Stitches & Stories is a new concept book group for 2023. It is a collaboration between Jo from The Bobbin Sisters (Backfold, Hay-on-Wye) and Jules at North Books. We thought a book group of crafters who sit and discuss books while they work alongside each other would be rather fun. Jo takes the credit for coming up with the first five textile-themed books.

The group meets on the third Thursday of every alternate month from 4pm to 6pm, and refreshments will be included.

Bring a stitching project with you and don’t forget to read the book in advance! See below.

JOIN THE CLUB

The book club meetings are seated events, so places are limited, and the February event was at capacity. Please email Jules on jules@northbooks.co.uk or pop into the shop to add your name to the waiting list. Participation costs £2 (or is free if the book is purchased in advance from North Books at a 20% discount).

At North Books, 4 Castle Street, Hay-on-Wye on Thursday 20 April, 4–6pm.

THE BOOK

Our second novel up for discussion on Thursday 20 April is The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood.

Through Atwood’s ingenious imagination, Penelope evolves from her mythical role as Odysseus’ ever-faithful wife into an unforgettable, gloriously irreverent heroine.

Penelope. Immortalised in legend and myth as the devoted wife of the glorious Odysseus, silently weaving and unpicking and weaving again as she waits for her husband's return.

Now she wanders the underworld, spinning a different kind of thread: her own side of the story – a tale of lust, greed and murder.