Duchess of Cornwall reveals first four personal choices for her new online ‘reading room’ – including a historic masterpiece and a ‘painfully beautiful’ murder mystery
- Camilla, 73, revealed the first four personal choices for the new online ‘reading room’
- The mirror and light of Dame Hilary Mantel was chosen by the Duchess
- William Boyd’s Restless, Delia Owens’ Where The Crawdads Sing and Elif Shafak’s The Architect’s Apprentice were also selected
Ranging from a historic masterpiece to a “painfully beautiful” murder mystery, the Duchess of Cornwall revealed the first four personal choices for her new online “reading room”.
Camilla, 73, who has already attracted more than 30,000 literature enthusiasts to her Instagram website, launched the initiative with Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and The Light; Where The Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens; Restless by William Boyd; and The Architect’s Apprentice, by Elif Shafak.
In a special film created to welcome readers to the Instagram-based literary initiative, royalty spoke about their own love of reading.
‘For me, reading is a great adventure. I love it since I was very little and I would love for everyone else to enjoy it as much as I do, ‘she said. ‘You can escape and you can travel, and you can laugh and you can cry. There are all kinds of emotions that humans experience in a book. ‘
Camilla (photo), 73, revealed the first four personal choices for her new online ‘reading room’
The Mirror And The Light, by Dame Hilary Mantel, was chosen by the Duchess alongside Restless, by William Boyd, Where The Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens, and The Architect’s Apprentice, by Elif Shafak (photo)
Camilla is following in the footsteps of TV presenters Richard and Judy when launching their own book club.
The Duchess of Cornwall’s reading room will be a “celebration of literature” and, she hopes, a center for literary communities around the world.
Four of his recommended books will be revealed each season, with the first one coming out today.
Hillary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light is the conclusion of her Wolf Hall trilogy, based on the life of Thomas Cromwell, and took eight years to produce.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens takes place in the desolate marshes of the North Carolina coast and tells a story of coming of age through the eyes of an abandoned child. The New York Times described it as a “painfully beautiful” first novel.
In contrast, William Boyd’s spy story, Restless, explores the war adventures and peacetime intrigues of Russian emigrant Eva Delectorskaya, who is recruited into the British Secret Service in 1939.
An impressive portrait (pictured) of the Duchess of Cornwall was released before the announcement of the first four titles of the Royal’s Reading Room book club
The Duchess of Cornwall’s reading room will be a “celebration of literature” and, she hopes, a center for literary communities around the world
Finally, The Architect’s Apprentice is described as a ‘dazzling and intricate’ tale by Elif Shafak, set in 16th century Istanbul.
Camilla was inspired to establish the free initiative as a result of the phenomenal response to two suggested reading lists she published during the first block, as well as research that showed that book sales increased 400%.
The Duchess and her team decided to create a more permanent platform to celebrate and explore literature from around the world – @duchessofcornwallsreadingroom.
Sources say she has put her ‘heart and soul’ into the venture, which is the first time in royalty.
Each recommended book will be accompanied by exclusive content from the authors, as well as from the Duchess herself, to stimulate conversation and debate.
Since joining the Royal Family, Camilla has made the issue of literacy – especially among children – one of the cornerstones of her work and has sponsored seven charities, including the National Literacy Trust.
Charlie Mackesy, author and illustrator of the bestselling The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, supported the project (photo during a video call with the Duchess)