They call themselves The Bookmart Big Bowtie Book Club and, for more than ten years, have read and discussed at least one novel nearly every month. Throughout holidays, hurricanes, the stress of the pandemic …. the pages of the selected drama, mystery, autobiography, historical fiction or whatever other genre has been chosen keep turning.

Only in December does The Bookmart Big Bowtie Book Club take a break. “We pretty much read January through November and tend to skip over December because at Christmas, just getting everyone together is just a bit of a challenge,” said Juliette O’Connor.

She joined The Bookmart Big Bowtie Book Club in its infancy and is today a “facilitator” of the group, alongside Jamie McCrae. Both have always been avid readers.

Together, they promote the club and organise its monthly meetings at the Bermuda National Library, however The Bookmart at Brown & Co was where it all started.

Martin Buckley was then manager of the store and eager to get people reading. He considered it his good fortune that a couple of his regular customers wanted to start a book club.

“It started there and kind of grew,” Ms O’Connor said.

About 130 people are on the mailing list of The Bookmart Big Bowtie Book Club – women, and a sprinkling of men, who live here and abroad.

The name is a tribute to Marvin Washington, a vibrant member whose energy was infectious.

“He passed away, suddenly, in 2018. Hence we’re The Bookmart Big Bowtie Book Club because he always wore a bow tie, and he was full of life and full of energy and was always encouraging us to live life to the fullest,” Ms O’Connor said.

“So, in terms of the males that have been a part of the group, [Mr Washington and Mr Buckley] were quite instrumental. I think we do have male readers, but they just don't come to the meetings. There are a lot of men who are on the mailing list.”

In the early days there were people who would ask for the reading list just so they could choose the books on it that appealed to them.

“But, then they had a core group that kind of developed over time,” Ms O’Connor said. “When the pandemic happened, things kind of shifted; we went on to Zoom.”

Determined that interest in the club continued, Mr Buckley gradually encouraged Ms O’Connor to take on greater responsibilities.

“And then he kind of handed the reins to myself and Jamie when we went on to Zoom,” she said. “Jamie was the Zoom arm and I'm probably more the social side of things, the communication side of things.”

Ms O’Connor started an Instagram page and put the group on Facebook about two years ago, just as Mr Buckley left Bermuda to return to Great Britain.

“We don’t really have a social-media presence, but it really just kind of shows you what we're reading,” she said.

“That all started when Martin left and kind of passed the baton on to Jamie and myself. We didn't come back to meeting in person until the beginning of 2023 because we didn't have a place to meet, and also because, between 2020 and 2023, things were still kind of volatile and we have a mixed group in terms of age range.”

The group is grateful to Joanne Brangman, the head librarian of the Bermuda National Library, who has allowed them to use the building for their meetings.

They are also appreciative of the Bookmart, the Bermuda Bookstore and Nikita Robinson, who mentions every book being read by The Bookmart Big Bowtie Book Club to her listeners on Magic 102.7FM.

“People come and go as their interest and their schedule allows,” said Ms McCrae. “Because we are still hybrid and able to be on Zoom, we have a couple people in the UK that sign on regularly; we have somebody in Florida, a couple of people on the East Coast of the US, that sign-in as they can. It's really great to be able to have that and have some different perspectives sometimes.”

From inception the club has never been strict about members’ participation.

“It’s never been a high pressure book club as far as you must read this and you must attend this many meetings, or anything like that,” Ms McCrae said. “It's very come as you please.”

The numbers are always highest when the author of the book is present. Florenz Webbe Maxwell’s Girlcott, drew about 30 people; there were also large crowds for Jonathan Smith’s Island Flames, for Angela Barry’s book, The Drowned Forest, and for Audrey MacLean.

The books are chosen by the members.

“Sometimes we get on a string of fairly heavy, meaty books with a lot of difficult or controversial topics, and sometimes we get something a little bit lighter and more fun,” Ms McCrae said.

“We do try to find things that will speak to the group in various ways. We’re not all chick lit or whatever you want to call it, we do a lot of historical fiction.

“We do a lot of modern novels. We do a lot of things focused on different experiences across the racial spectrum.”

• The Bookmart Big Bowtie Book Club will next read The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray. Copies will be available at The Bookmart at Brown & Co, the Bermuda Bookstore and the Bermuda National Library. Follow the group on Facebook and Instagram: @bookmartbigbowtiebookclub. To join, send an e-mail: libraryevents@gov.bm