Oxford Short Fiction Book Club

A political radical and religious sceptic, Clough emerges as a strikingly modern Victorian: he writes honestly and directly about sexuality, and his work is informed by a cosmopolitan perspective that views Victorian society in the context of other national, political, and cultural traditions. Clough's innovative poems incorporate a diverse range of voices and styles, borrowing and reimagining aspects of the epic, the drama, and the novel. And they reveal a side of Victorian culture-irreverent, iconoclastic, and self-aware-that is often ignored today.

We will be back in the Victoria, with a room booked in the snug (to the right when you walk in).

Note: this book has been variously published under the titles Judith Hearne, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, and The Lonely Passion of Miss Judith Hearne. All refer to the same book.

A timeless classic dealing with the complexity and hardships of relationships, addiction and faith.

Judith Hearne, a Catholic middle-aged spinster, moves into yet another bed-sit in Belfast. A socially isolated woman of modest means, she teaches piano to a handful of students to pass the day. Her only social activity is tea with the O'Neill family, who secretly dread her weekly visits.

Judith soon meets wealthy James Madden and fantasises about marrying this lively, debonair man. But Madden sees her in an entirely different light, as a potential investor in a business proposal. On realising that her feelings are not reciprocated, she turns to an old addiction – alcohol. Having confessed her problems to an indifferent priest, she soon loses her faith and binges further. She wonders what place there is for her in a world that so values family ties and faith, both of which she is without.