News & What's On
Social Event:
Let's Talk Crime & Thrillers
Meet other Crime and Thriller readers…get recommendations…share the books you love.
A fun, social evening for Crime and Thriller readers where you will learn about titles others love, recommend your favourites and leave with something new to read. Think of it as a big Crime/Thriller book club - just one where people haven't necessarily read the same books.
Staff will be on hand for recommendations and book-chat too so it’s also an opportunity to tap us for book recommendations in any genre.
PLUS - one lucky attendee will leave with an Everybody Reads tote bag and two books we recommend – one Crime and one Thriller.
Tickets and registration for the event are in advance only and you will need to give us the title and author of at least one Crime or Thriller book that you have read and loved in order to complete your registration. (Once you’ve purchased your ticket we will email you the short form where you can do this.)
Tickets: £15, includes drinks and £10 to put toward a book on the night. Available in-store or online with Eventbrite for a small additional fee.
Date: Sunday 26th April
Time: 6.00-7.30pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: £15 (Includes drinks and £10 to put toward a book on the night.)
Register: in advance only in-store or through Eventbrite.
Author Event:
Rosie Hewlett and Bea Fitzgerald on Rewriting the Classics
Join Rosie Hewlett and Bea Fitzgerald in conversation on 'Rewriting the Classics,' followed by Q&A. The authors will be signing their recent books, Sweetbitter Song (Hewlett) and A Beautiful Evil (Fitzgerald) at the end of the evening. PLUS: All attendees will receive a character art print from Sweetbitter Song.
Sweetbitter Song
One fateful night in Sparta, a young slave girl encounters a mysterious, grey-eyed princess. Melantho and Penelope, though from different worlds, are instantly connected. But betrayal soon tears them apart. Years later, on Ithaca's rocky shores, Melantho is sent to serve Princess Penelope and her new husband, Prince Odysseus.
Hardened by slavery, Melantho vows to stay distant from Penelope. Yet, the undeniable pull between them proves stronger than ever. As war ignites Greece, Odysseus and Ithaca's men are called away and, in their absence, Melantho finds a new world opening up before her – one where women rule, where family can be found, and where love is finally given the space to bloom.
But all wars eventually end and as Troy falls, Penelope and Melantho must face the King’s return and decide how far they will go to protect what matters most to them.
A Beautiful Evil
Pandora is the first human woman – made by the gods on Olympus for one simple purpose: to love and be loved by her new husband, the titan Epimatheos. The only problem? He wants nothing to do with her.
Hurt and confused, Pandora struggles to find meaning in her new life. What's the point of being given all these gifts by the gods, if she can't get this infuriating, awful, frankly very rude man (with an admittedly quite nice face) to love her? Maybe she's failing at her life’s purpose. Or maybe she's destined for an entirely different one...? As Pandora and Matheos work to uncover why she was created, that fated connection between them feels increasingly difficult to ignore. And with that comes terrible risk. Because Matheos’s traitorous brother, Prometheus, is a seer – and before the gods captured him he issued a final warning: that Pandora and Matheos’s love will be humanity’s doom. So...what do you do when faced with an all-powerful love...that just happens to threaten the end of the world?
Pandora’s about to find out.
Rosie Hewlett Having secured a first-class honours degree in Classical Literature and Civilisation at the University of Birmingham, Rosie Hewlett has studied Greek mythology in depth and is passionate about unearthing strong female voices within the classical world. Rosie currently lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and is now a full-time author spending her days lost inside her favourite stories from mythology.
Rosie's first traditionally published novel, Medea, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Her self-published debut novel, Medusa, won the Rubery Book of the Year award in 2021 and was published by Transworld in 2025.
Bea Fitzgerald is a Sunday Times bestselling author and content creator who has swiftly become one of the UK's biggest YA stars. Her debut Girl, Goddess, Queen was the bestselling YA hardback debut of 2023 and her follow-ups The End Crowns All and A Beautiful Evil were both instant bestsellers. In 2024, Girl, Goddess, Queen won the Romantic Novelists’ Association Fantasy Romance of the Year. Her work has also been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the YA Book Prize and The Books Are My Bag award. Bea's work has been translated widely across the globe, and when she's not writing, she's entertaining her followers on TikTok and Instagram with her mythology-themed comedy account @chaosonolympus.
Date: Thursday 30th April
Time: 7.00-8.30pm
Place: St Peter's Church, Hammersmith W6 9BE
Fee: £5, Refreshments are free
Register: in advance only, in-store or through Eventbrite.
Author Event:
Grace Alexander with Hattie Crisell
Join Authors Grace Alexander and Hattie Crisell as they discuss Grace's new book, The Lowe Job, followed by Q&A and book signing with both authors.
The Lowe Job
When Lili Lowe is caught in a compromising position with her boss, married politician Teddy Landen, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the centre of a media frenzy.
She turns, as most daughters would, to her mother. Yet Lydia Lowe is a former talent agent, and it's not long before the whole world knows the name Lili Lowe. As the spotlight brightens on Lili, and her three sisters Stevie, Iris and Katie, the women's lives are changed in ways they could never have predicted.And it's soon clear that fame, and fortune, comes with a price...
In Writing : Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation
The must-have companion for any writer, based on Hattie Crisell's hit podcast. Hattie Crisell invites some of our most-read authors, poets, journalists and screenwriters to share their secrets, as she asks them: where do ideas come from? What happens when confidence falters or the work fails? And what does writing success look like? The answers are as revelatory and entertaining as they are diverse. With contributions from André Aciman, Jesse Armstrong, Charlie Brooker, Wendy Cope, Cressida Cowell, Elizabeth Day, Kit de Waal, Geoff Dyer, John Lanchester, Emily St John Mandel, Liane Moriarty, David Nicholls, Maggie O'Farrell, Jon Ronson, Michael Rosen, David Sedaris, Curtis Sittenfeld, Brandon Taylor, Barbara Trapido, Meg Wolitzer and many many more.
Grace Alexander is a London-based writer. She has spent the last decade working in private equity and wrote The Lowe Job whilst on maternity leave, during her daughter's short and sporadic naps. With two sisters, four nieces, and too many female cousins to count, she was excited to write about a family full of women.
Hattie Crisell is a freelance writer based in London. Her book, In Writing: Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation, was published by Granta Books in November 2024. Since 2019 she has produced and hosted the podcast In Writing with Hattie Crisell, interviewing writers of all kinds in their studies. She is a contributing editor of Grazia magazine and has written for The Times, Bustle, Elle, Vogue, You, The Telegraph, The Evening Standard and The Sunday Times Style, among others.
Date: Thursday 28th May
Time: 7.00-8.30pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: £5, Refreshments are free
Register: in advance only, in-store or through Eventbrite.
Daytime Group: Shared Reading
At Shared Reading a short story or poem is read aloud in a group. People can just listen, or join in and talk with others about their responses to the piece. The sessions are led by the lovely Asya, trained by the charity The Reader. This is a great way to enjoy something thought-provoking together with others.
Dates: 16th and 30th April; 14th May; 4th and 18th June; 2nd and 16th July
Time: 11am-12pm
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: limited places, register in advance either in-person or by telephone.
Book Group: Everybody Reads Fiction
This group meets monthly to discuss a new fiction title in paperback. Just buy the book at Everybody Reads (at 10% off) and register for the discussion at time of purchase. Feel free to bring refreshments on the night; we can provide glasses.
May Title:
Flashlight
by Susan Choi
One evening, ten-year-old Louisa and her father, Serk, take a walk out on the breakwater. They are spending the summer in a coastal Japanese town. Hours later, Louisa wakes on the beach, soaked to the skin.
Her father is missing: presumably drowned. This sudden event shatters their small family. As Louisa and her American mother return to the US, Serk's disappearance reverberates across time and space, and the mystery of what really happened that night slowly unravels.
Date: Tuesday, 5th May
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Book Group:
Everybody Reads Historical Fiction
This group meets every month to discuss a historical fiction title. Just buy the book at Everybody Reads (at 10% off) and register for the discussion at time of purchase. Feel free to bring refreshments on the night; we can provide glasses.
April Title:
The Secret River
by Kate Grenville
London, 1806. William Thornhill, happily wedded to his childhood sweetheart Sal, is a waterman on the River Thames. Life is tough but bearable until William makes a mistake, a bad mistake for which he and his family are made to pay dearly.
His sentence: to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. Soon Thornhill, a man no better or worse than most, has to make the most difficult decision of his life.
Date: Monday, 27th April
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Book Group: Ideas for Life
This group meets monthly to discuss a non-fiction title. Just buy the book at Everybody Reads (at 10% off) and register for the discussion at time of purchase. Feel free to bring refreshments on the night; we can provide glasses.
April Title:
The Ideological Brain
by Leor Zmigrod
How do our brains shape the ideologies we choose? Could our most cherished beliefs ultimately harm our brains and bodies?
In The Ideological Brain, Dr Leor Zmigrod argues that when we believe passionately and extremely in an ideology, it is not only our political opinions that are changed – our entire brain can be transformed too. Drawing on cutting-edge research, Zmigrod reveals how rigid belief systems transform the way we think, act and interact with others, making us less sensitive, less adaptable and less free. Guiding you through innovative experiments, Zmigrod uncovers the deep and surprising connections between your political beliefs and the biology of your brain, exposing why some of us are more likely to gravitate towards rigid ideologies than others. She reveals the complex interplay between the psychological, neurobiological and social factors affecting our ideological choices, and carves a hopeful way forward, explaining how we can keep our minds open and free in the face of extreme ideologies.
Date: Tuesday, 28th April
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Book Group: Everybody Reads Novellas
This group meets monthly to discuss short works of fiction. Just buy the book at Everybody Reads (at 10% off) and register for the discussion at time of purchase. Feel free to bring refreshments on the night; we can provide glasses.
April Title:
FULL,
ask about our
waitlist
So Long, See You Tomorrow
by William Maxwell
In the quiet farmlands of Illinois, two lonely teenagers – bound by the burden of their home lives – forge a delicate friendship. But when jealousy ignites in one of their families, it leads to unthinkable tragedy, and severs their bond forever.
Fifty years later, haunted by the past, the narrator seeks to piece together those harrowing events and find redemption for a lifetime of regret. So Long, See You Tomorrow is a haunting exploration of memory, loss, and the enduring quest for forgiveness.
153 pages
Date: Tuesday, 21st April
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Book Group: Everybody Reads History
This group meets every other month to discuss a history title. Just buy the book at Everybody Reads (at 10% off) and register for the discussion at time of purchase. Feel free to bring refreshments on the night; we can provide glasses.
May Title:
FULL,
ask about our
waitlist
A History of the World in 47 Borders
by Jonn Elledge
A fascinating and surprising history of the world told through the lines people have drawn on maps. Sometimes rooted in physical geography, sometimes entirely arbitrary, these lines might often have looked very different if a war or treaty or the decisions of a handful of tired Europeans had gone a different way. By telling the stories of these borders, we can learn a lot about how political identities are shaped, why the world looks the way it does - and about the scale of human folly.
Date: Monday, 11th May
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Children's Creative Writing Workshop on Plot
For children 7-12
Join writer and workshop leader Mariah Mannae for a fun, friendly creative writing workshop. This lively session uses storytelling games and writing exercises to explore plot and imagination.
Date: Tuesday, 21st April
Time: 4.30-5.30pm
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: £15.50
Register: tickets in advance only through Mariah's website
Children's Group: StoryTime!
For children over 2 (and their grown-ups)
.jpeg)
Join us as we read 3 picture books we love. 10% off any of the books we read on the day.
Date: Saturdays, 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th April
Time: 10.30-11.00am
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: no pre-booking required, just turn up!
Children's Group: BabyTime!
For children under 2 (and their grown-ups)
.jpeg)
It's never too early to read to your baby! This group is an opportunity for our youngest readers (and their parents!) to meet, socialise and enjoy age-appropriate board books together. 10% off recommended board books from our BabyTime! basket on the day.
Date: Wednesdays, 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th April
Time: 10.30-11.00am
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: no pre-booking required, just turn up!
Keep Sharing your Book Recommendations
and Win Free Books!
On the last day of every month we draw the winner of our monthly draw to win £20 in free books at Everybody Reads.
Congratulations to our March 2026 winner: Juliana!
If £20 in free books sounds good to you, there are two ways to enter the April draw:
1) Become a Wild Reader. If we happen spot you reading in Chiswick or Hammersmith in April, just talk to us about your book! You will not only become one of the 'Wild Readers of Chiswersmith' featured across the top of this page but you will be entered into the prize draw! .
2)Review a book for us. Submit a short review of a book you recommend here. If we like your review, and think our customers will enjoy reading the book, we will add it to our shelves and display your review next to it. Anyone who submits a review in April is eligible for the April prize draw.
Good luck!