Secret Book Swap | North Berwick | No.4 | August 2025

Books we swapped:

A Life Discarded – Alexander Masters
A genre-blending memoir where Masters uncovers the identity behind 148 discarded diaries found in a skip. His detective-like study reveals a poignant, unfiltered portrait of a life that might have been forgotten, marked by failed ambitions, hidden obsessions, and the unintended intimacy of a public private journal.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V. E. Schwab
A sweeping fantasy following Addie LaRue, who makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—but in return, is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. As centuries pass, she walks the world invisible—until someone remembers her name. A lyrical meditation on memory, identity, and what it means to leave a mark.
Roman Stories – Jhumpa Lahiri
This elegant collection of short stories set in Rome explores intimacy, belonging, and the lives of outsiders in an enchanting city. Lahiri—writing originally in Italian—captures small moments with clarity and emotional resonance, offering a love letter (and gentle critique) to her adopted city.
Educated – Tara Westover
A powerful memoir of survival against all odds: Westover was raised in rural Idaho by survivalist parents with no formal schooling. Eventually astonishing academia by earning a Ph.D. at Cambridge. A gripping, emotionally complex story about the power—and pain—of self-education and transformation.
The Other Daughter – Caroline Bishop
Jess, a London journalist in the 2010s, discovers that her mother once reported from the frontline of Switzerland’s women’s rights movement in the 1970s. As she digs deeper, Jess confronts how their intertwined paths reveal truths about identity, legacy, and the ties that bind mothers to daughters.
Something Rotten – Jasper Fforde
In this delightfully absurd alternate universe, literary detective Thursday Next faces yet another world-bending case. Public figures merge with fictional characters, political conspiracies combine with Shakespearean chaos, and the fate of reality hinges on croquet and wordplay. A brilliantly hilarious romp through meta-fiction territory.

The Seven Sisters – Lucinda Riley
After the death of their adoptive father, Maia and her five adoptive sisters receive cryptic clues to their origins. Maia's journey leads her from Switzerland to Brazil, where she unravels secrets of her heritage. A beautiful blend of historical fiction, romance, and mystery across generations.

The Way of All Flesh – Ambrose Parry
In 1847 Edinburgh, medical student Will Raven and maid Sarah Fisher investigate the murder of young women found in gruesome states. A richly textured blend of historical fiction and medical thriller, where scientific rigor meets gothic intrigue in a city on the edge of modernity.

Guest, Illustrator - Stella Maris

Let me introduce you to, Stella Maris Mongodi, children's book illustrator, designer and coach.

You can read about Stella below and visit her website to get a taster for some of her wonderful work which she brought along and shared with us. It was not only lovely to see the books themselves but wonderful to hear the stories behind the books and characters and how she brought them to life.

Thank you Stella for joining us!

Stella Maris Mongodi began her earthly journey in Italy, where she explored a passion for art under the tutelage of such masters as Carll Cneut and Stefano Moroni. She dabbled with oils and wondered at watercolors, before settling on digital illustrations, steeped in “traditional media flavor”, and sporting a whimsically dreamy, feathery, playful feel, befitting her fairy spirit.

Eventually, Stella wandered off to the British Isles in search of kindred fairies. Finally stumbling upon them in the magical Scottish lands, she decided to put down roots among her own kind.

Between creating engaging imagery to delight young readers, Stella loves to explore her own inner child, zooming about on roller skates, sewing colorful skirts, and befriending her favorite creatures…owls, mice, and an occasional squirrel.

Find out more

Banned Book Reading

This Book is Gay, Juno Dawson

Our update this month had focused more on what was happening here in the UK around censorship, calls for book removals, and hearing feedback from librarians around hateful attitudes towards LGBTQ+ books and so we chose This Book is Gay by UK author, Juno Dawson for our reading.

First published in the U.K. in 2014 and later in the U.S. in 2015, This Book is Gay is subtitled as "a manual to all areas of life as an LGBT person," the book offers candid, humorous, and heartfelt guidance for young people exploring their sexual identity and navigating complex emotions from coming out and relationships to politics and self-acceptance

Despite its positive impact, This Book Is Gay has faced widespread censorship. In 2022, it tied for the tenth-most challenged book in the U.S., and rose even further to third place in 2023, according to data from the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Challenges often cite reasons like sexual content or LGBTQ+ themes but as Juno Dawson has said, “If we really wanted to keep kids safe… we would be talking about guns.”

In the U.K., librarians report increasing pressure over the book too. A 2024 survey found that over half of UK school librarians had been asked to remove LGBTQ+ titles, including This Book Is Gay, from their shelves; more than half of those requests were acted upon

For our reading, we chose to read the introduction by David Levithan which I believe shows the purpose and benefits of a book like this. You can read this via the link below:

Read here

Join us at future secret book swaps:

Tickets