Sullington Windmills WI

This month’s read, ‘The Husband’s by Holly Gramazio, was not enjoyed by about 75% of the group.

It would appear that it is a novel that polarises opinion. The 75% who didn’t enjoy it really didn’t like it and the other 25% loved it.

The story follows Lauren, a thirty-something single woman living in London, whose attic starts generating an infinite supply of husbands. But when you can change husbands as easily as a lightbulb, how do you know whether the one you have now is the good enough one, or the wrong one, or the best one? And how long should you keep trying to find out?

This is Lauren’s dilemma, which some of us found amusing, creative and thought-provoking and which the majority found monotonous, frivolous and uninspiring.

The book’s main theme is about making alternative choices in life and whether those choices change your life and in what way.

This concept has been tackled by other popular films and books in recent times, the ones that come to mind are Sliding Doors, Groundhog Day and The Midnight Library (as read by our Book Club in August 2024). The group felt that the alternatives listed above tackled the magical realism genre in a much more superior way.

We talked about the author for a small part of the meeting and discovered that Holly Gramazio is a games designer who came up with the concept for ‘The Husbands’ whilst sitting with friends “swiping left or right” on dating apps. Having read the book, this made sense to us. We could understand that this is the type of book that she would be perfect to write, it had the feel of a computer game.

Nevertheless, and even though we could all agree that it was a good first novel that had provoked an interesting Book Club discussion, there was no getting away from the fact that the majority of the group did not enjoy the book.

Send it back to the attic …

The next book to be read will be "In Too Deep" by Lee Child.

This will be discussed on Friday 14th November 2025.

We had a very informative and interesting talk this month from Hamish Brown MBE.

Hamish retired in 2004 as a Detective Inspector at New Scotland Yard after over 30 years with the Metropolitan Police. He is the author of the Home Office publication ‘Stalking and other forms of harassment, an investigator’s guide’ and is considered the United Kingdom’s acknowledged authority on the subject. 

Using details of historic Police cases and investigation anecdotes, Hamish explained what stalking is, or can be, with emphasis on the psychological effect stalking can have on its victims.

We learnt what lengths stalkers will go to in order to cause fear, distress and anxiety to their victims and how stalking legislation made these types of behaviours a criminal office under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Hamish gave details of a case that he investigated prior to the stalking legislation being in force and how the prosecution had to be taken forward via a charge of Grievous Bodily Harm, due to the severe psychological injury suffered as a result of the stalking trauma.

The effects of stalking should never be underestimated. Stalking can cause vast changes in a person’s daily life (although the victim may see them as an accumulation of only small changes) as well as causing the fear and anxiety that the stalker intends.

Although the support for victims of stalking may still vary across Police Forces countrywide, we left this month’s meeting with a feeling of ongoing progress in this area. As a WI, we are now more aware of what constitutes stalking and how we could help ourselves and others who find themselves in that type of situation.

Anyone who needs help or advice can contact the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, to whom Hamish has kindly donated his speaker’s fee or call the National Stalking Helpline on 0808 802 0300.