Glasgow Gliterary Lunch, November 2025

Getting Away
Kate Sawyer

The Author

Kate Sawyer worked as an actor and producer before writing several short films then turning her hand to fiction. Her second novel This Family was a Waterstones Book Of The Month and Paperback of the Year. Her debut, The Stranding, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, won the East Anglian Book Award for fiction, was adapted for BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime and is being developed for the screen. Kate produces the annual Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival, in the Suffolk town she grew up in and returned to after the birth of her daughter.

The Book

The Smiths are an ordinary British family, transformed across nearly a century of holidays. Starting with a life-changing trip in the 1930s, their story unfolds through visits to over twenty-five destinations – from the beaches of Blackpool and Greece to the cities of New York and Venice. Each holiday becomes a turning point, reflecting shifts in relationships, personal growth, and the unearthing of long-held secrets.

We meet Margaret, whose first taste of escape, a blue-sky day beside the sea, ushers in decades of discovery and change.

Through rest and play, joy and loss, the Smiths evolve as each generation adds new layers to their shared legacy. Capturing the essence of family life in motion, this novel reveals how stepping away from routine can illuminate who we are beneath it all.

Praise for Kate Sawyer

“Gripping – and profound… Kate Sawyer has a great gift for capturing the tiny details that tell us everything about a person or dynamic.” Marian Keyes, Author

Juhea Kim
City of Night Birds

The Author

Juhea is the author of the international bestseller Beasts of a Little Land, which has been published around the world. It won the Yasnaya Polyana Award and was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and is currently being adapted into a television series.  City of Night Birds is Kim’s second novel. Kim has a BA in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University. Her writing has been published in Granta, Times Literary Supplement, The Independent.  Born in South Korea and raised in Portland, Oregon, Kim now lives in London.

The Book

Prima ballerina Natalia Leonova was once celebrated across the world, her signature bravura in demand on stages from St. Petersburg to Paris to New York. But at the top of her career, an accident forces her into sudden retirement. Injured and alone, she turns to pills and alcohol to numb the pain of her past, still haunted by her relationships with two gifted dancers, Dmitri and Alexander. These men were responsible for her soaring highs, her darkest hours and, ultimately, both played their part in her downfall.

So when Dmitri resurfaces with a tantalising offer for Natalia, she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice in order to dance again – and for the chance to return to the great love of her life. Painting a vivid portrait of a world in which ruthless ambition, desire and sublime artistry collide, City of Night Birds unveils the making of a dancer with profound intimacy and breathtaking scope.

Praise for Juhea Kim

“This story left me thinking about the ways we overcome setbacks and redefine what truly matters.” Reese Witherspoon