back

Robert Harris is back with a new masterpiece…

Summer 1914. A world on the brink of catastrophe.

In London, 26-year-old Venetia Stanley – aristocratic, clever, bored, reckless – is having a love affair with the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, a man more than twice her age. He writes to her obsessively, sharing the most sensitive matters of state.

As Asquith reluctantly leads the country into war with Germany, a young intelligence officer is assigned to investigate a leak of top secret documents – and suddenly what was a sexual intrigue becomes a matter of national security that will alter the course of political history.

Seamlessly weaving fact and fiction in a way that no writer does better, Precipice is the thrilling new novel from Robert Harris.

Robert Harris is the author of fifteen bestselling novels: the Cicero Trilogy – Imperium , Lustrum and Dictator – Fatherland , Enigma , Archangel , Pompeii , The Ghost , The Fear Index , An Officer and a Spy , which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Conclave , Munich , The Second Sleep, V2 and Act of Oblivion . His work has been translated into forty languages and nine of his books have been adapted for cinema and television.

Back

Clare Chambers, award-winning author of Small Pleasures is back with a new novel exploring love, family, and the joy of freedom.

Croydon, 1964. Helen Hansford is in her thirties and an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital where she has been having a long love affair with Gil: a charismatic, married doctor.

One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance from a derelict house not far from Helen’s home. A thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, with a beard down to his waist, has been discovered along with his elderly aunt. It is clear he has been shut up in the house for decades, but when it emerges that William is a talented artist, Helen is determined to discover his story.

Shy Creatures is a life-affirming novel about all the different ways we can be confined, how ordinary lives are built of delicate layers of experience, the joy of freedom and the transformative power of kindness.

Clare Chambers’s first job after university was working for Diana Athill at André Deutsch. Her first novel Uncertain Terms was published in 1992 and she is the author of eight other novels. Small Pleasures , her first work of fiction in ten years, became a word-of-mouth hit on publication, was selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers book club and for BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. It also won Pageturner of the Year Award at the British Book Awards 2022 and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2021.

Clare will be interviewed by Alex Peake-Tomkinson.

Back

Join Village Books and Alleyn’s Schools Enterprises for a delicious evening of food and conversation with Sophie Wyburd.

With 100 recipes for satisfying everyday meals, Tucking In shows us time and again that good food does not need to be complicated. Whether it’s a bowl of something hearty and warming on a weekday night, or a relaxed feast for friends squeezed around your table, these recipes make cooking a decidedly non-stressful affair. Tucking In features everything from laidback traybakes – for ease and reduced washing-up – to moreish pasta dishes, but there are also handful of more adventurous recipes, such as Spiced Blackened Salmon Tacos, along with some delicious vegan and vegetarian options.

Sophie Wyburd is a cook, recipe writer and presenter from South London. Her varied career has seen her working as a restaurant chef, a food stylist, and food lead at Mob . She now brings simple, comforting home cooking to the masses via social media and her newsletter Feeder , hosts supper clubs all over London, and is the co-host of podcasts I’ll Have What She’s Having and A Bit of a Mouthful .

Back

Join us for an afternoon with Cathy Newman where she’ll be discussing her new book The Ladder: Life Lessons From Women Who Scaled The Heights (& Dodged The Snakes)

Inspired by Cathy’s show on Times Radio , The Ladder brings together discussions between women – about work, love, growth, challenge, the big decisions and the stories of their lives.

Offering inspiration and wise counsel from some of the world’s most acclaimed and influential women, this book is an insight and a trove of solidarity, turning over ideas of change, anger, illness, imposter syndrome, self-knowledge, purpose, how to not panic in a crisis and how to stop worrying you’re boring when there isn’t one.

Cathy Newman is one of Channel 4 News’ main studio presenters. She is an award-winning investigative journalist whose scoops have allegations of sexual harassment in Westminster, an investigation into a British paedophile who abused vulnerable boys in Kenya; and allegations of violent abuse by the British barrister John Smyth. She was the only broadcast journalist to travel with Angelina Jolie and the then foreign secretary William Hague to the Congo as part of their campaign against sexual violence. Cathy also hosts her own show on Times Radio. Cathy’s first book Bloody Brilliant Women was published in 2018.

A Dulwich Festival event

Back

The fantastically funny and relatable Lottie Brooks series, written and illustrated by number one children’s bestseller Katie Kirby, is filled with first experiences, friendship fails, embarrassing moments and plenty of laughs. And so is this event! Can Lottie get through term without leaving chaos in her wake, and with her BFFs intact? Join Katie to find out – and don’t forget your notebook and pens as there will be draw-along fun for all!

A Dulwich Festival event

Back

From the popular tech journalist and Movers and Shakers podcaster, also known across the world for documenting his journey with rescue dog #SophiefromRomania, comes a moving memoir in search of the truth behind his isolated childhood and absent father.

Rory Cellan-Jones knew he was the child of a love affair between two BBC employees. But until his mother died and he found a file labelled ‘For Rory’ he had no idea of the extent of their relationship, and why his unconventional childhood had so tested the bond between him and his mother. ‘For Rory,’ his mother had written on the file, ‘in the hope that it will help him understand how it really was …’

A Dulwich Festival event

Back

2.6 billion people are inhabitants of former British colonies. The empire’s influence upon the quarter of the planet it occupied, and its gravitational influence upon the world outside it, has been profound: from the spread of Christianity by missionaries to nearly 1 in 3 driving on the left side of the road, and even shaping the origins of international law. Yet Britain’s idea of its imperial history and the world’s experience of it are two very different things. ­­

In Empireworld, award-winning author and journalist, Sathnam Sanghera extends his examination of British imperial legacies beyond Britain. Travelling the globe to trace its international legacies – from Barbados and Mauritius to India and Nigeria and beyond – Sanghera demonstrates just how deeply British imperialism is baked into our world. And why it’s time Britain was finally honest with itself about empire.

‘A remarkable and important work – one that is finely judged, beautifully written and not just a welcome corrective but a book for our times. This is essential reading. – Peter Frankopan

A Dulwich Festival event

Back

Two days after his eighteenth birthday, Kenny Imafidon was charged with the murder of a seventeen-year-old boy in south-east London. The middle child of a single mother with ambitions for her children, Kenny grew up near an estate in Peckham where deprivation and hopelessness were rife, and gang culture flourished in his community. Kenny faced a minimum of thirty years behind bars – longer than the life he had lived.

When the case against Kenny collapsed, he quickly realised that his name was still inextricably linked with a horrific crime he hadn’t committed. He decided to rewrite his story. It began with The Kenny Report, which he delivered to the House of Commons and which detailed the experiences of marginalised young people who drift into gangs, and has led to extensive work with charities, communities and policy-makers that is helping to change the narratives of other young people just like Kenny.

A candid and unfiltered take on some of the most challenging topics that define our times, That Peckham Boy is a personal manifesto exploring what it means to be young, Black and poor in the city. It is shaped by Kenny’s difficult childhood, his transformative time in prison, and the people and conversations that took him from being on trial for murder into the company of some of the most successful people in the world.

A Dulwich Festival event

Back

Meet multi-million-copy selling, award-winning author (and former Children’s Laureate) Cressida Cowell, creator of the How to Train Your Dragon (also a DreamWorks film and TV franchise) series. Cressida will be signing her latest bestselling book, WHICH WAY ROUND THE GALAXY, and her other books, too. Bring along your own sketchbook for Cressida to see, and get a free sticker sheet with each book of Galaxy.

Time: 4pm to 5.30pm

For more information please email us

Back