Readers' Day 2025

Spend the day in the company of some of Britain’s best-loved authors as they

share their stories, experiences, inspirations and latest projects with host Patricia Nicol.

Readers’ Day is a regular, and extremely popular feature of the main Festival and this spring we will be bringing the very best summer reads to West Horsley Place.

The day takes the format of a mini festival in a day with five authors, including debut fiction writers and established novelists, talking about their lives, their inspirations and their latest projects. There is also an opportunity to meet the authors and have books signed.

This year, we’re pleased to give you more choice and are offering two tickets, one enabling you to bring your own lunch and one with a light lunch provided.

Both options include a Goody Bag, and the venue offers free parking on site and a coffee van with hot drinks and tasty snacks in the courtyard.

Our host for the day is author and journalist, Patricia Nicol. Patricia is a regular book reviewer for The Sunday Times, and also writes a weekly audio column, reviewing radio and podcasts. She also writes the Best Books column for the Daily Mail.

10:35 – 11:30

Lily Samson – Watch Me, Watch You

A seductive and smart thriller following two women caught in a dangerous web of lies and deceit as one lends their flat to the other in a bid for quick cash. Watch Me Watch You comments on wealth, power, and what the pursuit of both drives people to do.

Ruth Ware – The Woman In Suite 11

Lo Blacklock’s all-expenses paid trip to a luxury Swiss chateau should have been the ideal return to work. But as her past catches up with her, the millionaire’s mistress demanding that Lo help her escape, forces Lo to ask how far would she go to help someone she’s not even sure she can trust...

11:50 – 12:45

Francesca Segal – Welcome to the Glorious Tuga

Join Francesca Segal as she talks to Patricia Nicol about her novels set on the fictional island of Tuga d'Oro, Welcome to Glorious Tuga and Island Calling. Zoologist Charlotte Walker has swapped her grey life in London for a year in this tropical paradise. Officially, she’s there for conservation but the reality is far more complicated. For somewhere on Tuga lies the answer to a truth she’s waited her whole life to learn. If she finds it, then perhaps she might finally find herself too. Enchanting, uplifting and very funny, these captivating novels are about love, belonging, and what it really means to come home.

13:45 – 14:40

Milly Johnson – Same Time Next Week & Let the Bells Ring Out

Sunday Times bestselling author Milly Johnson is one of the Top 10 Female Fiction authors in the UK with millions of copies of her books sold across the world. Her latest empowering and heartwarming read, Same Time Next Week is a tribute to the power of female friendship. Sky, Mel, Erin, Astrid, and Amanda are all at a crossroads, facing marriage breakdowns, complicated bereavements, caring responsibilities, and health struggles. They feel stuck, their ambitions squashed by other people’s needs and are unsure how to take the leap towards what they truly want. But over coffee and cookies and through laughter and tears, they find the confidence to take control of their lives.

Elizabeth Buchan – Bonjour, Sophie

It's 1959 and time for eighteen-year-old Sophie's real life to start. Her existence in the village of Poynsdean, Sussex is suffocating. She dreams of escape to Paris, the wartimehome her French mother fled before her birth. Getting there will take spirit and ingenuity, but it will be her chance to uncover the mystery of her family background, and, perhaps, to find a place where she can finally belong.

Joanne Rush – Dancing on Knives

Laura, a Bosnian war survivor and Cambridge University librarian, has long tried to forget the horrors of her past. But when she and her husband Adam move to Serbia, disturbing memories start to emerge. Adam’s work as a British diplomat takes him on a mission to capture war criminal General Ratko Mladić, leaving Laura isolated in the very country that invaded her own.

Light lunch includes a sandwich, a packet of crisps, piece of fruit and small mini bite.

There is a coffee van on-site so bring your reusable cup with you.

For refreshments we will have tap water and cordial available so bring a reuseable cup or water bottle with you.

Are you a member of a Book Club or Reading Group?

We offer 10% discount when booking for 5 or more people together. To book for a group please email alexandrews@guildfordbookfestival.co.uk.