Redhill & Reigate Social Group

Jocasta in Greek mythology is the mother, and later the wife, of Oedipus. While married to Oedipus, unknown to her as her son, she has four further children: Antigone, Eteocles, Polynices and Ismene. The curse which brings tragedy to each member of the family is re-told by the ancient Greek playwrights Sophocles and Euripides.

In The Children of Jocasta, Natalie Haynes takes a fresh perspective on this ancient and well-known cycle of myths. The female characters take centre-stage. Jocasta herself is just a young teenager when she is told that she must marry her first husband, The King of Thebes. Later, Ismene, her youngest daughter by her second husband, is the same age when she is attacked in the palace she calls home. A tragedy is set in motion: but not the tragedy that you might know from the ancient myths.

Natalie Haynes is a classicist who has worked as a journalist, comedian and a panellist on BBC programmes such as The Review Show and The Last Word. She has written four novels, including two which also relate to classical mythology: A Thousand Ships (about the Trojan War) and Stone Blind (about Medusa). She has also published a children’s novel.

This novel was kindly suggested to us by Gillian.

The House of Doors is a 2023 historical novel, set mostly in the 1920s British colony of the Federated Malay States. It tells the stories of local residents and visitors, seen through the eyes of British expatriate wife, Lesley Hamlyn. The visitors include writer William Somerset Maugham and Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-Sen. An important sub-plot is the true story of Ethel Proudlock, her 1911 trial for murder, and the resultant scandal in British colonial society in Kuala Lumpur. Somerset Maugham wrote a short story, "The Letter", based on the Proudlock case.

Ten Rwan Eng is from Kuala Lumpur, and a lawyer with a degree from University College, London. He has written two other novels, including the 2012 “The Garden of Evening Mists,” later developed into a film.

Critical acclaim for this novel includes a nomination for the 2023 Booker Prize. It figured as one of the best novels for 2023 in The Washington Post, as well as the "best fiction books of 2023" by the UK’s Financial Times.

This novel was kindly introduced to me last year at a visit to the Caterham and Coulsdon Book Club Meetup.