Past-President Brian Arnold gave the opening address at the 119th annual general meeting of the English Library, held on Thursday, January 31.
He welcomed over 50 members to the meeting, which went on to unanimously vote in Ken Fisher as the new president. Ken is no stranger to the job, having previously served as president from 2010 to 2012.
The meeting was followed by a superb buffet provided by Maureen Palmer and her team of helpers.
ICONIC Scottish writer Ian Rankin’s 22nd novel in his series of Edinburgh thrillers featuring one of the genre’s most enduring characters, rogue detective John Rebus, is among the latest titles to be added to the Library collection.
Rebus novels have so far been translated into 22 languages worldwide and remain best sellers across the globe to an army of followers who eagerly gobble up every baleful twist and turn of the intricate and carefully-crafted tales.
A MISSING PRIVATE investigator is found, locked in a car hidden deep in the woods. Worse still – both for his family and the police – is that his body was in an area that had already been searched.
Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is part of a new inquiry, combing through the mistakes of the original case. There were always suspicions over how the investigation was handled and now – after a decade without answers – it’s time for the truth.
Every officer involved must be questioned, and it seems everyone on the case has something to hide, and everything to lose.
But there is one man who knows where the trail may lead – and that it could be the end of him. That man is John Rebus.
PART ONE IN A SERIES of three novels, sub-titled respectively Yesterday, Last Night and Today, sees MP Tim Horton’s seven-year-old son abducted by a gang of ruthless kidnappers, leaving behind the child’s brutally murdered nanny.
The gang’s demands are simple: the MP must sacrifice his own life to save his son’s. Enter ex-soldier Scope, British writer Kernick’s character who specialises in extracting people from impossible situations.
FRANK OWNS A MUSIC shop. It’s 1988 and the shop is jam-packed with records of every speed, size and genre. Classical, jazz, punk – as long as it’s vinyl he sells it.
Then into his life walks Isle Brauchmann. Isle asks Frank to teach her about music.
His instinct is to turn and run. And yet he is drawn to this strangely still, mysterious woman with her pea-green coat and her eyes black as vinyl.
But Isle is not what she seems. And Frank has old wounds that threaten to reopen and a past he will never leave behind
A FAMILY HOME has become a crime scene. Four of them – mother, step-father, daughter, son – have been savagely murdered.
The fifth, the eldest daughter, is missing. Did she escape? Or is her absence evidence of something much more sinister?
Detective D.D. Warren is on the case, as is survivor-turned-avenger Flora Dane. Together they must make sense of the clues left behind by a 16-year-old girl who, as victim or suspect, is silently pleading, ‘Look for me.’
FAMILY SECRETS were locked away during the dark days of war on the island of Rhodes. Now, it’s time to unlock the truth. When urgent news from her estranged family calls Rebecca Neumanner back to the beautiful island of her birth, she realises how little she knows of her grandmother’s past.
Her Bubba has never spoken about the Nazi occupation but there have always been whispers. What desperate measures did she take that terrible day when her family was ripped apart? Can the rumour she has blood on her own hands really be true? What will the discovery of long-hidden documents bring to light?
As Rebecca arrives on the island, reuniting with her sister, and bringing the promise of new life, it’s time for this broken family to come together and face their history. But Bubba has always intended to take her secrets to the grave…
IN THE HEATWEAVE of 1971, four kids find a body by a lake and set out to solve a murder. But they dig too deep and ask too many questions.
Larson is a town reeling in the wake of the Vietnam draft, where the unrelentingly heat ruins the harvest, and the people teeter on the edge of ruin. As tension and paranoia run rife, rumours became fact, violence becomes reflex…
The unrest allows the dark elements of the close-knit farming community to rise and take control. And John, Jean. Gloria and Rudy are about to discover that secrets are best left buried…
IN 1939, THE DARK CLOUDS of war are building over Europe; in Ireland, much has changed for the Deverill family, with a new generation is waiting in the wings. Bridie Doyle now Countess di Marcantonio and mistress of Castle Deverill, is far surpassing her humble roots.
But when the eyes of her dashing husband begin to stray, his identity is called into question, putting Bridie’s happiness at terrible risk.
Once Bridie’s best friend, Kitty Deverill lives nearby with her devoted husband Robert. Her world is suddenly rocked by the unexpected return of Jack O’Leary, her never forgotten first love. But, this time, might Jack’s heart belong to another?
Martha Wallace arrives in Dublin desperate to track down her birth mother. Her efforts thwarted, she has no one to turn to – until JP, scion of the Deverill’s, catches her eye.
WHEN DUBLIN-BASED solicitor Tara Rafferty discovers that her fiancé and fellow solicitor, Eric has been cheating on her with a colleague, she breaks up with him, quits her job at the prestigious law firm were they worked together, and begins accepting clients out of a makeshift office in the back of a cafe.
With the help of Ray her street-smart client-turned-assistant, private detective Meg Riley and friend and mentor Senior Counsel Vincent Pike, Tara takes on a series of cases that often put her against her former colleagues and the influential families of the legal establishment she is trying to leave behind.
A SUPER SECRET organisation recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency’s ultra-competitive training programme just as a dire global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.
The star-studded cast brings together Colin Firth, Michael Caine and Samuel L Jackson.
MICHAEL CAIN’s latest blockbuster, the true-crime tale King of Thieves, is the next Library Film Club screening on Thursday, February 28.
Cain heads the star-studded cast of big-name Brits, including Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone, Charlie Cox, Paul Whitehouse and Francesca Annis.
Caine stars as one-time notorious thief Brian Reader, now retired but still dreaming of pulling off one final ‘big job’.
To that end, he recruits a gang of fellow retired criminals to plot robbery on a previously unprecedented scale at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit.
Posing as maintenance workers, the gang managed to escape with over £200 million worth of jewels.
All Library film screenings start at 2pm sharp and admission is strictly limited to Library members only. There is no admission fee, though traditional refreshments, including ice cream, will be on sale during the intermission.
To get a flavour for this darkly comedic tale, take a look at the trailer below
THE LIBRARY”S Annual General Meeting is open to all members and this year it takes place on Thursday, January 31, with a 4pm for 4.30 start.
Once the business has been enacted, a buffet and refreshments will follow..
This year we will be welcoming back past president Ken Fisher as our new President. This will need to be ratified at the AGM.
We look forward to your attendance and your support.
FOR OUR NEXT Library talk, we are happy to be welcoming back Ramon Michan, whose fascinating talk on tourism in Puerto de la Cruz in the 1960s was so well received.
This time round his topic will be Tenerife, a Paradise for Walkers; you can be assured of a most interesting afternoon and, as ever, his talk will be followed by a buffet and refreshments. Admission is €8 and you can book a place at the Treasurer’s desk.
A LOVE STORY based on real events and set amidst the horrors of Auschwitz is among the latest batch of new titles added to the Library shelves.
Alongside them are a delightful tale set in Dublin that grew out of a Facebook page created by the authors, Emer Mclysaght and Sarah Breen and the latest offering from that doyen of the legal thriller, John Gresham.
Our DVD corner features the highly-charged political thriller, Bodyguard, a definite candidate for anyone’s must-see list.
IN 1942, LALE SOKOLOV arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival – scratching numbers into his fellow victims’ arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust.
Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale – a dandy, a Jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer – it was love at first sight. And he was determined not only to survive himself, but to ensure this woman, Gita, did too.
So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust – the love story of the Tattooist of Auschwitz.
LIVING ‘DOWN HOME’ with Mammy and Daddy, Aisling commutes to her pensionable job in Dublin and stays two nights a week with her boyfriend of seven years, John.
But she wants more. She wants a ring on her finger. She wants the hen night with the Willy straws. She wants the big house with the utility room of her dreams.
When a week in Tenerife doesn’t result in a proposal, Aisling decides she’s had enough. It’s time for a change. A new start, a love triangle (well, more of a square) and some home truths force Aisling out of her comfort zone and into a life she never imagined.
THEY DREAMED OF CHANGING the world. Instead they’re facing a mountain of debt and no hope of a future. Mark, Todd and Zola are starting to realise it’s not even worth graduating from law school.
They’re better off hanging out at The Rooster Bar, plotting how to dodge the loan sharks. But maybe there’s another way. Maybe they know enough about the law to pass as lawyers.
Because it turns out the crooked hedge fund billionaire who owns their law school also runs the bank that arranged their student loans. And it’s time justice was served. Even if that means taking on the FBI…
IF YOU MISSED this series on television it really is a must see. Set in and around the corridors of power, Bodyguard tells the story of David Budd (Richard Madden), a heroic but volatile war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Special Protection branch of London’s Metropolitan Police Force.
When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawkes), Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. Responsible for her safety, could he become her biggest threat.
LA BIBLIOTECA Inglesa del Puerto de la Cruz se construyó en 1903 y desde entonces ha sido punto de reunión para la comunidad británica.
Mas información en Español
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