Tuesday 3rd March
Jon Newman – Vanishing Act: The Smaller Rivers of South London
Join local historian and author Jon Newman as he talks about the underground rivers of South London. The Effra, the Peck, the Heathwall and the Falcon Brook now all run in underground sewers, but their presence has shaped the suburban development of the area and played a defining role in the history of South London. Even now, when supposedly safely out of sight, they continue to impact the lives of people living south of the Thames. Don’t miss what is sure to be a fascinating evening about the hidden history of our local area.
Jon Newman is a writer and archivist who both works in and writes about South London. He has a growing reputation for his thoroughly-researched and well-written accounts of the history and geography of South London’s rivers. His book River Effra, South London’s Secret Spine was the first comprehensive history of that vanished river.
Jon’s most recent book, The Heathwall, Battersea’s Buried River, offers an urban ‘point-to-point’, part history, part walking guide, along the course of one of South London’s most overlooked and under-loved watercourses.
Location: Dulwich Books, 6 Croxted Road, West Dulwich, SE21 8SW
Date: Tuesday 3rd March
Time: 19.00 – 20.30
Price: £5 (Admission) / £10 (Admission + a copy of The Heathwall)
Thursday 19th March
Lars Mytting – The Bell in the Lake
Join one of Scandinavia’s best-loved storytellers, Lars Mytting, as he talks about his brilliant new novel, The Bell in the Lake. The first in a rich historical trilogy that draws on legend, The Bell in the Lake is a beautiful, heart-breaking romance set in the wilds of northern Norway. Lars’ previous novel, The Sixteen Trees of the Somme has been a recent favourite for Dulwich Books staff and customers.
Lars Mytting is the author of the international bestseller, Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way. His fictional debut novel, The Sixteen Trees of the Somme, received the Norwegian National Booksellers’ Award and has been optioned for film. The Bell in the Lake was a No.1 Bestseller in Norway and has been translated into English by Deborah Dawkin.
About The Bell in the Lake:
Norway, 1880. Astrid dreams of a life beyond marriage, children, and working the land to the end of her days. The young pastor Kai Schweigaard comes into her life when he takes over the small parish of Butangen, with its 700-year-old stave church and its legendary bells whose history is tied to Astrid’s ancestors. It is said that the bells ring when danger is imminent.
But Pastor Schweigaard wants to tear down the church and invites talented architecture student Gerhard Schönauer from Dresden to oversee the removal of the church and its reconstruction in the German city. Astrid is determined that the bells must stay in her village. Then Astrid falls in love with Gerhard. She must make a choice: for her homeland and the pastor, or for an uncertain future in Germany. Then the bells begin to ring…
Location: Dulwich Books, 6 Croxted Road, West Dulwich, SE21 8SW
Date: Thursday 19th March
Time: 19.00 – 20.30
Price: £10 (Admission) / £22 (Admission + a copy of The Bell in the Lake)