This year, the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is celebrating the exceptional 2026 shortlist by inviting twelve UK-based book clubs to shadow the Best Published Novel award. Read on to meet each of the groups, find out what makes them special and what titles they’ll be reading.
Welton Books, Brews, Buns and Banter
The Welton Books, Brews, Buns & Banter book club was set up for fellow book worms to meet each other every month, enjoy a brew, some banter and talk about what we liked, or disliked about our recent book choice. We’re a group of 7 ladies, who love to chat healthily and heartily about life, family, holidays and books, obviously. We meet in the local Cafe Lounge, which does fabulous cakes, and which most of us partake in at each meeting. We’ve only been together for a year, so being given an opportunity to shadow the Wilbur Smith Adventure writing prize is such an honour which we are really excited about and throwing ourselves into.
We’re a really friendly bunch, and although we only meet ‘officially’ once a month, there’s quite often spontaneous meet ups for a coffee, cake and catch up.
Members describe the group as welcoming, wonderful, wise and involves titles, talking and titters!
The Nameless Book Club
We are a free and inclusive women’s book club in Barking, East London, hosted in House For Artists, a local community art space, once a month. Members vary in age from those in their 20s to mid-40s and there is about 16 of us in total. Sometimes we are joined by the members’ book-loving babies who babble along to our animated discussions! The book club was set up to create a space for local women to meet in-person and build community around our passion for books and other shared interests.
The book club’s initial focus was on historical, diverse and international books with social, political and spiritual themes, by mostly female authors. However, the group is co-hosted by different members of the group who each bring their own interest, influences and flavours so we often explore other themes and genres.
We are called the ‘Nameless book club’ because when the club was first set up the founder wanted it to be community owned and co-designed. We occasionally give it a temporary name if there’s a word we are drawn to but we often revert back to Nameless Book Club. This reflects the fluidity of the group and our openness to being creative with how we come together and enjoy books.
We have so much talent in the group, one member recently hosted a ceramics painting workshop and our designs were inspired by our favourite books. We usually have a monthly poll to pick the next book but we’re excited for a book to be chosen for us by the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize – like a book roulette!
Welton Books, Brews, Buns and Banter and The Nameless Book Club are reading The Tarot Reader of Versailles Anya Bergman.*
Vi’s Book Club
Vi’s Book Club is a community of readers based in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, bringing together people who share a love of books and a desire to build meaningful local friendships. For over four years, we have met monthly to explore a diverse range of titles chosen by our members. Each year, every member nominates three books, and our reading list evolves through a unique raffle tradition that keeps our selections varied, surprising, and member led. Beyond our book discussions, we host regular social events and have built a welcoming, long-lasting community. Many of our members have been with us since the very beginning.
A particular highlight of our club is our strong connection with authors. Over the years, we have had the pleasure of meeting and discussing books with local writers, most recently welcoming S. M. Govett to talk about her debut adult thriller, Believe. We were also honoured to be selected as a Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025 Shadowing Group, a dream achievement for our club and a testament to our members’ passion for reading.
Riverside Readers
We meet for two hours in the evening of the first Wednesday of each month at the beautiful “Westacre Theatre”:https://www.westacretheatre.com/riversidereaders in the green and leafy village of Westacre, in Norfolk. We are a bunch of readers of mixed ages, male and female members with different backgrounds and experiences who all met by joining the group and have bonded through a love of reading. We read a variety of books, authors and genres, the conversation is always lively and interesting with all points of view considered. It is especially interesting when we respectfully disagree and put forward our cases to each other. We should break for coffee and cake at the halfway point and we often miss the time due to lively debate and discussion. We all submit suggestions and select the next full year full of books in December and order our books from our local library if possible. For our December read (discussed in January), we each wrap a book we have loved or if we are brave enough, hated, and we then choose a lucky dip from the pile to take away and read. The meeting in January is hilarious as we report back on the read and try to guess who put the book into the mix. It creates a buzz and often the books are then passed around the group for more people to share.
Vi’s Book Club and Riverside Readers are reading Boudicca’s Daughter by Elodie Harper.
Book and Brew
Book and Brew is a Northeast-based book club that started in 2015. Its nine members love reading literary fiction, sci-fi, horror, classics and crime – but this is their first official foray into adventure writing. The group has shadowed judged the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Man Booker Prize and International Man Booker Prize, and featured on BBC Radio 2’s Book Club. We’re really looking forward to exploring a new genre and discovering some brilliant new writers.
Spelthorne Book Club
Spelthorne Book Club was formed in January 2010, with 10 staff members from Spelthorne Junior School. Over the last 16 years, we have seen changes to the school, including a name change, and many of the original members have left the school or retired but we have maintained the book club and invited new school-linked members along the way; it’s a great way of keeping in touch. We meet roughly once every half term, and I have kept records of all the scores for all the books we have read.
Book and Brew and Spelthorne Book Club are reading The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao.
Gin Club with a Book Problem
The Gin Club With a Book Problem is a highly sophisticated organisation dedicated to … well, mostly gin. Books are present and they direct our chats as well as extra book-related activities. Sometimes, our conversations go off on a tangent but that’s part of why we love our monthly book club evening – they give us the excuse we sometimes need to be sociable and catch up with friends.
Over the last year, new members have wandered in, lured by our reputation for excellent gin, relaxed reading habits (we cover the spectrum), and top-tier nonsense. They stay because we’re warm, hilarious, enjoy the occasional silent disco and we’re only mildly feral.
Read Between The Wines
Based in Surrey, Read Between The Wines was set up eighteen years ago for mums of Reception age children who were looking for some “me” time centred around books, with a good dose of wine and chat mixed in. We read a wide variety of genres and find our best discussions often come from books that divide opinion.
Some books inspire us to engage with the wider world and take us on adventures. We’ve enjoyed cinema trips to see book adaptations, author events at literary festivals and recently a guided tour of Highgate Cemetery.
We’re excited to be shadowing the Wilbur Smith Adventure Prize; stepping things up a notch, seeking new bookish opportunities now that we’re becoming empty nesters.
Gin Club with a Book Problem and Read Between The Wines are reading Poor Girls by Clare Whitfield.
David Lloyd Bookclub Leeds
Our bookclub began four years ago, a national incentive from DL clubs to get members together socially and build friendships. We all had an interest in physical wellness and have been brought together by our other interest, the love of reading. There are two original members and we now have twelve regulars, meeting every two weeks discussing one book each month. Our first discussion book was Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, and since then have chosen a variety of books including a couple of classics every year. We try to pick an easier read for the August and December books, though last year’s Christmas book was Jilly Coopers’ Riders and at 900 pages, was a challenge! The main feeling from us is that we love to read but wanted to look at books we wouldn’t normally choose. This is why we are excited about joining the shadowing of this prize. Adventure isn’t a genre we have chosen and the opportunity of then discussing the book with the author is amazing. Also looking forward to interacting with other book groups and maybe getting some tips of books to read in the future.
Hythe Remainers Book Group
The Hythe Remainers Book Group was inaugurated in October 2019 in the small Kent seaside town of Hythe, as an offshoot of a local group of pro-European campaigners, with a view at least initially to read more books written by European authors or with a European setting. Over time this extended to reading with a worldwide focus and over the last 6 or so years the group have had the opportunity to read potentially over 120 titles. In some months there is a choice of three titles from which group members can choose to read one or all 3 books! Each book is introduced by one of the 15 or so group members and books are scored individually on the basis of how much the reader enjoyed the book. Facebook and Instagram pages (@hrbookgroup) are maintained recording notes of the discussion and total scores as well as sharing literary news items. We have tended to read literary fiction, award winners, contemporary and historical fiction and the occasional classic or non-fiction title so the challenge of reading a book in the adventure/thriller genre is a welcome one.
The group meet in the evening in the cabin at the back of their favourite local pub The Hope and often enjoy a Thai meal there before the discussion start. Some of the group work others are recently retired. Some have always been avid readers others less so. The group has been a way to meet new people, make new friends, discover and discuss new ideas, explore different cultures, and most importantly extend members’ reading diets beyond their usual comfort zones. Most of the group are keen cold-water dippers, swimming in their local English Channel throughout the year, so a group believing in the health benefits of swimming, reading and talking!
David Lloyd Bookclub Leeds and Hythe Remainers Book Group are reading White Road by Harry Whitehead.
Chwaeroniaeth/Sisterhood
We are 8 women who met when we were young in our first jobs at Shelter Cymru. Our ages range from mid-fifties to early seventies from different backgrounds, circumstances and lives. Although we chose different career paths, we have kept in touch for over forty years. In May 2015 over a drink in our local the seed of the book club was formed as a good way to meet and discuss all our favourite passions: books, food, music, friendship and politics. We have gone from strength to strength, supported each other through family and life challenges, births, deaths and career changes with tears and laughter.
We meet on a six-weekly basis with each of us taking turns to host and providing food. Books are chosen by a group member on a rota basis as per our rules and a record is kept of all books read and comments. Covid was challenging, but we set up a zoom group and would again take turns in organising quizzes and activities. We even held our very own desert island discs for each of us. We have kept the energy within the group by introducing an annual weekend break, challenges such as bringing a favourite poem and cultural visits. The latest being the Gwen John exhibition Cardiff.
We have many interests, some book choices are very personal, some are recommendations from friends, some are books of the time. We have different tastes in genres so get to read books we would not consider reading individually but have turned out to be a great read whether written today or a century ago; we will tackle anything that’s not too long to read between meetings so no war and peace but we are open to discovering the wonders of the mind of the storyteller and long may it continue. We have read some amazing books and some books that many or even the majority of us have not enjoyed but we have always tried to find connections with our lives and the lives of the protagonists; looking for that which unites us rather than divides us.
RHACC Book Club
The RHACC Book Club was launched in June 2025 as a new way to bring together readers from across Richmond & Hillcroft Adult Community College. Although RHACC has a long history of supporting adult learners, this is our first cross-college reading community for both staff and students.
Our aim is to inspire a love of reading and to help learners build confidence, especially those returning to education through qualification or leisure courses. The club is open to everyone at RHACC, and our members currently include colleagues from Carers, Supported Learning, Enrolment, Additional Learning Support, tutors and the Learning Resource Centre team.
We share book reviews and recommendations online and stay in touch through Microsoft Teams group, where members can also see which new titles are available to borrow from the Learning Resource Centre. Over the coming year, we are planning a series of in-person reading groups for both staff and students. These will include themed sessions centred around different genres and authors, helping to bring people together, start conversations and encourage reading for pleasure.
Whether someone is studying at RHACC or working here, the Book Club aims to create a warm, inclusive space for people to discover new stories and enjoy reading throughout their learning journey – and beyond.
Chwaeroniaeth and RHACC Book Club are reading “Esperance by Adam Oyebanji:https://bookclubhub.co.uk/books/30517143.
Get involved
Are you interested in reading any of the shortlisted titles? Find out more about the shortlist here.
If you work in a library or workplace and would like to promote the prize, you can order free display packs from our shop.
What do you think of the 2026 shortlisted titles? Which have you read and what will be added to your TBR pile? Add your comments below, or click any title above to leave a review.
Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, X and Instagram using #AdventureWritingPrize. Don’t forget to follow and tagging @adventurewritingprize.
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