This week, Psychotronic Book Club had the half-termly meeting to discuss Margaret Atwood’s dystopian masterpiece The Handmaid’s Tale.

The pupils overwhelmingly enjoyed the novel, provoking a very thoughtful discussion on why the book remains so relevant almost 40 years after its initial publication. All our attendees were from the Middle School: Emma, Jeanne, Pablo, Emily, Esme, Maddie and Lucy. All are exceptionally committed readers and enjoy challenging fiction and arguing about the merits.

This club is open to pupils in Year 9 and above, but often attracts advanced readers, and we usually discuss accessible adult novels, mixing modern classics with contemporary novels. For our next selection we will be reading a brand new book called Ration by Cody T Luff – also dystopian with a feminist angle. Beyond that we will be discussing Starve Acre by Jonathan Buckley, a novel with a very strange history.

If you have a child who enjoys weird fiction then please encourage them to pick up one of our future reads from the library. All new members are very welcome.

Tony Jones (Senior Librarian and Archivist)