For those looking for a summer holiday recommended read this year, Marlborough LitFest suggests its 2025 Big Town Read choice, The Night in Question, by award-winning author, Susan Fletcher. Reading group questions are now available on the LitFest website to stimulate discussion ahead of Fletcher’s appearance at LitFest on Saturday 27 September at 4pm in Marlborough Town Hall.
The Big Town Read aims to get as many people as possible in and around Marlborough reading and discussing a chosen book. The Night in Question has been praised as an ‘uplifting literary murder-mystery’ and packed with lovable characters, lyrical prose, profound themes and page-turning plot twists. Fletcher’s first novel, Eve Green, won the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Betty Trask Prize and she has subsequently written seven other novels.
LitFest encourages everyone to come along to the event ready to quiz the author. To help you, book club questions are now available on the LitFest website but – spoiler alert – do read the book first! We’re very grateful for support for the Big Town Read from Wiltshire Libraries: multiple copies of The Night in Question are available to order from Marlborough Library. Call into the library to borrow a copy and if you want
to check availability before your visit, call 01672 512663 or email libraryenquiries@wiltshire.gov.uk People will be encouraged to return their copy quickly so that others can read it.
Marlborough LitFest returns for its 16th year from 25 – 28 September with a packed programme of 45+ events for all ages during the festival weekend, including 2025 Golding Speaker Alan Hollinghurst, Brian Bilston, Mary Portas, John Suchet, Rupert Everett, Jessie Burton, Clare Chambers, Andrew Miller, Lucy Hughes-Hallet, Valentine Low, Poppy Okotcha, Olia Hercules, William Hanson and Sam Dalrymple. On offer this year is a mix of debut, established and prizewinning fiction and non-fiction authors, as well as poetry, workshops and children’s events.
Festival brochures are available at The White Horse Bookshop in Marlborough or to view online; for more information, visit www.marlboroughlitfest.org
Mary-Vere Parr, Festival Chair, said: “Whether you’re off on holiday or back home, a paperback murder-mystery is the perfect late summer read. We hope you enjoy The Night in Question as much as we did and can’t wait to see you in September to hear about the conversations it’s sparked.”
Marlborough LitFest would like to thank its 2025 sponsors for their support: founder sponsor Robert Hiscox; main event sponsor Hiscox; event sponsors: AM; Brearley & Rich; Hamilton Trust, Indigo; Mcfarlane Property; St Francis School; The Arts Society; Wansbroughs; William Golding Limited; general sponsors: Cocklebury Farm; Deacons; Haine & Smith Opticians; marlborough.news; Steele Davis.
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