Join Cambridge alumni for stimulating conversations about our bimonthly book selection. Discussions will be moderated by a dedicated group leader, who will share additional content and ask questions to prompt debate.
March - April 2025
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Maurdoch
Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor both professionally and personally, and to amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years. None of his plans work out, and his memoir evolves into a riveting chronicle of the strange events and unexpected visitors--some real, some spectral--that disrupt his world and shake his oversized ego to its very core.
In exposing the jumble of motivations that drive Arrowby and the other characters, Iris Murdoch lays bare "the truth of untruth"--the human vanity, jealousy, and lack of compassion behind the disguises they present to the world. Played out against a vividly rendered landscape and filled with allusions to myth and magic, Charles's confrontation with the tidal rips of love and forgiveness is one of Murdoch's most moving and powerful novels.
Suggested Reading Schedule
- On March 14th, visit Before the Book in our forum and begin reading The Sea, The Sea
- Section 1: by March 28th, finish reading “Prehistory” and ”History - ONE”
- Section 2: by April 4th, finish reading “History - TWO” and “History - THREE”
- Section 3: by April 11th, finish reading “History - FOUR”
- Section 4: by April 25th, finish reading “History - FIVE” and “History - SIX”
- By May 2nd, finish reading the book and join our After the Book forum discussion
Past reads
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
In Memoriam by Alice Winn
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Lessons by Ian McEwan
The Bell by Iris Murdoch (Newnham 1947)
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell (Murray Edwards 1990)
The Anarchy by William Dalrymple (Trinity College 1984)
The Reading List: A Novel by Sara Nisha Adams
Honor by Thrity Umrigar
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (Murray Edwards 1990)
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
The Old Way by Robert Macfarlane (Pembroke 1994)
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue (Girton 1990)
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Homerton 2008)
Packinko by Min Jin Lee
Educated by Tara Westover (Trinity 2008)
Alumni Book Club members vote during each reading period to choose the next book. The selection of books on which you vote is usually based on participants’ interests, member recommendations and Cambridge authors.
Alumni are responsible for sourcing their own books.
Participants can either buy, borrow or download a copy of the chosen book.
No, the Book Club will be entirely online. The advantage of this is that alumni living all over the world can participate, meaning we will get diverse perspectives on the texts we read.
Our Book Club will have a dedicated moderator who manages the forum where discussions occur online. The moderator will pose questions to the group, share relevant articles, and facilitate conversation about topics in the book. Members will be encouraged to post and share as well. This format allows for ongoing conversation and makes it easy for alumni to connect with each other.
Books will be read every two months.
If you have on average 30 minutes a week to read, you should be fine. There is no required level of participation in group discussions; if don’t have time to read one of the books, that's okay. The goal of the club is to make connections with other alumni through reading.
Participation is free for Cambridge alumni.
Readers are responsible for buying, borrowing or downloading the texts we read.
Feel free to send an email to contact@alumni.cam.ac.uk and we'd be happy to help.
