Join us on November 7th from 6-8pm at the Clifton Community Bookshop for a cozy evening sharing thoughts provoked by our October Read: Madonna in a Fur Coat (1943) by Sabahattin Ali, translated from Turkish by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe!
Whether you’ve only read one chapter or read the whole book, we would love to know what you thought, what you learned about Turkish and German culture, and what wider discussions we can have about our world and how we exist! Be prepared to get philosophical...
Feel free to join as afterwards for a pint in the Lansdown Pub next door! We also have the venue booked till 9pm if we can't stop talking ;)
Tickets are free for members and £1 for non-members!
We will open voting for our November read on November 3rd and will announce the winner at the Book Club so get brainstorming!! We aim to choose books from different countries every month, each around 150 pages to make them easy to read during term time!
If you want to choose our next read, be sure to join our society WhatsApp Community here and join the book club channel to send in your recommendations and submit your votes!! To vote, please buy a £2 society membership here! This also gives you free access to the rest of our book club events! The money will go towards putting on more and better events for you all.
Can’t make the final Book Club session but still want to join in? Can’t wait until then to share your thoughts? Join our book club on Fable here! They have dedicated spaces organised by chapter (or short story!) to comment on what you’re reading, meaning you can discuss spoilers whilst keeping it spoiler-free for others!
Accessibility info: Venue is on the ground floor but the unisex toilets are up a few steps!
We can't wait to see you there!
ABOUT THE BOOK
'The pain of losing something precious can be forgotten over time. But our missed opportunities never leave us, and every time they come back to haunt us, we ache.'
A shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade and discover life in 1920s Berlin. There, amid the city's bustling streets, elegant museums, passionate politics and seedy cabarets, a chance meeting transforms his life forever. Caught between his desire for freedom and his yearning to belong, he struggles to hold on to the new life he has found.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sabahattin Ali (1907-1948) was born in the Ottoman town of Egridere (now Ardino in southern Bulgaria). A teacher, novelist, short-story writer and journalist, he owned and edited a popular weekly newspaper called Marko Pasa. He is admired for the determination with which he defended his political beliefs, which are anchored through his writing. Madonna in A Fur Coat, first published in 1943, is his best loved work and a touchstone of Turkish literary culture which continues to resonate profoundly with readers young and old today.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS
Maureen Freely is a writer, a Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick University, and the Chair of Trustees of English PEN. She has published seven novels and numerous translations of twentieth century Turkish classics and contemporary authors including five books by the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk.
Alexander Dawe is an American translator of French and Turkish. He lives in Istanbul.
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @complitbristol and join our WhatsApp community to keep updated with all our shenanigans!
Lots of love,
Cece, Yen, Alfred, Malachi, and Vi x
Venue : Clifton Community Bookshop
Type: Alcohol Free Events, Society Events
Start Date: Friday 07-11-2025 - 18:00
End date: Friday 07-11-2025 - 20:00
Capacity: 30