Imagine if words had magical power. I don’t mean in some grandiose metaphorical sense, but–like–if they could physically blow up rooms and turn you invisible. That, essentially, is the premise behind Babel, our next book club choice. Set in 1830’s Oxford, the English empire spans the globe, the country is on the precipice of the Victorian Era, and much of that is thanks to silver bars that capture what is lost in translation between two languages and use it for magical purposes. But behind every empire is a crime, and the novel follows Robin Swift, a brilliant student who has secured a place in Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation, as he balances allegiances between the country in which he was raised and the one in which he was born. This novel is great for people who love linguistics and the history of words, but also has something for history geeks and fantasy geeks as well. So, join us on Thursday, June 27th at 20u–it is bound to be explosive.
Tickets can be bought here: https://www.luddites.be/book-club-ticket-babel-270624-at-20h30.html