#NYRBWomen26

A Group Reading Project of NYRB Classics written by Women
In December 2022, I was looking at my stack of unread NYRB Classics written by women and #NYRBWomen23 was born. Over 70 titles later, we're in year 4. (You can find our past schedules here and here.) Anyone is welcome to join at any time -- for one book, a few or all. You can follow &/or join the conversation on ​Bluesky or Instagram using the hashtag #NYRBWomen26. I'll check in at least every Saturday to read everyone's thoughts & share some of my own. (If you post on IG stories though, please tag me @joiedevivre9 & I'll be sure to share with everyone as well.)

Page guides & other links of interest are posted below. I'll be hosting a Zoom call every 2-3 months for anyone who wants to join & discuss our reading. Our first call was held on February 15th & our next call will be in May -- details to follow.

2026 Reading Schedule

Our Current Book

1-28 August 2026
ABIGAIL
​by Magda Szabò
(translated from the Hungarian by Len Rix)
(Originally published in 1970) #WITMonth
Links of Interest:
[I]n Len Rix's superb translation, Abigail is a delightful page-turner. There's an air of enchantment about the school—the book takes its title from a statue that supposedly grants the students' wishes—and Gina begins to have adventures—some quite funny, others that bring tears to your eyes.
—John Powers, NPR’s Fresh Air
Page Guide:
Page Guide for ABIGAIL
File Size: 21 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Our Next Book

Beginning on Sep 1, 2026

#NYRBWomen26 Archive

3-22 January 2026
LOLLY WILLOWES
​by Sylvia Townsend Warner
(Originally published in 1926 & celebrating it's 100th anniversary!)
Links of Interest:
From the NYRB Introduction by Alison Lurie:
​In 1926 Lolly Willowes was a surprise international best seller. And no wonder: beneath its disguise as a charming British fantasy about witchcraft, the novel was revolutionary. It was, in fact, a subtle demand for women's right to privacy and independence from their families, for power over their own lives--even if they had to make a pact with Satan to get it.
Page Guide:
Page Guide for Lolly Willowes
File Size: 31 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
3-27 February 2026
INSTEAD OF A LETTER
​by Diana Athill
(Originally published in 1963)
Links of Interest:
  • INSTEAD OF A LETTER at NYRB
  • Diana Athill on Wikipedia
  • There are a selection of clips on YouTube from an interview that was done with Diana in 2008, like this one of her discussing the writing & publication of INSTEAD OF A LETTER. Here's a link to the entire collection.
  • Diana Athill's obituary in The Guardian​​
"Her first and still most perfect book." -- Carole Angier, Literary Review
Page Guide:
Page Guide for Instead of a Letter
File Size: 34 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
7-26 March 2026
MRS PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT
​by Elizabeth Taylor
(Originally published in 1971)
Links of Interest:
From the NYRB Introduction by Michael Hofmann:
[Mrs Palfrey] takes its place in Robert McCrum's 2015 Guardian list of the one hundred best novels in English. On its first appearance, it was short-listed for the Booker Prize, then in its third year. [...] a book about the state of postimperial England...the possibility of retreat, of a managed, or even dignified withdrawal [...] full of pairings...Burma & England. Past & present. London & the country. Ludo & Desmond...Men & women...Guests & staff...
Page Guide:
Page Guide for Mrs Palfrey
File Size: 19 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
4-28 April 2026
THE UNFORGIVABLE AND OTHER WRITINGS
​by Cristina Campo; translated from the Italian by Alex Andriesse​
(Pieces originally published between 1962-1971; collection translated & published by NYRB in 2024)
Links of Interest:
  • THE UNFORGIVABLE at NYRB
  • Cristina Campo bio on The Lamp​​
"Christina Campo was an anchorite with worldly manners [and] the face of a fifteenth-century Tuscan statue. She lived amid contradictions, between hope and despair, passion and scorn, gentleness and rage. She had a sovereign sense of limits and frontiers, but her soul was immoderate. She longed for the unknown homeland, the God hidden behind the visible gods."
—Pietro Citati
Page Guide:
Page Guide for The Unforgivable
File Size: 23 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
2-29 May 2026
CRAZY GENIE
​by Inès Cagnati; translated from the French by Liesl Schillinger
(Originally published in 1976)
Links of Interest:
"Part fairy tale, part incantation, this devastatingly beautiful story teeters between innocence and menace. The young narrator must interpret her elusive, impenetrable mother by paying vigilant close attention, and the result is a story of exquisite observation, taut with longing, in a landscape pulsing with terrors real and imagined. I held my breath until the final word."
—Sonya Walger
Page Guide:
Page Guide for Crazy Genie
File Size: 19 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
1-27 Jun 2026
SUN CITY
​by Tove Jansson; translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal
(Originally published in 1974)
Links of Interest:
"Her style is not at all 'poetic'—quite the contrary. It is prose of the very highest order; it is pure prose. Through its quiet clarity we see unreachable depths, threatening darkness, promised treasures."
—Ursula K. LeGuin, The Guardian
Page Guide:
1-28 July 2026
THE SWEET DOVE DIED
​by Barbara Pym
(Originally published in 1977)
Links of Interest:
"Byrne [Pym's biographer] wisely judges Pym’s masterpiece to be not Excellent Women, the conventional choice, but The Sweet Dove Died . . . A fearless novel."
—Thomas Mallon, The New Yorker
Page Guide:
Page Guide for The Sweet Dove Died
File Size: 19 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File