The Goldster Magazine Show

This month we’re reading a book requested by several Goldster members, the modern classic Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner. It was published in 1984, and won the Booker Prize in the same year. Two years later, it was made into a TV film, which some members may have watched?

The novel tells the story of Edith Hope, a romantic novelist, who arrives at the uppercrust Hotel du Lac at a very difficult time in her life. Her complicated love life has made living in England very difficult, and has caused her to be “banished” by her friends. Determined to live her life as she wants to – not as she is expected to – she finds herself amongst a new world of pampered women, minor nobility and eligible men.

By turns humorous and sad, this is not the kind of book Edith Hope herself would have written, as it follows no norms of romantic fiction. Instead we see the world through Edith’s eyes and the lives of her fellow guests: the flawed, the spoilt, the damaged, and the lonely.

These Book Club events are not recorded, everyone is unmuted and everyone gets the chance to meet others in the Goldster community. Join Lucinda and your fellow Goldster members at 1pm on Tuesday 25 February.

Why are women taken less seriously than men?  Can men imagine living in a world in which you were routinely patronised by women. Imagine having your views ignored or your expertise frequently challenged by women. Imagine trying to speak up in a meeting, only to be talked over by female colleagues. Imagine being trolled by women on social media for daring to express an opinion. Author and broadcaster, Mary Ann Seighart, best-selling book is The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About it. Mary Ann spent 20 years as Assistant Editor and columnist at The Times and won a large following for her writing on politics, economics, feminism, parenthood and life in general. She has presented many programmes on BBC Radio 4, such as Start the Week, Profile, Analysis, Fallout and One to One.  She is a Visiting Professor at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and was Chair of the judges for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022.  With Mary Ann, Goldster brings you a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in women’s everyday lives, revealing the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women. The Authority Gap is a book that will make you angry and shake your head in disbelief. But it will also inspire you, because it contains the key to addressing these problems, mapping out the measures women can take, as individuals and society. Join Mary Ann Sieghart in an enthralling conversation with Humphrey Hawksley at 1pm (UK time) on Tuesday March 4^th on the Goldster Magazine Show and Podcast. 

Andrew Lycett is an acclaimed author and journalist, best known for his critically acclaimed biographies. As a child, he lived in East Africa before moving to Yorkshire and Dublin. After university, he worked as a development worker in newly independent Bangladesh before returning to Africa and later the Middle East as a foreign correspondent, primarily for The Times and The Sunday Times. Over two decades, he also edited several publications focused on the Arab world.

His first book, Qaddafi and the Libyan Revolution, was co-written with his Sunday Times colleague, the late David Blundy. Since the early 1990s, Andrew has been dedicated to biographical writing. His Ian Fleming (1995) remains the definitive biography of James Bond’s creator. He has also written biographies of Rudyard Kipling, Dylan Thomas, Wilkie Collins, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Andrew’s latest book, The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes, published by Frances Lincoln, explores the social, political, and intellectual influences that shaped both Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this session, Andrew and Lucinda will discuss this latest work, as well as Wilkie Collins, whose bicentenary is being celebrated in 2024.

🗓 Join us on the Goldster Platform on 11th March at 1 PM.

Reporting important and neglected stories has taken Heidi Kingstone to some of the most desperate places on the planet. She has covered disease and poverty from Mali to Sierra Leone; life in Darfur; and water wars between Palestine and Israel. In 2009, she was commissioned to write a four-part series on the ‘Worst Places in the World’. What propels someone to follow such a career that will bring them face to face with some of the most catastrophic personal tragedies? She wrote Dispatches from the Kabul Café from her experience of the war in Afghanistan as friends fell victim to ambush, kidnap and suicide bombing. A passionate advocate for women’s rights, Heidi witnessed women as heroes, as victims, as freeloaders, as rivals. Her latest book is bluntly titled Genocide: Personal Stories, Big Questions and in today’s constant talk of war the issue is becoming more and more relevant. Heidi gives us insight into genocides in Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda, the Holocaust and others, piecing together stories from experts and survivors on this very uncomfortable subject that we are still grappling with today. Join Heidi Kingstone for a thoughtful conversation of stories and insight with Humphrey Hawksley on Tuesday March 18th at 1pm (UK time) on the Goldster Magazine Show and Podcast.

On September 11, 2001, a blind man escaped the World Trade Centre by walking down 78 flights of stairs with his guide dog. Days later, America fell in love with Michael Hingson and Roselle and the special bond that helped them both survive one of America’s darkest days. Michael shot to international fame and wrote a best-seller Thunder Dog, The Story of a Blind Man, a Guide Dog and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero. Michael has since gone on to be an inspirational figure on overcoming challenges. From the day he received his first guide dog at 14-years-old, Michael has been developing and fostering skills in leadership, trust, teamwork, adaptation and more, skills we all need whether with family, community or work. He has become a recognised internationally acclaimed public speaker who captivates audiences with his personal and compelling story.

He also teaches new ways of looking at life asking people to imagine how, from his point of view to love, function and thrive. In a later book, Running with Roselle, Michael tells the story of being blind from birth, meeting Roselle, an energetic Labrador, and living his youth to the full including riding a bicycle and driving a car around his college campus. And last year, Michael published Live Like a Guide Dog True Stories from a Blind Man and His Dogs about Being Brave, Overcoming Adversity, and Moving Forward in Faith.

Meet Michael with Humphrey Hawksley at 7pm on Tuesday April 1st on the Goldster Magazine Show.