Volume: Sintra

Sintra is the place most people see in an afternoon. A coach from Lisbon, a queue for the palace, a photo of the mist and back in time for dinner. This retreat is the opposite of that.

For six days you'll stay in a private quinta in the hills above the town, with forest green outside every window and nowhere you need to be. Mornings start with pages in the garden. Afternoons are for palaces and forest paths at your own pace, or a terrace and a book if that's more your speed. One bright day breaks the quiet: Lisbon, with the oldest working bookshop in the world, a pastel de nata class and a private sunset sail on the Tagus.

You don't need to be in a book club to be here. Some of you will arrive with a group chat full of theories about the same book. Some with one book and no one to talk to about it yet. Both belong. On your last full day, everyone sits down together to talk about whatever you've been reading.