Alex Christofi joins us live on zoom - Tuesday 13 April, 7pm

A novelistic life that immerses the reader in a grand vista of Dostoevsky’s Russia: from the Siberian prison camp to the gambling halls of Europe; from the dank prison cells of the Tsar’s fortress to the refined salons of St Petersburg. Alex Christofi relates the stories of the three women whose lives were so deeply intertwined with Dostoevsky’s: the consumptive widow Maria; the impetuous Polina who had visions of assassinating the Tsar; and the faithful stenographer Anna, who did so much to secure his literary legacy.      

The memoir Dostoevsky might himself have written had life – and literary stardom – not intervened. Alex Christofi gives us a new portrait of the artist as never before seen: a shy but devoted lover, a friend of the people capable of great empathy, a loyal brother and friend, and a writer able to penetrate to the very depths of the human soul.

To register for an invitation, email: CarnegieLibrary@Lambeth.gov.uk

Join us on Tuesday evening at 7pm, March 9th (the day after International Women's Day) with Lambeth author Naomi Clifford.

The rape and murder of Marcy Ashford in 1817 became a huge scandal. It was widely agreed who done it - but the man was acquitted in the first trial, to the outrage of many. The pursuit of justice by her family then took some extraordinary twists, which eventually led to a change in the murder laws of England. Theories about Mary's fate multiplied, obscured by bizarre guidance on rape cases in the Georgian law books. "Was it really murder, or did she commit suicide out of guilt?" The truth, Naomi Clifford says, has remained hidden in plain sight for two centuries....

The Friends are proud to host this event in collaboration with Lambeth Library Service.

It's easy to attend on zoom and free!

book a ticket here

Tuesday, 9 February, 7pm - online

Herne Hill author Adam Mars-Jones presents his newest novel.

Box Hill won the Fitzcarraldo Novel Prize, was a Spectator Book of the Year in 2020 and was described by the Guardian as “the biggest small book of the year”.

It is the story of a strange, transgressive relationship that begins at the eponymous Surrey beauty spot. Set in the gay biker community during the late 1970s, it features loving depictions of the “scene” in such unlikely locations as suburban Woking and West Byfleet. A lost world recreated with sharp observation, affection and exquisite humour Margaret Drabble said: “It is a characteristic Mars-Jones mixture of the shocking, the endearing, the funny and the sad, with an unforgettable narrator. The sociological detail is as ever acutely entertaining.”

Other reviews describe it as clever, subtle, intimate, stirring, quietly powerful, darkly affecting, biting, stunning, a revelation of love and magic, not for the prudish, chatty - and very funny.

Join us on February 9 and make up your own mind!

to register for an invitation, email: CarnegieLibrary@Lambeth.gov.uk