<![CDATA[Hilary Layne: The Book Club]]>

<![CDATA[Hilary Layne: The Book Club]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/s/the-book-clubhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BFbC!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4969c0e2-8064-4aa4-b519-c293b7c45311_528x528.pngHilary Layne: The Book Clubhttps://www.hilarylayne.com/s/the-book-clubSubstackSun, 14 Jun 2026 04:52:28 GMT<![CDATA[Laurus Week Two: Chapters 7 - 12]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/laurus-week-two-chapters-7-12https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/laurus-week-two-chapters-7-12Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:03:27 GMT

(I have added the Cyrillic number chart to the bottom of this post to help in deciphering the chapter numbers.)

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]]><![CDATA[Laurus: Prolegomenon — Chapter 6]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/laurus-prolegomenon-chapter-6https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/laurus-prolegomenon-chapter-6Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:10:55 GMT

(I have added the Cyrillic number chart to the bottom of this post to help in deciphering the chapter numbers.)

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]]><![CDATA[The Book Club - Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/the-book-club-laurus-by-eugene-vodolazkinhttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/the-book-club-laurus-by-eugene-vodolazkinThu, 28 May 2026 12:20:55 GMT

I want to say, first of all, thank you to everyone who participated in the last book reading. That was a wonderful, rich, fruitful experience and I look forward to reading many more books together!

Second, welcome to those of you who are just joining us! I’m certainly glad to have you. Please feel free to introduce yourselves in comments or in the private book club chat, if you’d like. We’ve got a pretty great crowd here, I must say.

When I checked this evening (Wednesday, May 27th) the book was back in stock at bookshop.org.

My affiliate link is here.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon.

Here is a link to second hand listings on Alibris.

(And a note on chapter numbering…)

Laurus is a longer book and it can be a little dense, so I’ve attempted to break down the weeks’ pages with that in mind.

]]><![CDATA[Balcony In the Forest - Reader Roundup]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-reader-rounduphttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-reader-roundupWed, 20 May 2026 13:00:58 GMTScroll to the end of the post for the next book announcement…

]]><![CDATA[Balcony In the Forest - Week Seven]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-sevenhttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-sevenWed, 13 May 2026 12:29:47 GMT

The first lines of this week’s chapters are:

Chapter Nineteen: “Grange took his turn on guard...”
Chapter Twenty: “‘It must be almost five,’ Grange decided…”
Chapter Twenty-One: “Grange pushed Gourcuff toward the…”

]]><![CDATA[Balcony In the Forest - Week Six]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-sixhttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-sixWed, 06 May 2026 13:02:32 GMT

The first lines of this week’s chapters are:

Chapter Fifteen: “The morning of the next day was very still.”
Chapter Sixteen: “As they were going back inside…”
Chapter Seventeen: “There are hours when it seems as if…”
Chapter Eighteen: “They dashed into the blockhouse and…”

]]><![CDATA[Balcony In the Forest - Week Five]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-fivehttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-fiveWed, 29 Apr 2026 13:31:26 GMT

The first lines of this week’s chapters are:

Chapter Thirteen: “May came, and its first hot days immediately burst…”
Chapter Fourteen: “The night of May ninth, Lieutenant Grange slept…”

]]><![CDATA[Balcony In the Forest - Week Four]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-fourhttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-fourWed, 22 Apr 2026 12:31:49 GMT

The first lines of this week’s chapters are:

Chapter Ten: “Often, back in his room, he found on his desk the mail…”
Chapter Eleven: “Toward the middle of January, after snowfalls…”
Chapter Twelve: “Toward the winter’s end, Grange’s leave came up.”

]]><![CDATA[Balcony In the Forest - Week Three]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-threehttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-threeWed, 15 Apr 2026 12:04:40 GMT

The first lines of this week’s chapters are:

Chapter Eight: “The Autumn lingered on the heights of Les Falizes much longer…”
Chapter Nine: “It was toward the end of December that the first snow fell…”

(both chapters have page breaks, so Kindle and ebook readers, watch out for those)

]]><![CDATA[Balcony In the Forest - Week Two]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-twohttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-twoWed, 08 Apr 2026 13:15:58 GMT

To combat the (slightly troublesome) lack of chapter numbers, here are the first few words of this week’s chapters:

]]><![CDATA[Balcony In the Forest - Week One]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-onehttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/balcony-in-the-forest-week-oneWed, 01 Apr 2026 12:02:14 GMT

Week 1: Chapters 1 - 5
Week 2: Chapter 6 - 7
Week 3: Chapters 8 - 9
Week 4: Chapters 10 - 12
Week 5: Chapter 13 - 14
Week 6: Chapters 15 - 18
Week 7 (Final): Chapters 19 - 21

If this schedule is too fast or too slow, please let me know! I’ve tried to break it into manageable pieces (in my copy this breakdown represents roughly 25-35 pages per week).

In my copy, the chapters aren’t numbered, so I’ve counted them and checked it twice. I’m reasonably sure I’ve got the count correct.

Thank you again for joining The Book Club, I look forward to reading this book with you!

Without further ado:

Some notes on the historical context:

]]><![CDATA[The Book Club: Starting Date and the First Book]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/the-book-club-starting-date-and-thehttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/the-book-club-starting-date-and-theSat, 21 Mar 2026 13:16:52 GMT

Thank you all for the enthusiastic response to The Book Club! I’m excited to begin, but I want to give everyone sufficient time to acquire the book. Therefore:

Starting Date:

I have decided on Wednesday April 1st as the official first day of The Book Club. (I promise it isn’t an April Fool’s joke)

On that day I will send out a members-only post introducing…

]]><![CDATA[The Book Club]]>https://www.hilarylayne.com/p/coming-soon-the-book-clubhttps://www.hilarylayne.com/p/coming-soon-the-book-clubSun, 15 Mar 2026 13:03:01 GMTScroll down to see the book club’s current book.

I have begun hosting a book club here on my substack for paid subscribers. We will be reading, at a leisurely pace, some slightly lesser known selections of exceptional literature: books that I have thoroughly enjoyed and would love to share with as many people as I can.

What To Expect:

As we all, no doubt, are very busy people I would like to keep the reading schedule manageable and accessible. For shorter books we will keep to roughly 3-4 chapters per week. For longer, more challenging books we might read no more than 1-2 chapters per week.

Every week or every other week (depending on the book) I will publish a discussion post for paid subscribers only. These will include suggested topics for analysis with the comments open for discussion.
There will also be a private chat for the book club.

Hosting a book club in a digital space is new territory for me, so I think some of the details beyond those listed above will have to be addressed as they’re encountered.

The current book is the exceptional Eugene Vodolazkin novel Laurus. We will begin reading June 3rd. Reading schedule is forthcoming.

How to Join

The Book Club will be available to anyone who has subscribed to any paid plan, monthly or annual. Click subscribe below to sign up.

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