Possession: slow reads arrive!

We start on September 1

Welcome to Book (& Craft) Alchemy Slow Reads

Ever since I reread War and Peace with Yiyun Li during the pandemic, propped up in the winter mornings with coffee, the giant book, and my daylight lamp, I’ve dreamed of running one here.

Since that winter session, I’ve explored other communities doing excellent slow reads, including

Simon Haisell

’s Footnotes and Tangents, where I’ve been in Hilary Mantel land through 2025, and

haley larsen, phd

, who is bringing us down the home stretch of Middlemarch in the next few weeks.

Slow reading has brought immense joy to my life, my reading, and my writing. The decrease in pace has allowed me to zoom in, learning more about the history surrounding the story and helping me notice a bit more of how the writer has pulled off writing the thing. Given how voraciously we all guzzle information these days, slowing down has been a revelation.

Why Possession?

This past May, while on holiday, I listened to the urgent tug on my imagination and picked up Possession for the first time since my twenties. Enraptured, I blew through it in a couple of days.

A dual-timeline story where even in the modern plot, no one had a cell phone or email was as refreshing as an autumn cold-water swim. My creative eyes blinked open. This was a story I wanted to spend much more time with.

Why read with me?

While many slow read guides on Substack and elsewhere have brilliant credentials in literature, my background is in Art History and Psychology, which will give this slow read a different texture. As a writing teacher and coach, I’ve studied the creative process for decades, and a novel about poets and academic writers striving to make sense of the world through written language was bound to capture my heart.

I hope it captures yours, too.

If you choose to join us, we’ll spend twelve weeks together, reading roughly fifty pages a week. We start September 1 and will finish at the end of November, ready for a peaceful December reading at your own pace again.

We’ll kick off with an intro to the book with some of A.S. Byatt’s thoughts, along with reviews from critics close to when it was published in 1990. A lot has happened in thirty-five years, and we’ll need to travel back in time a bit to immerse.

Each week for the remaining twelve weeks, you’ll receive a podcast episode to listen to (there will also be a text version to read instead) and our discussion of the completed section of pages will begin. There’s no requirement to join the conversation — I am an introvert and have often faithfully followed a slow read schedule without commenting in the group at all. Chatty and silent readers are equally welcome.

To hear more about the process creating this slow read, I invite you to join a live with

Simon Haisell

and me on August 22, at 16:00 London time / 11am Eastern / 8am Pacific. Simon is working on A.S. Byatt for 2026, and I can’t wait to see how we’re each looking at the material. Nerd heaven!

How to join:

All you need is a copy of Possession to take part.
The reading calendar is broken down so any edition will work. This book has been out for a loooooong time, so any copy you see is welcome.

This slow read is for members of Book (& Craft) Alchemy, so if you’re not currently a paid subscriber, now’s a great time to join us:

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If you have questions, please bring them to the live on the 22nd, or post them in the comments below. We’ll try to answer them in that session. There will be a replay after the event if you’re unable to join live.

So looking forward to reading together!