The Great Big Book Club

For its inaugural year, the Cavendish Literary Festival proudly presents The Spoon Stealer by Lesley Crewe as the first selection for the Great Big Book Club.

Pick up a copy and read it before the Festival and join fellow readers for a free ranging discussion!

The novel takes readers from WWI England to 1960s Nova Scotia. It follows the story of Emmeline, who, after fleeing a family burdened by grief and mental illness, has built a new life in England. Now retired, Emmeline joins a memoir-writing course where her past begins to unfold, and a quirky secret is revealed: she is a compulsive spoon stealer! Her unexpected inheritance of her family’s farm leads to a return to her past life in Canada, stirring both chaos and healing through her off-kilter charm, generosity, and hard-earned wisdom.

“How wonderful that The Spoon Stealer is the chosen book for your Cavendish Lit Festival. It doesn’t matter where I go in this country, readers always rush to tell me how much they love Emmeline and Vera. And I miss them too. After fifteen novels, I have a lot of characters but these two are in my top five. And I almost didn’t put Vera in at all! I was worried that readers wouldn’t go with me on my experiment, but I was so wrong. Trust your gut! My publicist hoped I’d provide a few words of encouragement to all who will be reading The Spoon Stealer. Ummm….the first one finished gets fifty bucks?! Just enjoy the darn thing.” Lesley Crewe