A Small Revolution in Germany by Philip Hensher (published on event day, February 6th). A relaxed, informal book reading and discussion. Free. Doors 6.55pm. A Small Revolution in Germany is about growing up, or refusing to accept what growing up means; its about the small dishonest pacts that people make with their own futures; and its about the rare and joyous refusal to be disillusioned. Everyone remembers what its like to be seventeen. The conversations you have; the ideas that burst on you; the kiss that transforms you. And then you grow up, and make a deal with adulthood. A Small Revolution in Germany is about that rapturous moment when ideas, and ideals, and passion crash over one boys head. And what happens in the decades afterwards? When you see the overwhelming truth when you are seventeen, why should you ever abandon that truth? Spike is brought into a small, clever group of friends, bursting with a passion for ideas, and the wish to change the world. They smash up political meetings; they paint slogans on walls; they long for armed revolution; they argue, exuberantly, until dawn. In the years to follow, they all change their minds, and go into the world. They become writers, politicians, public figures. One of them becomes famous when she dies. They all change their minds, and make sensible compromises. Only Spike stays exactly as he is, going on with the burning desire for change, in the safe embrace of unconditional love. Alone from the old group, he is the only one who has achieved nothing, and who has never deviated from the impractical shining path of revolution he saw as a teenager. Thirty years on, photographs of the teenage group look like a bunch of celebrated individuals, with only one unknown face in it Spike. Hensher is one of our most gifted novelists. - Guardian Hensher has a pitch-perfect way with language and invented detail. - Sunday Times Hensher sneaks into a life like a cat burglar, pads around to survey the scene and slips out again, leaving everything quietly disturbed. - Literary Review Hensher is gifted with a great virtuosity and a relentless intelligence. - Ian Sansom Philip Hensher has written nine novels, including The Mulberry Empire, the Booker-shortlisted The Northern Clemency, King of the Badgers, and Scenes from Early Life, which won the Ondaatje Prize in 2012. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Bath Spa and lives in South London and Geneva.

Tickets : £ Free Tickets

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