Members of the Book Club seem to have taken advantage of the present restrictions on what we can do by curling up with a good book! Maybe you have done the same.

Certainly, that has helped our discussions on the two or three occasions we have met, virtually, over the winter. A really good turn out of people each time and some excellent discussion – sometimes serious, often with more than a touch of humour. Just as in normal times when we meet together with tea, coffee and cakes so the shots on our screens show most of us with cups, cafetieres or, in some unnamed cases, glasses containing who knows what!

At our meeting in mid-January (on that horrible wet Tuesday) we swapped information about what we were reading and about the books we had given and received as Christmas gifts. As a result each now has a list of recommendations for books we might wish to read and, it has to be said, some we will avoid like the.....(better not said).

Our main efforts though were given to discussing a book called ‘The Offing’ by Benjamin Myers, a youngish (compared to some of us) north-country writer who has written a variety of books, usually set in our part of the world. ‘The Offing’ tells the story of Robert Appleyard who, after finishing school immediately after the second world war and leaves his home in Durham to wander the north east coast, before he returns to a job in the coal pit office. It is only towards the end of the book that we realise the story of that time is been told by Robert as he nears the end of his life. The story then is perhaps warped (as all our stories are) by his fading and sometimes mistaken memories but it reveals how critical a time those few weeks were to be in shaping the rest of his life.

The majority of the novel is set in an area of the Yorkshire coast which several members of the group know well. It is set in that most wonderful bay with Robin Hood’s Bay to the north and Ravenscar to the south. On nearly every page we were reminded of the beauty to be found there. If you don’t know that area, do consider a visit when we are able to travel again.

I shall not unfold the story any more in the event that you are tempted to read the book. Remarkably, a shaft of pure history is revealed pointing to someone whose own artistic work was of a very high standard. Spoilers are not good form so I will not say more but I must also add that a couple of our members felt the book would have benefited from greater narrative drive. But not me. In fact, I think it is one of the finest books I have read in recent years.

Not only was it a deeply insightful and sensitive book in my eyes, it also reminded me (and others in the group) how we had met our ‘Dulcie’ at a formative period of our own lives. Just like Robert, in the latter part of our lives, we look back thankfully. Not everyone has this experience, but those who do are grateful and I think this added to our pleasure in reading this book.