Readers’ Day is a regular, and extremely popular feature of the main Festival and this spring we will be bringing the very best summer reads to West Horsley Place.

The day takes the format of a mini festival in a day with six authors, including debut fiction writers and established novelists, talking about their lives, their inspirations and their latest projects. There is also an opportunity to meet the authors and have books signed.

This year, we’re pleased to give you more choice and are offering two tickets, one enabling you to bring your own lunch and one with a light lunch provided.

Both options include a Goody Bag, and the venue offers free parking on site and a coffee van with hot drinks and tasty snacks in the courtyard.

Hosted by Patricia Nicol

Patricia Nicol is a regular book reviewer for The Sunday Times, and also writes a weekly audio column, reviewing radio and podcasts. She also writes the Best Books column for the Daily Mail.

She has interviewed many authors including Maggie O'Farrell, Elizabeth Strout, Zadie Smith, Curtis Sittenfeld, David Nicholls and Mick Herron.

She is the author of a topical non-fiction book, Sucking Eggs: What Your Wartime Granny Could Teach you about Diet, Thrift and Going Green.

Originally from Scotland, she now lives in south-east London with her husband and two sons, where she enjoys swimming at Charlton Lido.

Patricia is delighted to be back in Surrey, having attended St Catherine's, Bramley, and Godalming Sixth Form College.  

JODY COOKSLEY

The Small Museum

A chilling gothic mystery set among Victorian scientists and collectors. A newly wed young woman is thrust into a strange house of secrets. Soon she’s accused of murder and the plot splits into coverage of her trial and the narrative of the dark events that lead to her arrest.

FREYA NORTH

The Unfinished Business of Eadie Browne

Join bestselling author Freya
North in conversation about
her latest novel The
Unfinished Business of Eadie
Brown, a nostalgic, life-
affirming story set in the 80s
of friendship, growing up and finding yourself – even when your past won’t let you go.

AMY TWIGG

Spoilt Creatures

Iris is adrift, but her life
changes when she meets the
mysterious and beguiling
Hazel, who lives at a
women's commune. The
women can live how they
want at the farm but when a
group of men arrive, the commune's existence is thrown into question, culminating in an act of devastating violence.

LAURA DOCKRILL

I Love You, I Love You, I Love You

Based on award-winning
author Laura Dockrill's own
lived experience, I Love
You, I Love You, I Love You
is a glorious nostalgia trip
back to the summer of 2000.
This book is for anyone who has ever known the exquisite pain and pleasure of first love.

LOUISE CANDLISH

Our Holiday

Charlotte and Perry long for
summers at Cliff View, their
gorgeous holiday home
overlooking Pine Ridge. City
friends Amy and Linus have
bought a property nearby,
they plan lazy weeks of sun,
sea and sipping rosé. But there’s trouble in paradise... Think the White Lotus meets Our House as betrayal, corruption and murder sizzle in a seaside town.

Abi Daré

And So I Roar

Fourteen-year-old Adunni is in Lagos, excited to finally enrol in school. Having escaped her rural village in a desperate bid to seek a better future, she's found refuge with Tia. But it's not so simple to run away from your past.