nb86 Autumn 2015

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Melvyn Bragg Q&A

Stanfords best travel books

Why I Love Daphne du Maurier

nudge-book.com

newbooks The

magazine for readers and reading groups

BIG INTERVIEW

The psychology of

Sophie Hannah BIG INTERVIEW

Patrick Ness just lives here It’s our 15 birthday – celebrate with us!

th

ISSUE 86 AUTUMN 2015 £5

Our nb recommended *

reads FREE to you this issue …

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‘Heart-wrenching – a must read’ Nicole F on amazon.co.uk

‘One of my alltime favourites’ Heidi on Goodreads

‘A beeautiful novel’ P Br B adburn on am mazon.co.uk

‘Heart rendering story line, truly amazing!’

Mike on amazon.co.uk

‘Beautifully written and enthralling book’ Taabitha Metcalfe on n amazon.co.uk

‘One of the best books I’ve read in a long while’ Teerry Day on amazon.co.ukk

‘Beautiful...madee me stay up till dawn reading it’ Merit on Goodreads

‘Just start it and you will be hooked’ Barb on Goodreads

‘Heartfelt and based on true facts’ Carol Mcleod on Goodreads

For the h llast 10 years readers d h have bbeen di discovering i

Vi c t o r i a H i s l o p ’s T H E I S L A N D Isn’t this thee time to join them? www.vict oriahislop.com p Learn to understand another a island…

‘An absorbing tale about family, frien ndship, loyalty and betrayal, set during a violent period in the historry of Cyprus’ Good Housekeeping

The No. 1 paperbaack bestseller

VIEW HERE from

Happy Birthday to Us! Who would have thought it? nb is 15 years old! When I published nb back in late 2000 the consensus among the publishers I approached was quite obviously, ‘Brilliant idea . . . it’ll never work.’ But here we still are and - after numerous relaunches - still winning friends and admirers among readers, reviewers, authors and publishers – not forgetting the many librarians who have steadfastly promoted us to their library users. So to all of you, I begin with an enormous vote of thanks.

It seems an appropriate moment to look back at what’s happened during that time. On page 8 - 9 my colleague and friend, Alastair Giles, has given an overview of how the book industry has changed so I’ll stick to purely nb matters. And it seems appropriate to start with our Unique Selling Proposition or USP. I know, I know, but having recommended reads was a stroke of genius from the very start. The list is now too long to include here but you will find it issue by issue on nudgebook.com and it is worth perusing – as much for the ones

that got away as for the successes. For me that’s books like: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, Cassandra’s Disk by Angela Green, The Laments by George Hagen and, of course, Altered Land by Jules Hardy*.

It’s fair to say I am a man of enthusiasms and having the opportunity to take readers by the lapel and gently persuade them of the merits of certain books has been a labour of love.

Indeed, only this week, Penny Fenn was kind enough to include a note with her order saying, ‘What an amazing, unusual and lyrical book is All the Light We Cannot See!!

What great books you find for us – thank you so much.’

So, those highlights – well, readers days around the UK and latterly in Winchester; a readers weekend at a Georgian mansion in deepest Oxfordshire, numerous author events in Wokingham and Winchester. And, of course, the readers retreat for three seasons in Normandy. A brave – perhaps foolhardy – venture but one that still unites a group of adventurous visitors who relaxed with books, wine, crusty bread and cheese. What a heady

mix!

And then there are the many readers I’ve met - some only by email but all of whom I still consider to be friends of like mind. Step forward Reg Seward, Linda Hepworth, Mike Stafford, Karen Weatherly and all the other reviewers and intrepid reporters who have helped make this more than a magazine. So, just as it is a gulp of cormorants (yes, really) I have decided it should be a community of readers – and you are it. Thank you.

PUBLISHER

* If there are any ‘ones that got away’ for you on that list I would be delighted to publish your review.

nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

Out Now

3

CONTENTS

newbooks FROM US TO YOU Features 3 GUY PRINGLE

THE VIEW FROM HERE Your publisher wonders where the last 15 years went.

28 MY FIVE FAVES Louise Millar’s criminal influences ( fictional, obviously).

Publisher, nudge and newbooks ALASTAIR GILES

Managing Director, AMS Digital Publishing BERT WRIGHT

Nudge List Editor

8 6

WHAT WE'RE READING Catch up with our current faves

20 READING GROUPS UPDATE om Cornwall, Wales and Yorkshire (Come in Scotland and Ireland)

29 KILLER WOMEN – WHO THEY? More criminal women (authors!) heading your way.

30 JAMES RICE ON the inspiration for Alice and the Fly

MELANIE MITCHELL

Publisher Relationship Manager DANIELLE BOWERS

Production Manager CATHERINE TURNER

Project Production Manager JADE CRADDOCK

Contributor To find out what the team is currently reading, turn to page 6.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

All raw materials used in the production of this magazine are harvested from sustainable managed forests.

Every effort has been made to trace ownership of copyright material, but in a few cases this has proved impossible.

Should any question arise about the use of any material, do please let us know.

NB THE LAST 15 YEARS It’s our birthday and we’re celebrating with just some of our iends –

big interviews RECOMMENDED Sophie READS 21

Hannah – a psychological thrill

10 ELSBETH LINDNER former Editor in Chief

31 ALICE AND THE FLY

by James Rice

40 THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE

by Patrick Ness

11 RACHEL JOYCE 26 DAPHNE DU MAURIER Karen Weatherly on why this is her favourite author.

46 JOHN IRONMONGER ON the Cornish setting for Not Forgetting the Whale

34 FESTIVAL ROUND UP om Cornwall, Yorkshire and Berkshire (Are you there Scotland and Ireland?)

54 CECILIA EKBÄCK ON her debut, Wolf Winter.

42 MELVYN BRAGG Q&A Linda Hepworth profiles a favourite writer and gets to ask the questions.

60 AUTHOR MEETS REVIEWER Julia Heaberlin, of Black-Eyed Susans, is interviewed by our own Mike Stafford

www.nudge-book.com nb Magazine 1 Vicarage Lane Stubbington, Hampshire PO14 2JU Telephone 01329 311419 info@newbooksmag.com

IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY!

68 BRITAIN’S LEADING TRAVEL BOOKSHOP’S BEST e Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year shortlist - reviewed by us.

72 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY Our collection gathers pace as 5 more titles are added to the pantheon.

79 AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BOOKS Jade Craddock completes her Nordic tour 83 DIRECTORY Our reviewers present for you their thoughts on recent publishing.

12 KATIE FFORDE 47 NOT FORGETTING THE WHALE

by John Ironmonger

13 KAREN MAITLAND 14 LAURIE GRAHAM

58 DEBUT BECOMES PUBLISHING PHENOMENON How Victoria Hislop’s e Island has fared in the last 10 years 59 BECAUSE EVERYTHING CHANGES WHEN WE READ e Reading Agency’s mantra – and we like it, too!

15 ADÈLE GERAS 16 KATHARINE McMAHON 17 PATRICK GALE

36

Patrick Ness

55 WOLF WINTER

by Cecilia Ekbäck

– watch out for this man, he’s making waves!

18 KATE MOSSE

62 JENNIFER DONNELLY ON why Jo Montfort’s story had to be told

63 THESE SHALLOW GRAVES

by Jennifer Donnelly

66 HISTORICAL FICTION – THE SCOTTISH PERSPECTIVE 50 ORDER YOUR BOOKS AND SUBSCRIBE HERE!

67 A CURIOSITY OF FOLKLORE, MAGIC AND SPELLS... involving Magpies and Wardrobes 70 QUIRKY Q&A Anthony J Quinn of Blind Arrows on the spot.

52 VISIT THE NUDGE SHOP!

CONTENTS

ISSUE 86 AUTUMN 2015

WHAT WE’RE READING

We are endeavouring to put more – and longer versions – of what we’re reading onto nudge-book.com Just click on the magnifying glass, top right and search with WHAT WE ARE READING and ONE TO WATCH OUT FOR.

WHAT WE’RE READING

the development of key cities around the world affected by it.

You could dip in and out of it, picking up the cities you’re interested in, but then you’d be missing the fascinating broad sweep of the book which nails the reasons and ramifications of ‘why there’ and ‘why then’ in each. Greed and the ‘respectable trade’ of slavery, have their place in the story, but, from Boston, through Cape Town, Hong Kong & Bombay, we also see the ambitious people driving the empire forward in a way not seen before. The tale is completed in Liverpool, a city

DANIELLE BOWERS Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes, MacLehose Press

I have just finished reading Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes and I think it is going to be one of those books that I keep thinking about long after finishing it. I wanted to read this book because I liked the idea behind it - Hitler wakes up in modern Germany, what would Hitler make of the world

What we are reading ALASTAIR GILES Ten Cities that Made an Empire by Tristram Hunt, Allen Lane

Tristram is, surely, far too posh a name to be leader of the Labour Party (a race he dropped out of in June), but, that’s our loss as, judging by this fantastically readable work of history, he’s a very intelligent and eloquent character. It’s an entertaining romp through 300 years of the rise and fall of the British Empire as seen through 6

that profited massively from empire, but, fell apart as we turned closer to Europe. Now it seeks inward investment from the old imperial Asian countries it once helped exploit. A highly ingenious & lively tale. Foreign Secretaries could be called Tristram, surely. We’d be very well served if he made it.

nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

Look Who’s Back

by Timur Vermes is published by MacLehose Press as a £8.99 PB on 5th March.

today? The quotes on the book cover say it is funny - could a book about Hitler be funny? Is that appropriate?

Well, it is funny but added is an uneasy feeling in your stomach and I can very much understand those that choose not to read it if they are wary of the subject matter. There is not much of a plot in my opinion but there doesn't really need to be - it is unsettlingly fascinating to read about Hitler walking around Berlin and to see how he could fit into modern life. He becomes a Youtube sensation and gets his own comedy TV show (although he is being serious), what is most

disturbing is that it seems believable that Hitler could prove popular today.

So, a thought-provoking satire on modern life.

Also can I say how much I like the jacket cover - which is so simple but yet perfect.

end of Lotto’s half of the story where I began to find his relentless self-absorption tedious and my attention began to drift - but my subsequent sympathy for Mathilde became a lot more complicated as her story began and the reality of their ruthless devotion was fully revealed. Overall I found this to MEL be an insightful, brilliant and MITCHELL sophisticated read which only Fates and Furies very briefly lost its way,

by Lauren recovering magnificently.

Groff, William Heinemann

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff is a clever and somewhat chilling novel exploring the true nature of marriage – first from the perspective of Lotto, the husband, and then, much more interestingly, Mathilde, the wife. Intimidatingly glamorous they are the envy of both friends and enemies. People can hardly believe that Lotto, known for his love of women, is able to stay faithful and no-one, least of all Lotto, can understand why Mathilde won’t give her universally adored husband the children he longs for.

Neither are particularly sympathetic characters but Groff is a skilful writer and my opinion of them both changed almost page by page. She cleverly and consistently challenges your assumptions and surface perceptions making you realise that sometimes what you see is only what people want you to see.

There was a point towards the

GUY PRINGLE Cannery Row

by John Steinbeck, Penguin

It’s California in the Great Depression and Doc, proprietor of a biological supply house, is the tent pole that holds up the canvas keeping the rain off ‘the boys’ when they need shelter.

Long-suffering and wise, he and Lee Chong, the local grocer seem to be the only ones consistently employed and both have taken a philosophical view of living alongside Mack and the boys. The Californian climate is pleasant all year round and Old Tennis Shoes whiskey (actually Ole Tennessee) and gallons of red wine are cheap so these vagrants have little incentive to go looking for employment.

Especially as they are so adept at ‘acquiring’ goods and other means to pay their way.

Mack and the boys want to say

thank you to Doc by throwing him a party. Unfortunately their ability to lay off the alcohol until Doc arrives means that by the time he does his premises have been well and truly trashed. No matter, the man, being a saint, is sanguine.

So, nothing much really happens and yet everything does. And all is done with an exceptionally light touch and good humour. Capturing the atmosphere does at times seem to require endless lists but the writing is memorably lucid. The only slight taste in the mouth is the way Mack and the boys seem unable to make a decent fist of anything, expecting to fail.

CATH TURNER A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, Sceptre

What a lovely book! I was instantly intrigued by Ove and the grumpy person in me related to the small things that drive him mad!

But this book is so much more than a guy in his house dealing with life’s annoyances. It’s funny and yet heart-breaking. I really felt so close to all of the characters and Ove will, I’m sure, remain in my memories as one to remember and recommend.

You will find full reviews of these titles and more that the team have read on nudge under WHAT WE ARE READING.

nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

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NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

We’re 15!

To celebrate our birthday, we present for you a ‘where are they now’ from our former Editor-in-Chief plus how this millennium has been for just some of the many authors we’ve encountered along the way.

Publishing Phenomenon & Shifting Genre Popularity

fraternity when he turned from ‘literature’ to crime writing (as Benjamin Black) announcing he At the turn of the century the could write crime fiction in half industry was not yet obsessed the time. by ebooks and new devices to The most surprising new genre read them on and more fasciwas perhaps the oldest, led by nated by how a series of an unknown first-time novelist children’s novels about a public with the equivocal identity of school for wizards had come to EL James. Fifty Shades of Grey dominate the book and then heralded an extraordinary and the film charts. The ageing monumental surge in sales of Harry Potter was, perhaps, the erotic fiction as British women first absolutely dominating (and, perhaps, a good few men) bestseller franchise that we now loosened their notoriously resee as very familiar. served approach to carnal Similarly dominating franchises relations. This franchise actulike the Twilight & The Hunger ally dwarfed the others in the Games series took over the century so far with a legion of charts through the last decade very commercially successful and a half and demonstrated the ‘me too’ titles. spectacular success of young The first edition of this glori- adult writing read by adults as Reading Groups & TV Book ous magazine was published in well as children.

Clubs November 2000. I admired it As for genres, we saw some infrom afar, and, kept in touch teresting shifts in our reading And so to professionally and personally tastes: self-styled ‘chick-lit’ our own with Guy, but have only regrabbed a large and young fesage, Guy, cently been involved in its male audience for quite a while. who so clevworkings. Fifteen years later, it Later in the first decade and erly seems entirely appropriate to well into this one, crime fiction predicted celebrate something that has has become the commercial the rise and not only survived but flourgenre that all authors turn to if rise of the ished, helping to launch so they want to reach bestseller reading many new authors alerting nb lists. Peter James left behind a group phereaders to great new books! relatively successful horror-writ- nomenon and the surge in In that time incredible changes ing career to hit No1 with his reader power. have taken place in UK pubinordinately popular Brighton In the noughties, new writing lishing affecting every single police procedurals. John for readers to delve into more aspect of the industry.

Banville irritated the writing deeply and discuss with their 8

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NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

friends became the growth area of publishing. Doubly so, when the reading group effect was turbocharged by TV coverage. I happened to be in a meeting with a TV company during 2003 talking about televising a populist book awards ceremony, when the TV producer suggested a TV book club to go with it.

The success of the book club easily overtook the profile of the awards show. The Richard & Judy Book Club - originally on Channel 4 but, now just a retail promotion at WH Smith was undoubtedly one of the most influential promotional vehicles the book industry has ever had. Many of the authors paid off their mortgages on the back of the commercial ‘oomph’ of just one anointed novel. I played a small role in making the campaign around the TV show as inclusive and far-reaching as it could be for an audience in excess of 3 million, big numbers indeed. nb magazine was one of the key indicators of a good book for the title selection. You, its readers, can congratulate yourselves on leading the way on some of what became the biggest selling novels of the last 15 years. Novels like The Lovely Bones, Brick Lane, A Gathering Light, The

wondered where and how soon it would all end and whether books would be printed at all.

How thrilling then that, as we complete this whistle-stop tour, the printed paperback and wellproduced hardback remain our reading mechanism of choice.

E-book sales have flattened to around 30% of the market but, Technology challenges significantly, e-reader sales have The major change of the last 15 dropped off a cliff with tablets, years is, of course, not what we phones & phablets winning read but the way in which we that tech war. The publishing choose to industry breathed a sigh of reread it. Lilief that it hadn’t gone the same braries have way as music. Now it can return been - and to the business of unearthing are being gems amongst the morass of scandalously self-publishing that takes place under-retoday. The writer and reader are sourced and in rude health. Even well-manleft to decay aged independent bookshops by governflourish now. We just need a dement after government, and if cent book magazine to help us you’ve chosen to buy, not borfind our next read for another row you’ve been left with a 15 years….

Alastair Giles bewildering array of choices which took the industry to the brink of desperation. Firstly, supermarkets dominated while independent bookshops dwindled and chains like Ottakar’s, Borders, Dillons and Books etc disappeared. Then Amazon came along with unbeatable consumer offers and indies took another battering. E-books appeared shortly after with rocketing sales of kindles et al.

Amazon dominated that market, too, and threatened to strangle the life out of the book trade as indie closures continA longer version of this article can ued at such a rate that we all be found on nudge.

Jane Austen Book Club, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Cloud Atlas, March, Memory Keeper’s Daughter, House at Riverton, The Outcast, Guernica - all showcased as Recommended Reads before they became TV Book Club selections.

nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

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NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

“

Harold Fry - an overnight success?

When the millennium began, I was running The Women’s Press, which is where I first encountered one Guy Pringle and his wild but interesting notion to set up a magazine for reading groups.”

The Women’s Press’s Getting over Edgar was one of 4 Recommended Reads in nb1, along with Harm Done by Ruth Rendell, Swimmer by Bill Broady and Waiting by Ha Jin. 10

Rachel Joyce says not.

Greetings from across the pond, and congratulations on nb’s fifteen years of sniffing out and supporting good books.

How have I spent the last decade and a half ? Well, making too many house moves for a start, six in all, and three of them across the Atlantic.

This second North American home, on the banks of the Hudson, close to New York, feels like it might be a place finally to settle, not least because of two strange discoveries: firstly, it turns out I have a cousin living in the very same street; and secondly, and more spookily, I unearthed the fact that there’s a grave, bought and paid for and waiting for me, in a nearby cemetery. Destiny or what?

Professionally, there have

nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

been quite a few jobs in the book business, some full-time, some part-time, and latterly a life of pleasurably freelancedom. When the millennium began, I was running The Women’s Press, which is where I first encountered one Guy Pringle and his wild but interesting notion to set up a magazine for reading groups.

One collaboration led to another and some dozen years of involvement with nb followed, including a long stint as Editor-in-Chief.

Now I run www.bookoxygen.com, a website offering high quality reviews of literary fiction, mainly written by and about women writers, and often devoted to small presses; I also keep a toe in literary waters in other ways – reviewing, working with literary agents. I call it semi-retirement.

Nowadays the garden comes first.

Elsbeth Lindner

The truth is that I have always been writing. I did it when I was little, (I loved rhymes,) and then I began to do it professionally twenty years ago when I was pregnant, writing afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4 and dramatising other people’s novels.

It was about five years ago that I decided to do the thing I had always wanted to do and write a book of my own.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry began as an afternoon play. Lots of my ideas do, including my second novel Perfect and my new book of short stories called A Snow Garden. Radio drama is an invaluable way of threshing out a story and hearing your characters and also finding the structure of your narrative – it is pretty unforgiving when it comes to story-telling. I also love the fact that it all rests inside the spoken word. Every one of them counts.

I was lucky too because in Harold Fry I had (inadvertently) chosen as my hero a man who has no idea if he can accomplish the thing he wants to achieve. It was exactly the same for me, writing a book. Despite our differences, he and I shared a secret. I think that’s important.

So yes, the last five years have been big for me. But I like to think I was preparing for them for a long time. Even when I wrote those funny little rhymes at school.

Rachel Joyce bookoxygen.com

rachel-joyce.co.uk

A Snow Garden by Rachel Joyce is published by Doubleday as a £9.99 HB on 5th November.

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NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

What Katie did next...

First of all I would like to say how wonderful it is that a magazine devoted to books is still alive and well when there are so many forms of entertainment that compete with reading.

(Delete all this if you’ve said it elsewhere but it is amazing, actually!)

[Ed: Sorry, Katie, I left this in!]

The past fifteen years have been very kind to me.

By just writing one book after the other my sales have grown a little bit at a time. So much of this is due to being well published - so nothing to do with me - that I am extremely grateful. People (mostly those who want me to be doing something else) keep asking when I’m going to retire. The answer is, when I am no longer excited by a new story or when people stop buying my books.

Basically, I still love my job.

Katie Fforde

katiefforde.com

A Vintage Wedding by Katie Fforde is published by Century as a £12.99 HB.

MILESTONES nb1 looked professional on the outside but inside there were just 24 one colour pages of dense, dense text. Few illustrations lightened the gloom but we learnt quickly and by nb4, only 8 months later, it had leapt to 44 pages majoring with all 6 Orange Prize 2001 shortlist titles as Recommended Reads, some reviews and pieces about the National Women’s Register, vanity publishing and Much Wenlock bookshop.

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nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

Medieval thrills in the 21st century On 1st January 2000, I took a deep breath, gave up the day job in libraries, moved to Lincoln and became a full time writer. I had to do something to mark the New Millennium, and I didn’t fancy climbing Everest! That year I subscribed to the first issue of newbooks. It felt auspicious – a new beginning for both of us. But my ambition to see one of my books mentioned in the magazine seemed more of a fantasy than a realistic goal, because at that time I was writing commissioned non-fiction. So I decided I wouldn’t put it off any longer, I would write that historical novel I’d been researching for five years.

Six years later that novel was finished and thanks to a chance meeting with a talent scout at a book event, I found an agent. Company of Liars was published by Penguin and it was featured in newbooks!

Four more medieval thrillers followed. Then, two years ago, I moved to the glorious Devon countryside where I now have the luxury of writing in a converted blacksmith’s forge instead of a broom cupboard.

Technological change has been very rapid in the last 15 years – e-books weren’t even mentioned in my contract when my first historical novel was published in 2008! But one of my greatest joys, which I never foresaw, was that thanks to email, I would make some wonderful friends from among readers who’ve contacted me, most of whom I’ve never met, but we’ve shared hopes and fears, laughter and tears, that’s been the best thing of all.

Karen Maitland karenmaitland.com

The Raven’s Head by Karen Maitland is published by Headline Review as a £7.99 PB.

nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

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NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

Laurie Graham – undefeated by the blank page!

The Night in Question by Laurie Graham is published by Quercus as a £19.99 HB on 1st October.

14

Fifteen years ago I’d reFifteen years ago I could cently moved to Italy earn a modest living from ‘Oh, how inspiring for your writing novels. Today I work!’ people said. But it can’t. In publishing now wasn’t, not really. Same you’re either JK Rowlingly old keyboard, same old massive or you’re wonderblank page. But the sky out- ing if it’s too late for a side my window was career change. It is. Far too dependably blue and the late. temptation to skive was The other thing lurking considerable. I’m in Ireland in my blind spot fifteen now, where the sky is deyears ago was my husband’s pendably grey and approaching dementia, so everybody and his Uncle in a sense I got an enforced Bill is a writer. career change anyway, to In 2000 I’d just published 24/7 carer with writing Dog Days, Glenn Miller squeezed into any available Nights and been poached, gaps. I don’t imagine I’ll flatteringly, by the legever stop, even if my pubendary Christopher Potter lisher’s accountants say, to write The Future Home- ‘Go away, you wretched, makers of America. Life commercially unviable couldn’t have been sweeter. waste of paper.’

There were two things I I write slower than I used failed to notice heading in to but the hamster wheel my direction. One was a keeps spinning and I must quiet revolution in the keep trundling. book world. E-books, selfLaurie Graham publishing, and then the demise of the midlist writer. lauriegraham.com

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NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

Author likes magazine, magazine likes author! time flies It's hard to believe it's that long, but fun is what when you're having fun, right? And first issue.

I've had with newbooks since the I heard how or I no longer remember where told me, he about it. Possibly I met Guy first and this, the magabut in any case, from that day to g I like to zine has been full of the kind of thin sensible ire, adm read: interviews with writers I want to ht reviews, previews of things that I mig experts and read, and above all, a mixture of readers which seems just right. promote a book I've written for nb, too. Not just to my diatribe of my own, but extra goodies, like Kitteridge by about the unsuitable cover of Olive kens's birthElizabeth Strout or my recipe for Dic day cake. a real treat, The free books with every issue are gs about the and that's [just] one of the best thin e. magazine . . . it caters for every tast such a fan I'm son I can't lie. Possibly the main rea Sometimes els. is the support it's given my own nov ing about reviewing them, sometimes me writ le occasions, them and on a couple of memorab y. I live in awa n being one of the free books give ak for spe I e hope of a review in nb and I'm sur t any opportumany in the midlist when I say tha to be welcomed. nity for a decent review is hugely Many happy returns of the day!

Adèle Geras

adelegeras.com

be found on nudge.

A fuller version of Adèle’s letter can

Cover Your Eyes by Adéle Geras is published by Quercus as a £8.99 PB.

nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

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NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

Katharine McMahon Still aiming for her best novel . . .

To celebrate the millennium we climbed a nearby hill at midnight and set off a monstrous firework. I remember the earth being claggy underfoot and a wild wind blowing - we were in posh frocks and shoes. Quite a good analogy for the years ahead - a struggle with the elements, massive fun, ups and downs. But isn't that everybody's life?

As an author I was still a few years away from reaching a mass market.

By about 2005 I'd begun to write what I regard as my game-changing novels: The Alchemist's Daughter and The Rose of Sebastopol, which became a national bestseller, thanks to The Richard and Judy Bookclub.

But actually I think my best novel was yet to come. The Crimson Rooms was the novel in which I discovered my heroine Evelyn Gifford, a pioneering woman lawyer, who has to tackle complicated and heart-wrenching struggles in both her private and professional lives.

The novel was written at a time of some personal trauma - illness and my mother's struggle with Alzheimer's - whilst my children were growing up and flying the nest.

My books have always been about women and their centuries' long struggle to break free of the shackles that have kept them within doors. Ultimately all my writing is an exploration of love and our constant struggle to be the very best people that we can be.

My newest novel sees Evelyn Gifford embroiled with a couple of very dysfunctional families, whilst pursuing her own tricky love life. I hope readers will love it.

And finally, the last fifteen years would have been much more lonely without the work of critics, reviewers, bloggers and above The Woman in all readers. the Picture by Thanks so much for all you do to make writing in the Katherine 21st Century possible.

McMahon is Katharine McMahon

katharinemcmahon.com A fuller version can be found on nudge.

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nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

published by W&N as a £8.99 PB.

Giving back in exchange for good fortune . . .

The last fifteen years have been incredible for me, with two novels being Richard-and-Judyed and my latest, A Place Called Winter, being picked by the Radio 2 Book Club. Fifteen years ago we all thought the book industry was doomed, what with the abolition of the net book agreement and the advent of e-readers, but it seems healthier than ever and the nation’s hunger for fiction, festivals and writing courses unabated.

My father always trained us to give back in exchange for good fortune, so I’m doing that in a large way with the North Cornwall Book Festival (Oct 23-25) which I started three years ago with a group of friends in a place I love, and in a tiny way, by opening the country’s first and last exchange library in a pretty shed in our farmyard at Trevilley.

Patrick Gale

galewarning.com

A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale is published by Tinder Press as a £7.99 PB.

MILESTONES Our next reinvention came in May 2005 (nb27) when we adopted our current cover style.

Incorporating book jackets with our cover messages had just become too clashing and we felt readers wanted to know what our featured authors looked like – particularly if they were debuts. Neither Katharine or Patrick were but we were pleased to receive compliments on how photogenic both were.

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17

NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

NB THE LAST 15 YEARS

Carcassonne

Kate

You probably know Kate nowadays for her best-selling fiction but you should be aware that in 1996 she co-founded the annual Women's Prize for Fiction (WPF) — formerly the Orange Prize which made such a difference to our reading sensitivities. Here she recounts the discovery of Carcassonne which became the inspiration for her Languedoc trilogy.

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Although I'm Sussex born and bred, more than twenty five years ago we bought a tiny house in the shadow of the medieval city walls of Carcassonne in south west France. It was a coup de foudre, a lightning strike. I fell, instantly and utterly, in love: with the endless blue of the Languedoc skies in autumn, with the shimmering heat and dramatic thunder storms of summer. Most of all, with the alleys and hidden pathways and crooked buildings within the Cité itself. The sense of stepping back into history.

Because we found ourselves there, I became a writer.

I never intended to write about Carcassonne - this was a holiday house, a place for family and young children, not work. But, little by little, the history seeped into me: Carcassonne, the old town and the new; the landscape and, most of all, the violent, tragic story of the Crusade launched in 1209 against a sect of medieval Christians, the Cathars, who were persecuted for their faith.

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I wrote a couple of short stories - looking back I can see I was trying out in short form the themes, places, ideas that would become the backbone of Labyrinth some years later but a full-length novel was still some way off.

All the same, in the way of these things, characters started to tiptoe towards me and take shape - the girl who would become my 13th century 'hero', Alaїs; her father, Bertrand Pelletier; Esclarmonde, a wise woman; and Audric Baillard, the conscience of the Midi. Some fifteen years after first setting foot in Carcassonne, I started to make notes, sketch the outline for a novel that would become Labyrinth.

Part of the novel's success was the good fortune to be picked as part of the Richard and Judy Book club on Channel 4.

Watching at home with my teenage children in January 2006, nervous and jittery, I knew what was said live on television could - would change the fortunes of the novel. They liked it and because of that, Labyrinth went on to sell some 50,000 copies

called

Mosse

the following day, went to No 1 in the UK charts and stayed there for the next six months.

It was one of those strokes of luck and a fair wind that come along maybe once, twice, in an author's career.

Now, as I'm building up to paperback publication of The Taxidermist's Daughter - a Gothic thriller of revenge and dark secrets set in Sussex in 1912 (a novel as dear to me as Labyrinth was way back when) it's interesting to note how publishing has changed.

For good and bad. The rise of e-books, the decline of books on television, and the rise and rise of Amazon. The fantastic rise of YA and children's writing, the lamentable decline of government support for the library service, the loss of many of the UK's wonderful independent bookshops.

But, for all the changes, the passion and enthusiasm that united authors and readers when I was just getting going seems pretty much undimmed. The joy of a wonderful novel shared with friends, the power of a bookseller to put a book into the hands of hungry readers, the

importance of literary prizes in promoting excellence and exquisite writing, the fact that many people still list writing a book as one of the most cherished of their life-long ambitions. All these link readers with writers now, as they did ten years ago.

As for me, I enjoy writing more now than ever. All any novelist hopes for is that our next book will be better than the one before. That our imagination will soar higher and be freer, that our writing will become tauter and more distinctive. Truer. That we will find the words we need to convey the story we've chosen to tell.

For years, I could not write about home. Sussex home. It took a chance visit to Languedoc to liberate me from being myself, my English self, and to learn how to be a writer. Because of Carcassonne, I found the words to write the stories I wanted to tell. Finally, I was able to bring that skill back to mapping the landscape of my childhood. As Labyrinth was a love letter to Carcassonne, The Taxidermist's Daughter is a love letter (albeit a rather

chilling one!) to the village in Sussex where I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s.

And now? Ten years after Labyrinth's publication, every time I arrive in Carcassonne, I still have the sense of wonder that the extraordinary history echoes in every stone, in the folds of the mountains and hills, in the plains.

Here's to the next decade ...

Kate Mosse katemosse.co.uk A longer version of this article can be found on nudge.

The Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse is published by Orion as a £7.99 PB.

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19

READING GROUPS

nice to meet you 3 groups give us the lowdown on how they run themselves Winners of the Reading Group set of Higher Ed by Tessa McWatt

Us in the library of a manor house nearby.

We are the St Martin Book Club located on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. Our ten members (all female) have been meeting on a monthly basis in each other's homes since 2009.

Occasionally we meet elsewhere such as local gardens or a library.

Obviously we are all keen readers, but being in an isolated rural community our gettogethers are also an important part of our social lives, and afternoon tea and catching up on chat forms a vital part of our meetings!

We mostly acquire our books through the public library service - we can access a list of available book sets and everyone chooses titles they would like to read over the coming year. We read a wide range of books and usually read one book each year that has a Cornish connection.

The Book Thief divided us!

Vicky Woods 20

Our book group in the Vale of Glamorgan has been going since about 2006. Our 10 members meet monthly in each other's houses choosing our bimonthly book by consensus.

In between we talk about what we have read of our own and bring those books to the group and anyone who wishes to borrow them can put their name on a post-it and the book is then passed around the group. A record is kept of which books are where. The good books may be read by all 10 of us - one copy still circulating perhaps a year after it is first introduced.

Jan Jeffery Together in the last 12 months we have read: Bel Canto

by Ann Patchett

We are called Lost For Words and have been going since about 2008. Our 12 members meet on the second Thursday of every month at our local library in Pembury, Kent (who kindly source our books for us!).

Choosing our books is a fairly random process with some of us reading reviews in magazines, newspapers and of course newbooks (to which I subscribe).

Dilys Killick

Sophie Hannah Her poetry is studied for exams, she regularly tops the bestsellers with psychological thrillers and she’s the ‘new’ Agatha Christie. What next for Sophie? Our Readers Day of course!

Titles we have all enjoyed include: The Last Runaway

by Tracey Chevalier The End of the Wasp Season

by Denise Mina Titles that have divided the group:

The Pure Gold Baby

by Margaret Drabble

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Titles that have divided the group: Elizabeth Is Missing

by Emma Healey

The Water Method Man

by John Irving

Mrs Dalloway

by Virginia Woolf

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21

THE BIG INTERVIEW

year with the approval of the Agatha Christie Estate. A Game for All the Family is the first standalone psychological thriller from this prolific author, also marking something of a departure from her popular Culver Valley series - although not a permanent one, she promises.

Our own Mel Mitchell is a Sophie Hannah fan and was keen to meet her in person.

I

met Sophie at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden and recognised her by her hair. We cosseted ourselves away in one of the lounges, sipping tea and non-alcoholic fruit cocktails as we chatted. I was hoping for an hour but she was generous with her time and I walked out after two - so this is really just a snapshot of our conversation.

For the long version head over to BookNoir on nudgebook.com.

As well as being a bestselling crime fiction writer she is also an award-winning poet and a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. She wrote The Monogram Murders, the first Hercule Poirot novel since Christie’s death, published last

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Justine Merrison has moved to Devon with her family to escape from the stresses and strains of her old job as a TV producer. So far, so idyllic. But when her daughter Ellen becomes withdrawn and claims to have a best friend, George, that her school denies all knowledge of she starts to worry...and then come the anonymous phone calls. Fearing for her family’s safety Justine finds her determination to do nothing with her life transformed into a relentless pursuit of justice, whatever the consequences might be.

A compelling blend of contemporary thriller and oldstyle mystery this new novel takes the best of both worlds combining them into something startlingly original and difficult to define. An experiment it may be but with her trademark ability to get into the heads of her characters Hannah presents yet another whydunit that intrigues and perplexes until the final pages.

How, and why, does she do it?

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THE DAILY GRIND “With A Game for All the Family my target was 2,500 words a day.

The book I’ve just finished writing now I wrote in four and a half months at the rate of 1,000 words a day, which is even better.

It’s a model that works brilliantly for me. It only works because I plan it first, so I don’t need to work out story structure and chronology and what’s going to happen when at the same time as writing. That’s all worked out beforehand. So once that’s worked out and that process takes – well, that process evolves over the whole year before I write the book. Once I sit down and start writing page one properly, my new method, my 1,000 words a day every single day, is then easy to fit in with travelling somewhere, going to a school parents evening, walking the dog.

I can literally wake up in the morning – my husband brings me a coffee in bed – I reach for my laptop and I write my 1,000 words before I even get up”.

IT’S ALL IN THE PLANNING “I’m a passionate believer in planning. I love that way of working. Obviously, the people who don’t like to plan find it somehow boring if they know where they’re going – but I don’t feel that way at all. I think a strong structure and a strong kind

about celebrating the storyishness of the story. So in a Golden Age “I’ve recently got a detective novel there’s no attempt dog and that is to pretend that no-one’s telling a brilliant for switching story. In contemporary crime off. fiction – and I didn’t realise this A CHANGE OF He’ll come and say before – you’re expected to go to STYLE? great lengths to make it seem as let’s go for a walk. though no-one’s telling anyone a It’s a real order to “There were two ways I would story, the reader just happens to say in which The Monogram stop working.” be witnessing these events.

Murders influenced A Game for So when I went to write A Game All the Family. One was the of skeleton underneath any story setting. Agatha Christie’s holiday for All the Family I thought to is a good thing and a necessary home, Greenway, which is now a myself, this is a contemporary thing. I think books that just National Trust property open to psychological thriller but I’d like amble about don’t feel as to be able to have a really the public, is exactly where satisfying. Then when I start the outlandish Golden Age let’s-justJustine’s new house is in the actual writing it’s really enjoyable novel. We’d booked a holiday go-for-the-most-mysterious to tell the story in the best there and I noticed in the kitchen mystery - I want that too. Then I possible way without having to thought - what if I blended the there are all these gardens and worry about whether the story two together? So I had the main trees which slope down to the works or if it’s in the right order. river and you can see the boats on story of Justine and what’s going And then you let inspiration on at the school and then the the River Dart and then there’s come. story that Justine’s daughter is another hill rising up on the other Normally I have a plan that’s writing for school. It’s fairly side and a house which looks maybe 20-30 pages, very messy heavily signalled that the two are directly into Greenway’s kitchen. and only I would understand it. connected.

The story that Ellen, I said to my husband, I’d love a With The Mongram Murders, the daughter, is writing, is pair of binoculars. I thought, because it was the first time the completely Golden Age in style”. imagine if the other family lived Christie family had ever done there and the heroine suspects anything like this I thought, “(If I wasn’t a writer) that her daughter’s best friend at actually I’d be happier and I’m school comes from that family – a I’d be interested in sure they’d be happier if they family that is incredibly being a psychotheraknew before I started writing dangerous but not in a way that what it was going to be. So I she can ring social services about. pist or psychologist of some kind – or a That was the emotional driving started writing what was force of the book. supposed to be a 20 page plan defence attorney. I And when I was writing The and I just found that the whole wouldn’t like to lose book was arriving in my head. We Monogram Murders I realised though. I’d probably all agreed that actually that would there were things you can do in a start crying and be quite useful because we could Golden Age detective novel that shouting at the look at every element of the story you can’t do in a lot of contemporary writing, which is and kind of edit it before I had a judge!” chance to write anything in that people might not like. It really worked for that novel”.

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23

THE BIG INTERVIEW

THE BIG INTERVIEW

“When I was a teenager I was obsessed with reading what I called ‘fat shinies’, the blockbusters with shiny letters on the cover. My dad said to me, I think you ought to occasionally read a more worthwhile book.”

INSPIRATION “There’s some personal driving force behind each of my novels.

In A Game for All the Family the main one was that my daughter had a friend at school who was a boy who came from a family that I regarded as really...not ideal.

Very controlling, tyrannical – you know the kind of family where you’re only allowed to watch 15 minutes of television and we’ll have to approve it for you first. I don’t like that style of parenting anyway. There was this particular boy who was deeply unhappy and whenever he came to our house he would tell us what an awful time he was having and how he wished he could be a part of our family. It felt a bit like an emergency but there was nothing that could be done. In real life you can’t interfere just because you massively object to the way someone is bringing up their child. But Justine can”.

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SHE DOESN’T JUST WRITE IT...

“I’m totally addicted to reading crime fiction. I’m addicted to the mystery and solution. I absolutely love reading a crime novel and thinking, I wonder what’s going on, I wonder if I can work it out.

Then if I can’t work it out, which is what I always hope will be the case, when you get the solution at the end and you think – that’s brilliant.

I enjoy Agatha Christie, obviously. Big fan of Ruth Rendell. I mean there are lots of people. Nicci French, the husband and wife team who write psychological thrillers – they’re brilliant. Tana French, also brilliant. And two newly discovered favourites – Belinda Bauer, who I think is phenomenally good. There are so many people writing this kind of thing, where they’re good, enjoyable – but they don’t have

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any kind of extra magic about them. Belinda Bauer’s books really do have lots of extra magic.

And I’ve just discovered Lisa Gardner. She writes American psychological thrillers which are just unbelievably addictive and hard to put down. They’re straight down the line, commercial fiction but they’re like crack cocaine. Irresistible.

I’ve seen a lot of articles saying that people are ‘suddenly’ writing psychological thrillers about unreliable women and actually they’ve been around forever. I can remember when I was about 15, going into Waterstones in Manchester and seeing a book by an author called Joy Fielding called See Jane Run and that was a big book at that time. That kind of fiction is popular now - but I think it always was”.

“Writing has always been my response to life.

It’s how I process everything. I would very quickly feel less ok if I didn’t have that outlet.”

THEN AND NOW “I know that the publishing scene in general has changed a lot – but for me, it hasn’t changed at all.

I’m still traditionally published and my publisher and I have the same relationship that we’ve always had. When I first published Little Face if I, or rather my agent, hadn’t been able to find a traditional publisher for it I certainly wouldn’t have thought to myself, well I can self-publish on Amazon and maybe become a best-seller that way. In those days, and this was only 2005, selfpublishing was something weird grandmothers did. It was regarded as a vanity enterprise and looked down on. Now, some fairly successful writers have gone over to self-publishing by choice.

Personally, I feel traditional publishing really works for me – I know it doesn’t for everyone. I love feeling like part of a team.

The way I look at it now is, selfpublishing is brilliant for a lot of people and I think it’s a really valuable resource for writers who have been turned down by traditional publishers”.

SO WHAT NEXT? Sophie assured me there is more to come for Simon Waterhouse and Charlie Zailer from the Culver Valley series which pleased me as I’m all caught up with them now but what I wanted to know was – will there be another Hercule Poirot?

“In one sense I am northern – I was born in Manchester and 36 of the first 38 years of my life were spent in the north. But I don’t regard myself in any way as innately northern. Cambridge always felt like my spiritual home from the minute I set foot there. I adore it.”

She wouldn’t let on - but I detected a twinkle in her eye so watch this space...

A Game for All the Family by Sophie Hannah, published on 13 August, 2015 by Hodder & Stoughton in hardback at £14.99

“ I love twitter in the sense that I’m attracted to it. It gives you a real window into people’s thoughts and behaviours. I find it fascinating but I also see something on it that depresses me almost every single day.”

The Carrier, published by Hodder & Stoughton as a £8.99 pbk, 2013.

WINNER OF THE SPECSAVERS NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2013.

The Monogram Murders, published by HarperCollins as a £18.99 hbk, 2014.

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25

WHY I LOVE...

Karen Weatherly has been a lifelong fan of Ms du Maurier so we asked her to explore this author’s enduring appeal.

WHY I LOVE...

D

aphne du Maurier was born on 13th May 1907 in London, the second of three daughters, to the distinguished actor/manager Gerald du Maurier and his wife Muriel Beaumont. Grandfather George du Maurier, was a Punch cartoonist and creator of Svengali in the novel Trilby.

Daphne’s first book e Loving Spirit was written at Ferryside, the du Mauriers’ family holiday home, a converted boathouse, overlooking the river Fowey which is still owned by the family today. e title is said to have come from an Emily

and Christian (known as Kits).

Later on when Tommy was knighted Daphne became Lady Browning.

In 1934 her father Gerald, to whom she was very close, died and this led to Daphne’s first non-fiction book Gerald, an account of her father’s life and career.

However, Jamaica Inn (1936) was her first big success (helped along by Alfred Hitchcock’s film in 1939) and it was also in this year when she had the idea and started to make notes about Rebecca, her most famous novel.

She actually began to write it when she was in Egypt with Tommy who had been posted

Daphne du Photo: Giovanni Giovannetti/ Effigie/Writer Pictures

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Brontë poem published in 1931 and based on the life of the real Jane Slade and her family of boat builders who lived and worked in Fowey. is book also brought about the meeting of Daphne and her husband Major Frederick “Boy” Browning (or Tommy as he was affectionately known), as he had read the book and wanted to meet the author. So he sailed down to Fowey harbour and within a few months of being introduced he and Daphne were married. ey subsequently went on to have three children : Tessa, Flavia

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there. Rebecca became an overnight success on publication in 1938 and again was adapted for cinema by Hitchcock going on to win the Oscar for best film in 1940. e great love of Daphne’s life though was a house called “Menabilly” which she leased from the Rashleigh family and which is said to have been the inspiration for ”Manderley”.

Following on from the publication and success of Rebecca, Daphne found herself being accused of plagiarism by American author Edwina L Macdonald who alleged that

Rebecca was a copy of her book Blind Windows which had been published in 1927. Daphne had to travel to New York to defend herself in court and was successful in winning her case.

Frenchman’s Creek was published in 1941 - the only one of her novels that Daphne considered to be a true romance.

In 1963 Hitchcock dramatized another of Daphne’s works e Birds, a short story written ten years before while another short story Don’t Look Now, (1971) was also filmed very successfully. As for non-fiction she wrote e Infernal World of Branwell Brontë, Vanishing Cornwall and e Winding

anything she had written before and it met with mixed reviews.

Much more recently a short story - e Doll - was discovered to great excitement. ought to have been one of the first things that Daphne ever wrote when she came to Fowey, many people have wondered how such a young writer of that time could imagine such a story. It was finally published together with some of her other short stories in a collection in 2011.

Daphne was a complex person and much has been written Published in paperback by about her and her relationships. Virago, 2015 It is said that her novel e Parasites published in 1949 when

Maurier Stair: Francis Bacon, His Rise and Fall to name but a few.

In 1969 the lease on her beloved “Menabilly” ran out and couldn’t be renewed and so she found herself having to move into the “Menabilly” dower house, “Kilmarth”. On moving in she found some scientific equipment in the basement which inspired her to write e House on the Strand, my very favourite of all her books. By now a Dame, Daphne’s last book published in her lifetime, Rule Britannia (1972), was humorous and satirical - very different from

she was forty two has a lot of Daphne in it. She apparently did admit that all three of the main characters were probably facets of her own personality and it is said that it was the only one of her books that she ever reread.

Daphne died in 1989, outlived by both her sisters: Angela the eldest, an actress and also a writer, best known for her memoir It’s Only the Sister spent her latter years at Ferryside until her death in 2002. e younger sister Jeanne who was an artist and lived in Dartmoor with parter Noel Welch died in 1997.

Published in paperback by Virago, 2004.

The Fowey Festival of Words and Music presented by The du Maurier Society is held every year in celebration of Daphne and her writing.

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27

MY FIVE FAVES

My Five Faves

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

BY STIEG LARSSON Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired by an elderly Swedish businessman Henrik Vanger to solve an old family mystery. At the same time, Vanger hires a curious, reclusive hacker called Lisbeth Salander to investigate Blomkvist’s background. Impressed by Salander’s computer hacking skills, Blomkvist asks her to help him, and soon they realize they are not dealing with just a missing persons case, but a long-term serial killer. This is the first crime novel I read that made me want to write one. I loved the creative scope offered by the idea of journalist as investigator, as an alternative to a detective; a character who is free to follow leads anywhere.

Louise Millar shares five crime novels that helped shape her work.

THE DRAINING LAKE BY ARNALDUR INDRIDASON My favourite crime author is Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason. In this sixth Inspector Erlendur novel, the water level in a lake drops after an earthquake, revealing a skeleton and a mysterious piece of equipment labelled with Russian writing. As Erlendur deals with his own loneliness and estrangement from his fractured family, he becomes involved in an old missing persons case, tracking down a woman who is still waiting for a lover who disappeared City of Strangers by Louise Millar is published by Macmillan long ago. Indridason is the master of creating a sense of place. as a £12.99 HB on 8th He uses the long, dark winters October.

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and harshness of the Icelandic climate and landscapes to create a perfect atmospheric backdrop for his crime novels. For me, there are so many similarities between Nordic and Scottish landscapes, in terms of remoteness, weather and light. It was reading Nordic crime that inspired me to set City Of Strangers back in Scotland where I grew up.

THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS BY JAMES M CAIN I’m a sucker for hardboiled American noir, and I’ve just read this recently re-released novel by the author of The Postman Always Rings Twice. It’s set in the 60s, and narrated by Joan, whose husband dies in an odd car accident that leaves the police and her family suspicious.

Joan takes a job as a cocktail waitress to make ends meet, regains custody of her son, and meets two very different men who offer her a way forward.

Whether or not Joan’s version of events is the true one is for us to decide, and the final twist is kept right to the end. I’d like to think there’s a touch of noir in the first chapter of City Of Strangers, when, Grace Scott discovers a body in her kitchen on a dark, wet night. Yet, like the famous New York and LA photographers of the 1920-50s who famously photographed brutal murder scenes, she doesn’t run away horrified, but calmly documents what she finds as a story.

I AM PILGRIM

BY TERRY HAYES I’ve always enjoyed big, international thrillers and, for me, it doesn’t get much better than I Am Pilgrim ( a Recommended Read in nb80 Mar/Apr 2014) a fast-paced 600-page mystery about a multi-psuedonymed American secret agent, who arrives at the murder scene of a woman in New York to discover that the scene has been created by someone who’s read the forensics guide he wrote for the CIA. This soon sets him off on a journey across the globe to track down a terrorist intent on mass destruction. There are lots of subplots and flashbacks, but the pace never stops, making it impossible to put down.

ONE GOOD TURN

BY KATE ATKINSON A road-rage incident in Edinburgh, involving ex-detective Jackson Brodie, leads to a number of murders. This was the first crime novel I read that is set in Edinburgh. For me, it is a great location for a multi-layered crime novel as it has both the edge of an inner-city and wild, empty landscapes just outside. While my heroine, Grace Scott, flies to Europe to identify her dead burglar, her newspaper colleagues Sula and Ewan start their own investigation into two bodies buried in a strange way on a remote cliff outside Edinburgh.

Killer Women – Who they?

With so much interest in the subject of why women read and write crime fiction, crime writer Melanie McGrath launched a new crime-writing salon called Killer Women earlier this year. Killer Women comprises 17 London-based female crime writers, who work across the genre: political, psychological, spy thrillers, procedural and historical. “The idea was initially to create a reason to get out of our pyjamas – writers lead a lonely life – and go to the pub. Then, we realised it would be exciting to pool our ideas, and set up innovative events to explore crime-writing further. The response has been fantastic.” said Ms McGrath. The Killer Women are appearing across the UK at festivals and events, looking forward to being joined by guests – and even the odd Killer Bloke. “Our website is fast becoming a hotspot for the crime fiction community, with weekly Killer Women blogs from September, and weekly giveaways of books, mentoring, event tickets and more. There are plans afoot for a Killer Women Festival and a Killer Women Academy Writing Weekend next year – watch this space.”

Killerwomen.org

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ded en Early this year, Guy Pringle said “For me this is my book of 2015 so far.

I know it’s only midJanuary and there’s a long way to go yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was still a contender come December.” A bold claim but it’s still in the running – now you can decide. Here’s the author’s perspective.

Alice and the Fly is the story of Greg Hall, a teenager dealing with mental health issues and a severe case of arachnophobia.

Greg is ignored at home and a loner at school; a perceived ‘psycho’, an easy target for bullying. Then his teacher, Miss Hayes, notices Greg and decides to counsel him, to try and get him out of his shell. She arranges meetings each week so Greg can talk about his thoughts and feelings. But Greg doesn’t want to talk, he just wants to sit in silence. That’s what he likes to do, sit in silence.

So Miss Hayes suggests he start writing instead. And once he

guiding light. Every night Greg catches a bus out to The Pitt, just so he can sit at the back and watch her. But, when Greg discovers the horror of Alice’s home life, he realises she needs him too, just as much as he needs her. He has no choice: he has to save her.

Alice and the fly is a dark love story. It is about phobias and obsessions, isolation and dark corners. It’s about families, friendships, and their carefully preserved secrets. But more than these things it’s about love.

Finding love, in any of its forms, and nurturing it.

Alice and the Fly

Photo: Christof Häberle

starts he can’t stop…

He writes about his family; his absent father, his dancecrazed sister, his Mum’s home décor-obsessed, middleclass sensibilities. He writes about his old life, when he lived with his nan, a life he loved, a life that was taken from him when her own mental health issues became too much. He writes about Them, the spiders that appear in the cracks and the corners of his sanity.

But mostly Greg writes about Alice, a girl from his school, a girl who smiled at him once under a canal bridge, a girl who has since become his one 30

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Alice and the Fly by James Rice is published by Hodder & Stoughton as a £7.99 pbk and is available now.

Guy’s full review is on nudge – One to Watch Out For lists other books the team are excited by.

T

recom

Alice and the Fly– James Rice

om rec m

ended m

he bus was late tonight. It was raining, that icy winter rain, the kind that stings. Even under the shelter on Green Avenue I got soaked because the wind kept lifting the rain onto me. By the time the bus arrived I was dripping, so numb I couldn’t feel myself climbing on board.

It was the older driver again, the one with the moustache. He gave me that smile of his. A hint of a frown. An I-know- all-about-you nod. I dropped the fare into the bowl and he told me I’d be better off buying a weekly pass, cheaper that way. I just tore off my ticket, kept my head down.

The bus was full of the usual uniforms. Yellow visibility jackets, Waitrose name badges. A cleaner slept with her Marigolds on. No one who works in Skipdale actually lives here, they all get the bus back to the Pitt. I hurried up the aisle to my usual seat, a couple of rows from the back. For a few minutes we waited, listening to the click-clack of the indicator. I watched the wet blur of rain on the window – the reflection of the lights, flashing in the puddles on the pavement. Then the engine trembled back to life and the bus pulled off through Skipdale.

I got a little shivery today, between those first couple of stops. Thinking now about all those passengers on the bus, it makes me wonder how I do it every night. It’s not people so much that bother me. It’s Them. I heard once that a person is never more than three metres away from one of Them at any time, and since then I can’t help feeling that the more people there are around, the more there’s a chance that one of Them’ll be around too. I know that’s stupid.

We soon reached the Prancing Horse. Even through the rain I could make out the small crowd huddled under the shelter. The doors hissed open and Man With Ear Hair stumbled through, shaking his umbrella, handing over his change. He took the disabled seat at the front and made full use of its legroom. Woman Who Sneezes was next, squeezing beside a Waitrose employee, her bulk spilling over into the aisle. A couple of old ladies showed their passes, riding back from their day out in the crime-free capital of England. ‘It’s such a nice town,’ they told the driver. ‘It’s such a nice pub, it was such nice fish.’ Their sagging faces were so expressionless I could have reached out and given them a wobble.

And then there was you, all red curls and smiles, stepping up to buy your ticket, and the warmth rose through me like helium to my brain.

Alice and the Fly– James Rice

You were wet today. Shivering. You smelt of disinfectant, stronger than any other work-smell on the bus. Is it legal for you to work there?

The landlord probably doesn’t realise how young you are. You look older. You’re not the prettiest girl in school, conventionally speaking.

There’s a gap in your teeth and your hair’s kind of a mess with your roots coming through, and you always wear those thick black sunglasses, which is kind of weird. You have an amazing smile, though.

Once I walked right past you and you smiled, right at me, as if we knew each other. It was only a slight smile, your cheeks bunching at the corners just the right amount, but it made me want to reach out and stroke them, brush them with the backs of my knuckles, like Nan used to with mine. I know that’s sad but it’s true.

You took your seat, on the front row. Working after school must tire you out because you always drift off as soon as you sit, sunglasses clinking the window with each back-and-forth roll of your head. We pulled off through the square, past Hampton’s Butcher’s. I couldn’t help thinking of your dad and the others, shivering with all that slippery meat while I was on the bus with you.

Then we turned onto the dual carriageway and sped out to the Pitt.

I wonder what it’s like, living in the Pitt. Do you tell anyone? I can’t think of a single kid who’d admit to living in the Pitt. It’s odd you have Skipdale friends, very few Pitt kids get into Skipdale High and even then they tend to stick to their own. Their families are always trying to set up in Skipdale but it does its best to keep them out. We have a Pitt neighbour: Artie Sampson. I’ve lost count of the number of times Mum’s peered out of the dining-room window and complained about him. She tells Sarah and me to keep away. ‘He’s trying to climb too high in the property market. He’ll fall and he’ll break his neck.’

There’s a physical descent into the Pitt, ear-popping and stomachchurning at the speeds the bus reaches, which might be why you choose to sleep through it. My father calls it the ‘Social De-cline’. I remember when I was little I’d play a game along the Social De-cline where I’d try and count how many houses were boarded up, how many were burnt out. Sometimes I’d find a house that was boarded up and burnt out. It was hard because Mum always drove the Social De-cline so fast, even faster than the bus does. It was as if the very air could rust the BMW.

Alice and the Fly– James Rice

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Of course, you slept right through. Every pothole, every bend, every sudden break at traffic lights that threw us from our seats. The bus jerked and rattled so much it felt as if it might come apart, but you just slumped there, face pressed to the window. We stopped by the retail park and Old Man BO got on and sat right beside you but even then you didn’t wake up, didn’t even squirm from the stink of him. You stayed slumped, lolling like a rag doll, completely at the mercy of the rhythm of the bus. I watched you in the mirror for as long as I could, only looking away when the driver caught my eye.

We turned at the lights, past Ahmed’s Boutique. As always you woke the moment we passed the church, Nan’s church, just in time to miss the large black letters spanned over its sign:

LIFE: THE TIME GOD GIVES YOU TO DECIDE HOW TO SPEND ETERNITY You rang the bell. The bus pulled up at the council houses behind the Rat and Dog. You stood and thanked the driver, hurried down the steps with your coat over your head. I wiped the mist from the window and watched you blur into the rain. I felt that pull in my stomach, like someone clutching my guts. I wished you had an umbrella.

The trip back was even harder. I got shivery again, goose- pimpled.

There were a lot of gangs out tonight, mounting bikes on street corners, cigarettes curling smoke from under their hoods. I nearly fell out of my seat when one of them threw a bottle up at the window. I wasn’t too bothered about people any more, though – all I could think about was Them. I lifted my feet up onto the seat. I knew they were everywhere I wasn’t looking. I had to keep turning my head, brushing any tickles of web on my neck, checking the ceiling and floor. They’re sneaky.

We ascended the Social In-cline. The houses grew and separated.

Potted plants congregated in front gardens. The rain eased. Eventually we came back through the square and the bus hissed to a stop at Green Avenue. As I stepped down the driver gave me that smile again. The smile he always gives me when I get off at Green Avenue. The smile that knows it’s the same stop I got on at just half an hour ago.

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OUR INTREPID REPORTER

OUR INTREPID REPORTER

Port Eliot ...

Marlborough...

Sheffield...

Author Mavis Cheek on turning festival organiser

Send us your festival experiences – info@newbooksmag.com

The idea came to me first in the summer of 2008 – I was having lunch with Nick Fogg – then the Mayor of Marlborough - he was very much involved with Marlborough’s successful and long running Jazz Festival. Why not have a literature festival as well? The town was made for it. He agreed.

I talked to ALCS (Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society) – having no real idea about how much money we needed to start it – but knowing EXACTLY how it should be run from the authors’ point of view – and they agreed to give us a financial start of a few thousand pounds. I knew from my own experience as a participant in literature festivals that if the authors are happy – they tell other authors – and you can get good support for your programme.

From the outset I insisted that all authors should be paid, and all authors should be paid the same.

We brought together a committee in 2009 and agreed to put up the first Festival in September 2010. I was visited by two wonderfully motivated local women, one an arts fundraiser and one who had worked in

Linda Worsey on her 4th visit to the Port Eliot Festival

Mavis (5th from left) and the organising committee

publishing, and they were keen to join us. The committee was terrifically bonded and worked brilliantly – everyone mucking in. It was good fun. With the help of our fundraiser we got excellent local sponsorship – and I commandeered a friend to do all the design for the programme and leaflets etc. I also undertook to approach authors.

And we were off.

It was terrifically useful being an author as I could go directly to other authors and get them to agree to appear. We began with Margaret Drabble, and it was a great success, [running] from Friday night to Sunday night. Critically I asked Judy Golding to fund our opening night – her father, William, loved Marlborough – she

agreed and the Golding Trust has funded us ever since - and Marlborough College funded our closing event which has always been poetry. It was hard work for us all – a big learning curve – but the festival was established as permanent by the overwhelming response in terms of ticket sales.

I chaired the festival and took ultimate responsibility for the artistic programme for the first four years and then passed it on to Jan Williamson to chair. I help a little – if asked – with the programme, but on the whole I am in the back seat nowadays.

We became a charity in (I think) 2012. And today the LitFest is still going strong. www.marlboroughlitfest.org

Marlborough Literature Festival is running from 2nd – 4th October A longer piece by Mavis can be found on nudge, together with Festival Director, Jan Williamson’s Q&A about being in charge

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A longer account of this festival can be found on nudge.

The Port Eliot Festival is held on the Earl of St Germans’ estate in Cornwall.. Family friendly and encompassing music, a food and produce show, craft workshops and outdoor pursuits . . . all in a beautiful setting: even the garden is Grade 1 listed.

Brian Selznick was a must-see: his new book, The Marvels, although not following the same characters, or even set in the same era, is the final part of his trilogy which started with The Invention of Hugo Cabret

(filmed as Hugo) and continued with Wonderstruck. Those familiar with his work will know that illustrations are as important as text: words never describe what the pictures are, and vice versa.

Simon Garfield attends every year, whether he has a book to promote or not! Like most boys, he preferred comics and football magazines to books, but was a fan of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series, before, in his teenage years, discovering Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons through their work for the New Musical Express.

Sarah Waters read a passage from The Paying Guests and talked about how houses are a continuing theme, as are mother/daughter relationships.

She thinks her next book will be set in the 1950s and is currently researching this era.

Simon Armitage, Tom Cox, an ex-Guardian columnist and a Game of Thrones experience were other highlights among many.

PS We have said this will probably be our last time, but I am sure once the emails start coming with who has been booked for next year, we will be saving up for the weekend ticket again!

Linda Worsey

nb reviewer Nicola Smith on Sheffield’s Off the Shelf Festival Sheffield is hosting its 24th Off the Shelf Festival and nb reviewer, Nicola Smith is involved.

For the fourth year we are hosting a community event at the church where I work as part of our Festival of Words which takes place every October. I have been to many brilliant events over the past ten years or so and I was very pleased to be able to actually be a part of it.

We have hosted former Derbyshire Poet Laureate, Matt Black, twice. He regaled us with his nonsense poems and was expert in audience participation. Another year saw us talking murder with local crime writer, Danuta Reah and the size of the audience proved that crime fiction is a popular genre.

This year we are lucky enough to be hosting bestselling writer, Susan Eliot Wright, whose books are set partly in Sheffield. I'm really looking forward to hearing her speak about her works and the part that setting plays.

www.offtheshelf.org.uk

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

After interviewing a couple of authors by email for nudge, we asked Jade Craddock how she’d feel about meeting one face-to-face.

With characteristic ‘I can do this’, she said yes before she knew it was Patrick Ness - one of her favourite authors.

On September 3 Patrick Ness tweeted: “I am fundraising to help with the Syrian refugee crisis because I can no longer stand to just tweet about it.” As we went to press he had raised over half a million pounds! uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ PatrickNess

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When the opportunity to interview a multi-book, multi-award winning author, not to mention a screenwriter whose first adaptation [A Monster Calls] is set to hit the big screen in October next year with the likes of Liam Neeson and Sigourney Weaver in its cast, it would be somewhat foolish to turn it down.

That the author in question is Patrick Ness seals the deal.

The setting for his publicity day is the Hoxton Hotel in Shoreditch, and there’s something very fitting about the venue. The foyer is an impressive mix of old-world grandeur and comfort, with a sizable array of books. But it is as the doors open on the urban chic lifts and I make my way down the third floor to meet Patrick that publicist Paul Black hits the nail on the head: ‘It’s like being inside a spaceship,’ he says of the very insular corridor with its green back lighting and futuristic design. And this otherworldliness, the move between the regular if impressive setting of the foyer and this un-

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expected inner realm, perfectly encapsulates the dichotomy of Patrick’s latest book, The Rest of Us Just Live Here, which follows a group of high-school teens as they go through the very ordinary trials of teen life whilst the high-school heroes are off doing their thing – preventing the Immortals from arriving and saving the world. I kick off by asking Patrick about this very dichotomy and why he decided to do things a bit differently.

‘In YA there’s a lot about being the chosen one . . . that’s a powerful thing because it explains all those feelings of being a teenager, when you have made your first decisions and said, I am not a child, I am not this thing, I am now this thing, and that’s an important point in someone’s life, so I understand why there are all these books about the chosen one, but I began to wonder what about the ones who just want to have lunch while the chosen ones blow up the high school again.’

Patrick admits he worries about using the word hero. ‘If saving the world is heroic then does that lessen something like

Photo: Helen Giles

Patrick Ness

THE BIG INTERVIEW

being brave enough to tell the person that you love the most that you love them without knowing if they’re going to say it back, that’s very very brave and when it is you doing that, it feels unbelievably heroic. Every day that you wake up and you face the world and you say I am going to go out in it and I’m going to live and I’m going to make decisions and I’m going to love my friends and I’m going to maybe make mistakes and I’m going to figure out a little more about who I am, that requires bravery, that’s a hell of a thing, that’s a hell of a human thing.’

For teen readers, this is an incredibly empowering and inspiring notion and I was keen to hear what Patrick thought about the pressures on teens today.

‘I think there are so many pressures on a teenager, so many that we dismiss, that we say it’s not important because you’re young, you’ll grow out of it. I’m not a teenager and I’ll probably grow out of a lot of feelings but I’m still feeling them, so that’s always made me quite cross, the idea that we dismiss just because of youth . . . the pressures of social media . . . of being young . . . screwing up for the first time in a big way and solving that.

Maybe there’s not a way to avoid all of it but we could at least not sneer.’

So in such an illustrious career, what is he proudest of ?

Patrick answers without 38

THE BIG INTERVIEW

hesitation: ‘A Monster Calls is really special because it came from such an unexpected place, never to be repeated, the culmination of working from Siobhan’s material [author Siobhan Dowd first conceived the novel’s idea but passed away before completing it] and then Jim Kay coming in and doing the illustrations, it really felt like it’ll never be repeated and I’ll never have another chance like that. I’m so proud of the outcome, of the thing that the three of us made. And if that’s the thing I’m known for, how lucky am I?’ Despite his success, there have been some challenges. ‘Before The Knife of Never Letting Go, my adult publisher had closed down and I was new as a writer and I was still figuring out what I wanted, and what I stood for, and that was probably my hardest time as a writer. I had an idea for a story and it seemed to be for teenagers, so I thought, right let’s go for it and that was The Knife of Never Letting Go.’ Although on reflection Patrick admits it was a good process because it got him to a good place.

‘I wrote the screenplay for A Monster Calls to start the conversation of what I think works about the book. But the book remains. The book is mine and the book doesn’t change . . . film is a different medium . . . a much shorter story than a novel, so there have to be changes. So as long as the spirit’s

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there, I’m happy. But the book remains.’

Similarly with his writing, Patrick admits to not giving into external pressures. ‘I always feel pressure to deliver for my readers but then I always feel like I have to set it aside because whenever I’ve tried to write something for readers, it’s failed because it’s not about me. And that sounds really solipsistic but I mean if I’m not telling a story I desperately want to tell and that I’m interested in reading and I’m interested in writing, you’re never going to be, and it’s arrogant of me to assume you would be.’

It is possible to lose sight of the fact that Patrick is also an accomplished writer of adult fiction – his debut was the novel The Crash of Herrington (2003) which he followed up with the short story collection, Topics About Which I Know Nothing (2005), before his debut children’s novel was published in 2008. But again he dismisses the idea of being restricted in his writing: ‘My rule for writing has always been one hundred per cent I’m the one who decides what I write and nobody tells me, because I have to feel like I’m free to respond to whatever story comes up. But for me the important thing is – the only important thing is – to not be a snob about what a story “needs to be”. Yet in terms of writing The Rest of Us Just Live Here, he confesses almost apologetically that it was easy

This book was one of those rare experiences I’ve only had once before - with The Knife of Never Letting Go. I started and everything kind of fell into place as it should and that is so rare and so precious. In a way it felt like I was just recording it rather than writing it every day. I wish I could repeat it, I wish I knew why that happened . . . I kept being suspicious of it.’

Patrick was undeniably buoyed about The Rest of Us Just Live Here, but after over a decade as an author, I was interested to know whether he still experiences the same excitement and buzz from his work.

‘The moment that is the best for me in writing a book is actually when you hold the final copy in your hand, and that hasn’t changed. I’m delighted it hasn’t changed. Every time it feels great: here it is, here’s the work I’ve done, and here’s the work others have done to make the cover, and to bind it and to put it on paper. And that moment, god it’s great, it’s the best moment of writing books.’

And the work Patrick has done on The Rest of Us Just Live Here is truly great as he takes on convention and tradition and blows it apart. The story of Mikey and the ‘other guys’ attests to the fact that though we may not all be the chosen ones, we all have stories to tell. But what of the writer as artist? Is he the chosen one or the other guy?

‘I was going to say it’s defi-

nitely like being the other guy but I’m not so sure. It’s a funny old thing being a writer… I don’t think writers are ever really the chosen ones because we have to report the story, but we’re also reporting on the other guys, on the average ones, so writers are fringe-dwellers that sit at the edges.’ It’s a lovely idea, though slightly disconcerting when he adds: ‘You should never trust a writer because they’re always watching you slightly too closely.’ Oh dear.

But whilst I’m sure I’m not going to crop up in his next book, as for there being much of him in his books, he explains: ‘I’ve never understood an author saying this is a really personal book, because I think what are your other books like then? What are you writing? If I’m not in every page of the story, at least emotionally invested, then why am I bothering writing it. There are bits of me biographically in the book, but more it’s that I’m everywhere.

I’m nowhere and I’m everywhere. If I’m not in every word then who is?’

And therein lies the paradox of the author: to be nowhere and everywhere and to make it seem as if you’re both at the same time. But throughout this interview Patrick has very much been present. An affable and openly warm man, he speaks eloquently and fervently, never imposing or arrogant. And he seems genuinely humbled and honoured by his success. ‘I’m so

lucky to make a living out of it, I’m just so lucky to be able to just do writing and nothing else, that’s unbelievably lucky.’

But it takes more than luck to get to where Patrick has got to today and where he seems to be headed in the near-future and beyond. Not least of all, talent and skill, which Patrick has in abundance. And although he sees himself as a writer as something of a fringe-dweller, he’s very much at the centre of the fiction universe for many many readers. And next year, who knows, perhaps the centre of the film universe too.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness is published by Walker Books as a £10.99 hbk and is available now.

See over the page for an extract from The Rest of Us Just Live Here.

We have copies to give away – see page 50 to claim yours.

Watch Jade’s interview with Patrick online – search “Patrick Ness interview” on nudge.

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The Rest of Us Just Live Here – Patrick Ness CHAPTER THE THIRD, in which indie kid Finn’s body is discovered; Satchel – who once dated Finn – asks Dylan and a second indie kid also called Finn to skip school and help her talk to her alcoholic uncle, who is the lead police officer investigating the death; meanwhile, the Messenger, inside a new Vessel, is already among them, preparing the way for the arrival of the Immortals.

Our town is just like your town. Schools, family-themed restaurants, lots of cars. There’s a bunch of huge churches clustered together, trying to blend in with all the family-themed restaurants, because salvation is as easy as chicken wings, I guess. We’ve got fire stations with signs that tell you when burning season begins and ends. We’ve got sheriff ’s offices with signs that tell you to Buckle Up. We’ve got a lumber yard with signs that tell you angry right-wing puns. We’ve got RV lots, banks, a Walmart, a couple multiplexes.

We’ve got trees. So many trees. Everything here used to be a forest, after all.

And yeah, so fine, our part of town has more than its fair share of trees and less than its fair share of multiplexes, but don’t look down on us. It was just as bad here as it was for you when the indie kids were battling the undead in our neck of the woods (though that was just after I was born, so I only know about it from my Uncle Rick, who doesn’t get invited around very much any more). We had the same amount of heartache when a new round of indie kids exorcized the sorrow from all those soul-eating ghosts eight years later (that was the year they blew up the high school, a heretofore unknown part of the exorcism ritual, I guess). And don’t even get me started on when the indie kids fell in love with and then defeated all the vampires a few years back. Henna’s older brother Teemu got mixed up with them and pretty much vanished one day. They haven’t seen him since, though he writes the occasional email. Always at night.

And we dream the same in my town as you probably do in a city. We yearn the same, wish the same. We’re just as screwed-up and brave and false and loyal and wrong and right as anyone else. And even if there’s no one in my family or my circle of friends who’s going to be the Chosen One or the Beacon of Peace or whatever the hell it’s going to be next time around, I reckon there are a lot more people like me than there are indie kids with unusual names and capital-D Destinies (though I’m being mean here; they’re often quite nice, the indie kids, just … they’ve got a clan and they’re sticking to it).

The Rest of Us Just Live Here – Patrick Ness

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Me, all I want to do is graduate. And have a last summer with my friends. And go away to college. And (more than) kiss Henna (more than) once. And then get on with finding out about the rest of my life.

Don’t you?

“Did you get in trouble?” Jared asks the next morning as we sit down in the back row of a Calculus class that he’s already got so much extracredit in he could skip the final and still get an A. “Just the weekly lecture on how keeping a united family front is more important than usual in an election year, blah blah blah.” I glance at him. “You were mentioned.”

He grins. “I bet.”

The school bell goes as the classroom door opens a last time, and Nathan comes in.“ Sorry,” he says, flashing a smile at Ms Johnson, the Calculus teacher.

She’s this really smart, funny older lesbian so the smile totally shouldn’t work on her. Somehow it still does.

I count out the four corners of my desk. Seven times.

“Dude,” Jared whispers. “It’s just a guy. He’s not the Devil.”

“Henna likes him.”

“She said he was pretty. He is.”

I stop counting.

“Well, he is,” Jared shrugs. “Just calling the facts.”

“Yeah, but why would you transfer into a new school five weeks before–” The intercom system crackles. Attention students, I guess, says our Principal. He’s French Canadian and no matter what he says, he always sounds like he’s dying of boredom. I have some troubling and sad news that some of you will have already seen on social media, no doubt. I am afraid that the body of one of our seniors, Finn Brinkman, was found this morning. There are, as yet, no leads to the cause of his death, but we urge all students to take extra care, to not travel alone, and to report anything suspicious to the authorities. Counselling is available in the office should you need it or something.

Calculus has fallen silent. I turn to Jared. I know he’s thinking the same thing I’m thinking.

“We should tell someone,” I say.

“Yep,” he says. “Won’t do any good.”

No. No, it probably won’t.

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PROFILE

For Melvyn Bragg Now is the Time Linda Hepworth is a long-standing fan of Melvyn Bragg’s writing. Here she gives us an insight and puts some questions to the man himself.

A

s with most people, I suspect, I originally became aware of Melvyn Bragg as a broadcaster rather than as a writer. From its inception in 1978, until its withdrawal from terrestrial television in 2010, The South Bank Show was essential viewing for me, and his various radio programmes still provide enjoyable and stimulating listening. It wasn’t until 1992, when I watched the three-part television play, A Time to Dance, that I realised it was an adaptation of his 1990 novel.

Having enjoyed the play so much, I decided to read the book – which I enjoyed even more. Since then I have read most of the twenty two novels he has written, as well as a number of his nonfiction books. Once I had started it became clear that the wide

range of subjects he tackles on his radio and television programmes, combined with his informed and reflective approach to them, is equally evident in all of his writing, whether fiction or nonfiction. The scale of his output over the years (his debut novel, For Want of a Nail, was published in 1965) is very impressive, and he shows no sign of slowing down. It would appear that enjoying what he does provides him with the energy to continue and, thankfully, there are more novels in the pipeline. I find it hard to believe that there aren’t also ideas for other works of nonfiction lurking there somewhere.

Why do I admire him so much as an author? The books I enjoy most are those which stimulate, excite, educate, entertain, and encourage empathy, whilst still allowing room for my own imagination; for me his writing satisfies all these wishes. It is unusual if, after finishing one of his novels, I am not keen to find out more about a subject he has raised. A very immediate example: having just read and enjoyed Now is the Time, (see review on page 45) I now want to read at least a couple of the books he mentions as his source

material. One motivation behind his desire to write this novel was to educate himself about this neglected period, but the result is that he entertainingly educates his readers too. Some of his novels are, at times, rather emotionally painful, but they are never unremittingly so because humour so often plays a part in his observations. Other elements I really appreciate in his writing are his honesty and integrity, which seem central to whatever he writes, but this honesty sometimes comes at an emotional price for him. The powerful sense of time and place he always conjures up is also central to his writing and is something which, for me, lends such compelling authenticity. This is always striking, but is especially so for me in the novels he writes about Cumbria, a county I know so well.

In dedicating Now is the Time to him Melvyn Bragg makes clear what a debt of gratitude he owes to his grammar school history teacher, S.R. ‘Jimmie’ James, for encouraging him to stay on at school. I think that so too do all of this author’s readers; if you haven’t yet read any of his books, now is the time to start.

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Q&A

Linda Hepworth: In your author’s note you mentioned you began working on your fictional account of the miscalled “Peasants’ Revolt” fifteen years ago, but that “some books take a long time to land.”

Can you recall the book’s genesis?

Melvyn Bragg:I think the book began when I was at school and we hopped over the miscalled Peasants’ Revolt. I kept wondering what had really happened at that time.

Why do you think that this momentous and very significant event has received such scant attention in the teaching of history?

The revolt was largely led by artisans, aldermen of the towns in the south east, and priests. It was what we would now call the lower/middle-class self-taught men who led it. There were some former soldiers too. I am still puzzled as to why it has received such scant attention so far. Per capita it was the biggest rebellion there has ever been in this country.

I was struck by the fact that this is an exceptionally visually vivid book. Did it strike you like that when you were writing it; and would you like to see it dramatised at some point in the future?

I couldn’t have a better review!

(See opposite)If somebody wants to make a film or TV dramatization (in 26 parts) that’s

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Q&A

fine by me!

You have dedicated the book to S.R. “Jimmie” James, your history teacher at your grammar school in Wigton. What was so special about him?

Mr James literally ensured that I stayed on at school. But for him I would have left when I was 15.

He was an extraordinary teacher, as many of his former pupils will tell you.

All your novels evoke a very powerful sense of time and place, and living in Cumbria, this is something I particularly appreciate in your writing. How important are these elements to you when you are writing your novels?

It helps for me to know a lot about the place and time and for me Wigton, in particular, and Cumbria, in general, are very rich in my memory. But so is the history of this country and that is what I have explored in Credo and Maid of Buttermere and now in Now Is The Time.

The books that I gain most satisfaction from are those from which I learn something new do you see yourself as being an “educator”?

I’m very happy to be thought of as an “educator”. I would consider that to be a high compliment.

At a talk at a “Words by the Water Festival”, about The Maid of Buttermere you admitted to having given some of the

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criminals in Carlisle prison the names of old friends from Wigton. You told the story with a certain amount of glee, do you enjoy having the “licence” to do such things – and have your friends forgiven you?!

I was delighted to put all my best friends in Carlisle jail. The descriptions of them gave me particular pleasure and I don’t think they mind very much!

You have described yourself as a “believing unbeliever”. Did writing The Book of Books, which explores the importance of the King James’ Bible, (and Credo, your fictional novel of early Christian faith, set in the seventh century) in any way alter your feelings about faith, belief and religion?

I’m fascinated by the history of the Jewish and Christian religions. Much bad has been done in their name but a great deal of good has also been done.

Sadly I can no longer accept the essential central beliefs in Christianity but that does not prevent me continuing to be absorbed by the history and reality and impact of that tradition.

In collaboration with Howard Goodall, you adapted The Hired Man into a successful musical.

Did you feel that it captured the essence of this moving story?

I thought that Howard Goodall’s music for The Hired Man was wonderful. I heard it again recently and it still moves me.

I think he’s written a classical English musical score and I’m very pleased he did it in collaboration with The Hired Man. Your Soldier’s Return Quartet is a series of semi-autobiographical novels which I found not only hugely enjoyable, but at times also very moving and painful to read. Why write about your experiences in this way rather than as a memoir or autobiography?

An enormous amount of fiction in the last 120 years has been autobiographical.

Autobiographical fiction is a million miles from memoirs and recollections and even autobiography. It is a thing on its own and it’s attracted some of the finest writers – DH Lawrence, Proust, Thomas Mann, Philip Roth etc.etc. I’d like to be part of that gang.

I thought Grace and Mary deeply poignant, moving, funny and sad. When you talked about it, you visibly reflected all these emotions at times reducing some members (me included) of the audience to tears. You often appear to pay a high emotional price for being so open and honest with your readers – does it ever feel like too high a price?

Sometimes it does, yes.

Grace and Mary spans three generations and explores a son’s attempt to communicate with his mother, who is in her

nineties and suffering from dementia. It is regarded as the fifth in your series of semiautobiographical novels, and yet the main character’s name is John rather than Joe, as in the other four books. What made you decide to write it as a standalone?

I don’t quite know but it was probably a mistake to call him John instead of Joe but I do intend to return to that series of novels in a year or two.

Among the many awards and accolades you have received you were awarded the Bad Sex in Fiction Award for A Time to Dance. What did you feel about this?

I didn’t feel too good about it at the time but once Norman Mailer had won it I think I should wear it as a badge of honour. Actually, in the case of A Time To Dance I think it should have been called The Good Sex Award.

Can you recall the very first book you ever read, and what it meant to you?

I can’t really but I remember being very young and reading The Tales of Robin Hood again and again and again.

Of all the books you have written, of which are you most proud, and which was the hardest to write?

The next one.

Linda’s double 5 star review can be found in full on nudge.

“As in all his novels, Melvyn Bragg vividly conjures up a powerful sense of time and place, thus creating a very “visual” narrative. There were moments when I felt so immersed in the story that I felt I could hear the chants of the crowds, could breathe in the smells of London, and could almost reach out to touch the characters. I found myself feeling passionately about the injustices they faced and the acts of betrayal they experienced from people they trusted: what happened to these characters really came to matter to me. Even now, weeks after finishing the book, they remain vivid in my memory, and I still feel a sense of outrage on their behalf that their just protest, which came so close to succeeding, failed, and that they were subsequently treated in such a vengeful way.

Throughout the novel I was aware of disturbing parallels with the attitudes of some current politicians’ attitudes towards the circumstances of the poorest in our society; those who have been disproportionately affected by austerity cuts, and yet have seen the wealthiest grow even richer; I wonder whether people in this country will ever feel desperate enough to stage a protest on a similar scale? When Margaret Thatcher introduced the first poll tax since the fourteenth century there were violent riots and the government fairly quickly backed down, but maybe a deeply buried “collective unconscious” mechanism, which makes us reluctant to “start the revolution” operates!”

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hen people ask me where I’m from, I tell them I’m a Cornishman. It isn’t altogether untrue. My father was a Londoner, but my mother grew up in Mevagissey, a fishing village on the south Cornish coast, and the county was (and still is for me) the home of aunts and cousins, and the setting for a host of childhood holiday memories.

I was seventeen when my parents retired, and settled back in Mevagissey. They bought a general store right in the village centre, and I became a delivery boy, carrying boxes of groceries

more. For me, the fictional village of St Piran was a miniature version of Mevagissey, populated by many of the people I remembered from the village of my teens.

For me a novel rarely begins with a single idea. It arrives as a jigsaw of unrelated characters and events, and it isn’t until I start laying out the pieces that I begin to see the picture.

Cornwall, and the village of St Piran was a central image. Jonah and the Whale was another.

And I was haunted by ideas about the end of the world, and for this, Cornwall seemed like a happy metaphor. Joe Haak, the

Not forgetting The Whale A double 5 star review in nb85 – now a Recommended Read

Not Forgetting The Whale by John Ironmonger is published by Orion as a £8.99 pbk

46

to houses on the cliffs. One of my regular customers was the writer Colin Wilson. He would invite me in and reward my efforts with one of the very packets of sweets I had just carried up the hill. His was a real writer’s home, full of books and arcane objects. ‘I should love to be a writer,’ I told him once.

‘Then you will be,’ he promised me.

My novel, Not Forgetting the Whale, has taken me back to Cornwall – literally and emotionally. When you write a novel, you inhabit the location, and you live with the characters in your mind, often for a year or

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hero of the story (and ‘hero’ is quite the right word on this occasion), flees from the City of London and stumbles quite by accident upon the village of St Piran. For him this is the very end of the world – as far from the pressures of his job in the City of London as he can imagine. Sure enough, the apocalypse he fears isn’t far behind. But now Joe is part of a community he could never have expected to find. Now the networks kick in and the village weathers the storm in (what I hoped would be) an altogether unexpected way.

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ou could, if you were a visitor to St Piran, piece together the sequence of events on Piran Sands and the village of St Piran that autumn day by overlaying the stories told by Charity Cloke and Kenny Kennet, and Jeremy Melon.

You could add to these the reported accounts of Casey Limber the net-maker, and Dr Books, and Old Man Garrow. If you were to do this, you might, with some confidence, be able to unravel the true course of events on the day when everything started.’

You could begin with Kenny Kennet, the beachcomber, picking among the rocks at the east end of the bay with his plastic sacks, his pond nets, his oddments of equipment. These were rocks he knew well.

He had been scouring this cove, and a dozen others around the coast, for fragments of the sea’s discarded treasures for ten or fifteen years now; since leaving school, if his account is to be believed. His hair, rarely cut, was dreadlocked, coiled and stiff, like strands of rope bleached by the salt and the wind; now that the days were growing cooler he held the unruly locks in place beneath a linen gendarme cap.

He wore jeans from Oxfam rolled up to the knee, and a Guinness Tshirt, and a pointless cotton scarf. He was bent, prying mussels from a rock with a flat-bladed knife, when, on an impulse, he straightened up, scrambled a dozen feet or so up the headland and, from this commanding position, gazed out towards the sea.

What was he looking for? ‘Nothing in particular,’ he would say. This was simply something he did. He was hoping for drifting debris perhaps, for floats he might sell back to the lobstermen for the price of a glass of beer, or for scraps of net for Casey Limber.

What he saw, however, was the whale.

At first it might have been a dolphin. Or even a harbour seal. It slipped into view like a shadow beneath the waves, like the grey-green hulk of an ancient wreck, rolling slightly, sucking the sunlight from the water. It seemed to Kenny as if a hand had waved in front of the sun, sending a slice of darkness scudding along the deep. And then with barely a ripple, the leviathan sank, and was gone.

The water was dark and deep at the headland. Kenny Kennet knew that, but he’d never seen a dolphin quite this close to shore. He stared at the empty stretch of sea, reflecting on what he had, or hadn’t, seen. It must have been a dolphin, he thought. Unless . . . unless perhaps it was a whale? There was a sheen now to the water where the giant shape had been, as if a thin film of glass had been left upon the sea.

Not Forgetting The Whale – John Ironmonger The beachcomber turned his face away to see if anyone else was there who might confirm his sighting. And, just a hundred yards or so away, was Charity and her poodle.

‘Hey!’ Kenny waved both arms. ‘Hey.’ His cry caught the attention of Charity Cloke, and also of Aminata Chikelu, who was further up the shore, and of Jeremy Melon too, who was still exploring rock pools.

‘Hey,’ Kenny called again. ‘I think I saw a whale!’

‘A what?’ shouted Charity. Jeremy and Aminata were too distant to join in the exchange.

‘A whale.’ Kenny made a beckoning gesture.

Charity Cloke broke into a run across the sand towards the headland.

There were several spits of rock to negotiate.

‘Quick!’ Kenny could see the shape again, emerging slowly from the depths.

‘I’m coming.’ Charity used her hands to steady herself around a spear of barnacle-encrusted rock.

‘Quick.’

In the ocean the leviathan was surfacing. The tide appeared to be rising with the beast, a waterfall of spume and foam was flooding from its flanks.

Now it was a discernible shape, a striated barrage balloon flexing and rippling. Could it be a submarine? The thought struck Kenny, but in an instant the suggestion was dispelled as the great grey back of the cetacean surged above the surface, and with a monstrous snort a plume of water flew from its blowholes.

‘Oh my God!’ A few yards from the shore Charity Cloke was screaming.

‘It’s all right,’ called the beachcomber, his eyes transfixed by the whale. ‘He isn’t going to hurt you.’

But Charity wasn’t screaming at the whale.

Later, Charity would say that it wasn’t the man’s nakedness that caused her to scream. Nor was it his prominent erection; his ‘priapic state’, as Dr Books had called it. ‘It was just a shock,’ she would say. ‘I came around the rock, and there he was – lying there. I thought he was dead.’

The man on the beach may not have been dead, but he was certainly cold, and very still. Jeremy Melon was the second to arrive on the scene. If anything, Jeremy seemed even more shocked by the man’s appearance than Charity had been. Then Kenny came down from his rock still flushed from his encounter with the whale.

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‘What the . . .?’

‘I think he’s dead,’ said Charity.

Three people now stood looking at the body on the sand, and not one dared touch him. It was the terrible inertia of crisis that held them back. The immobility of indecision. It was a man . . . of course; his terrible tumescence was proof of that; but his skin was so white and so bruised with sand that at first, Charity had thought, he may have been a porpoise. Or a seal. Or a dead thing dredged up from the depths and deposited like debris on the beach.

‘Who is he?’ Kenny asked, as if knowing this might help.

‘I’ve never seen him before,’ said Charity. Jeremy shook his head slowly. ‘Me neither.’

‘Should we . . .’ Charity started.

‘Do what?’

‘Give him the . . . kiss of life?’

The pause was awkward. Neither of the two men seemed anxious to administer such a therapy.

‘I’ll do it,’ said Jeremy, after a moment. He was sinking to his knees.

‘No. I’ll do it,’ called a voice from behind. Aminata the nurse, glowing from her run across the beach, had arrived. She pushed between them and dropped to the sand. ‘Hold his arms for me.’

They did as they were told. The castaway was cold and soaking wet; he hadn’t been out of the water for long. Perhaps the surge-wave from the whale had driven him ashore.

‘Get him onto his front. We have to empty his lungs.’

This was a team activity now. They flipped the body over, ignoring the impact this would have on his erection. Aminata thrust her palms down hard on his back. Water spluttered from his mouth. She pressed again. He seemed to choke.

‘I think he’s alive,’ Aminata said. ‘He didn’t have much water in his lungs. Flip him back.’

Clumsily they turned him over.

‘I think he’s breathing,’ Kenny said.

‘Let’s make sure.’ The nurse squeezed shut the man’s nostrils and closed her lips around his mouth, exhaling into his lungs. His chest rose, and then, as she released her hold, his chest fell. She blew again.

‘He’s definitely breathing,’ Jeremy said.

‘One more time.’ Another lungful of warm Senegalese air expelled into the cold alveoli of the man who wasn’t dead.

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Photo: Sean Gannon

Ever been to Lapland?

Now’s your chance.

olf Winter is set in Swedish Lapland 1717, where a group of disparate settlers struggles to forge a new life in the shadow of the grim Blackåsen Mountain whose dark mythology lies at odds with the repressive control exerted by the Church. Into this setting, Maija, her husband and two daughters arrive, wanting to forget the traumas that caused them to abandon their native Finland and start anew. Not long aer their arrival, their daughters stumble across the mutilated body of a fellow settler in a picturesque glade. e other settlers are quick to dismiss the culprit as

are mortal and, at the end of the day, always alone. The book was written as a riposte to an event in my own life; the death of my father. My father was my best friend. The period preceding and just after his death was my wolf winter. As he lay dying, I interviewed him about his life.

He died and I continued speaking, with my grandmother, her sister, their friends, my mother... Wolf Winter came out of those conversations.

Blackåsen Mountain does not exist as a physical place, but its nature is something I remember from my childhood: a combination of the places and memories I have from Hudiksvall, where I grew up,

Wolf Winter

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck is published by Hodder & Stoughton as a £7.99 pbk on 5th November.

Official pub date is Nov 5th but we hope to supply copies ahead of that date so you can help create the buzz for this title.

54

wolf or bear, but Maija is unconvinced. When her husband travels to the coast to look for work, Maija is le on Blackåsen with her two daughters. As winter descends, compelled by the ghosts of her past, she continues to ask questions. It’s a dangerous quest for to Blackåsen everyone has come fleeing someone or something…

The expression ‘Wolf Winter’ in Swedish (Vargavinter) refers to an unusually bitter and long winter, but it is also used to describe the darkest of times in a human being’s life – the kind of period that imprints on you that you

nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

Knaften and Vormsele, the two small villages in Lapland where my grandparents lived, and Sånfjället, a mountain close to the Norwegian border, where our family had a cabin. In a way, it is the embodiment of what I felt like growing up in the north of Sweden. It represents the fear, the doubts, the religious fervour, the loneliness and the need to fit in and to belong. In this book, I wanted 'place', or the mountain, to be almost a character in its own right. It watches the settlers. It doesn't care. It is dispassionate. It has already seen many of them come and go and it will see many more come and go.

Cecilia Ekbäck

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Swedish Lapland, June 1717

‘

But how far is it?’

Frederika wanted to scream. Dorotea was slowing them down. She dragged behind her the branch she ought to be using as a whip, and Frederika had to work twice as hard to keep the goats moving. The morning was bright; white daylight sliced the spruce tops and stirred up too much colour. Frederika was growing hot. There were prickles on her back beneath the dress. She hadn’t wanted to go, and now the goats didn’t want to, either.

They leapt to the left or right in among the trees and tried to run past them back towards the cottage. The only sounds were those of a tree shifting, of a hoof striking stone and the constant bleating of the stupid goats.

‘Only poor people have goats,’ she had said to her mother that same morning.

They were sitting on the wooden porch of their new home on the side of Blackåsen Mountain. In front of them, bugs flitted above the grassy slope.

There was a small stream at the base of the hill and beyond that, a field.

Enclosing all this was forest – jagged black spears against pink morning sky.

‘We’ll sow turnips up there.’ Frederika’s mother, Maija, nodded towards the barn. ‘That’s a good place with sun.’

‘At least cows and sheep manage on their own in the forest.

Goats are a lot of work for nothing.’

‘It’s just until your father and I have built a fence around the field. Take them to that glade we saw on our way here. It’s not far.’

The barn door opened and Dorotea hopped out. The door clapped shut behind her.

‘It will be fine,’ her mother said in a low voice as Dorotea ran down the slope.

Frederika wanted to say that here, nothing could be fine. The forest was too dark. There was spidery mould among the twigs and on the ground beneath the lowest branches there were still patches of snow, hollow blue.

She wanted to say that this cottage was smaller than the one they had lived in, in Ostrobothnia. It was lopsided and the land unkempt. Here was no sea, no other people. They shouldn’t have left. Things hadn’t been that bad.

Hadn’t they always managed? But the wrinkle between her mother’s eyes was deeper than usual. As though she might want to say those things, too, and so Frederika had said nothing.

‘But how far is it?

Wolf Winter – Cecilia Ekbäck

Frederika looked at the blonde child in the hand-me-down dress that billowed around her like a sheet on a clothes-line in wind. Dorotea was still little. Frederika was fourteen, Dorotea only six. Dorotea stumbled on the trailing hem.

‘Lift your feet when you walk and hurry,’ Frederika said.

‘But I am tired,’ Dorotea said. ‘I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired.’

It was going to be an awful, awful day.

They climbed higher, and the forest below them turned into a sea of deep greens and stark blues that rolled and fell until the end of the world.

Frederika thought of grey lakes; of a watery sky. She thought of flat earth with sparse growth that didn’t demand much and missed Ostrobothnia so badly that her chest twisted.

The path narrowed and dipped, with many loose stones. To the left, the mountain plunged all the way into the valley far beneath.

‘Walk after me,’ she said to Dorotea. ‘Watch where you put your feet.’

Along the base of the rock, star-shaped purple saxifrage peeked through the stones. There was a small mound of brown pellets sweating in the sunshine, spilling; a deer of some sort. Above them, growing straight out of the stone, was a small, twisted birch.

The path veered right. Frederika hadn’t seen this when they came, but here the side of the mountain had burst. There was a fracture cutting deep into the rock. Lynx lived in crevices like this. Trolls also.

‘Hurry,’ she said to Dorotea and lengthened her steps.

There was a large boulder and another bend in the path. The trail broadened. They were back in the forest.

‘I stepped on something prickly.’ Her sister lifted her leg and pointed at the sole of her dusty foot.

Then Frederika sensed rather than saw it. The goats sensed it too. They hesitated and stared at her, bleating large question marks.

It was the smell, she thought. It was the same stench that lay over the yard when they slaughtered to have meat for winter. Earth, rot, faeces.

A fly buzzed into her ear and she hit at it. Further away, between tree trunks, there was light. The glade. She put her finger to her mouth. ‘Shhh,’ she whispered to Dorotea.

Watching where she put each foot among blueberry sprigs and moss, she walked towards the brightening. At the edge of the glade she stopped.` Tall grass sprouted in tufts. A bouquet of hawthorn butter- flies skipped and danced in the air like a handful of pale flowers thrown to the wind. At

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the further end of the glade was a large rock. The pine trees behind grew close into a wooden wall. There was a shape beside the boulder. Yes, something had died. A deer. Or perhaps a reindeer.

Dorotea took her hand and stepped close. Frederika looked around as their mother had taught them, scanned the evenness of tree trunks for a movement or a shape. In the forest there was plenty of bear and wolf.

Whatever had attacked could still be about, still be hungry after winter.

She concentrated. A woodpecker tapped. The sun burned on her scalp.

Dorotea’s hand was sticky, twitching in hers. Nothing else. She looked back towards the carcass.

It was blue.

She let go of her sister’s hand and stepped forward.

It was a dead man there in the glade.

He stared at Frederika with cloudy eyes. He lay bent. Broken. His stomach was torn open, his insides on the grass violently red, stringy. Flies strutted on the gleaming surfaces. One flew into the black hole that was his mouth.

Dorotea screamed and at once it was upon her: the stench, the flies, the man’s gaping mouth.

O Jesus, please help, she thought.

They had to get their mother. Jesus – the goats. They couldn’t leave the goats.

She grabbed her sister’s shoulders and turned her around. Dorotea’s eyes were round, her mouth wide open, strings of saliva that became a bubble, then popped. She lost her breath and her mouth gawped in silence.

‘Dorotea,’ Frederika said. ‘We must fetch Mother.’

Dorotea wrapped her arms around her, clambered up her like a cat up a tree, clawing. Frederika tried to loosen her arms. ‘Shhh.’

The forest was quiet. There was no rustling; no tapping, murmuring, or chirping. No movement, either. The forest held its breath.

Her sister bent her knees as if to sit down. Frederika grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet. ‘Run,’ she hissed. Dorotea didn’t move. ‘Run! ’ Frederika yelled, and raised her hand as if to hit her.

Dorotea gasped and set off down the trail. Frederika spread her arms wide and ran towards the goats.

They flew through the forest, hooves and bare feet drumming against the ground.

We have copies to give away FREE. See page 50 to claim yours.

Official pub date is Nov 5th but we hope to supply copies ahead of that date so you can help create the buzz for this title.

READING GROUPS

Daytime TV + books = bestseller!

How one author – Victoria Hislop – has benefited from a modern day phenomenon

The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop is published by Headline Review as a £7.99 PB.

58

If there’s one event in the world of books that distinguishes the last 15 years from those of the previous century, then Richard & Judy’s Book Club has to be a prime candidate. The immediate success of exposure of the featured books on their show shouldn’t really have been a surprise.

After all, The Oprah Winfrey Show on American TV had been making bestsellers of the books it featured since 1996.

But it wasn’t until 2004 that UK publishers could be persuaded - by one Alastair Giles – that a daytime television show could feature books successfully. Perhaps it was Bob Geldof ’s passionate advocacy for Joseph O’Connor’s Star of the Sea that put the match to a bonfire just waiting to catch.

Eleven years later – and counting - many is the author who has praised the Lord for a visitation by these latter day saints.

One such was Victoria Hislop whose debut The Island was not only listed for the R&J 2006 Summer Read but went on to win and so a stellar career was born. It had all the components a summer bestseller might be expected to have: a multi-generational tale of war, illicit love, violence and . . . leprosy.

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In an industry where ‘me too’ publishing is rife, few have copied this latter ingredient – and perhaps wisely, too.

However, Ms Hislop experienced no long term harm from association with this disease. Far from it, her subsequent titles – The Return, The Thread, The Last Dance & Other Stories and, most recently, The Sunrise have all occupied the top ten bestseller lists. Indeed, we would like to think we played our part, featuring The Return as one of our Recommended Reads in nb50 in March 2009.

So, ten years on from her visit to Spinalonga’s abandoned Greek leprosy colony, not only is the book published in 30 languages but has been a 26 part Greek TV series and Victoria is an ambassador for Lepra, the organisation which works internationally to prevent the disease. And to celebrate the book’s success and 10th anniversary – should you have missed it first time round - £30 will get you a limited edition hardback copy, complete with new essay

by Victoria on the impact The Island has had.

victoriahislop.com

Because everything changes when we read.

The Reading Agency is a charity whose mission is to inspire more people to read more, encourage them to share their enjoyment of reading and celebrate the difference that reading makes to all our lives. They run Reading Groups for Everyone, and have over 4,000 groups registered on the site. Below, one of their groups, The Gloucestershire Lit Lovers and Yummy Scrummy Pudding Club, talks about their most recent meeting: “After shadowing this year’s Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, our July meeting at Sally’s house was a different affair. Sally gave us cheese – not just any cheese, but posh Waitrose cheese and yummy scrummy deli bread and biscuits. Did I mention the pickles?

We chose to read You Had Me at Hello by Mhairi McFarlane.

Not a book likely to make the Baileys Prize shortlist, but some light relief for the long and sunny days ahead. The book was as much of a hit as the cheese!

We all liked the book, and that’s

pretty unusual. It is not often we all like the main characters of a book, often one or two of the Lit Lovers simply can’t get on with their flaws and complexities, but not this time; we all liked Rachel, Ben and friends – they reminded us of Bridget Jones’ gang of loyal, honest and funny mates. There were laugh out loud moments, and bits of the book that made us smile or made us sad. There isn’t a review on Reading Groups for Everyone yet, so we agreed we would do one.

certainly recommend her for a summer beach read or a winter ‘escape the cold’ read. It wasn’t controversial or challenging, but we liked it.

While it was a classic chick-lit novel, it was also intelligent and funny, and we could see Mhairi has a talent for comedy. We

Reading Groups for Everyone is full of

It was nice to set off on our summer breaks without feeling a little frustrated that our friends didn’t like a book we loved, or visa-versa. September’s book will be The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey. Will there be more agreement?

Watch this space…

reading ideas and exclusive publisher promotions. Register your group now at readinggroups.org/signup.

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AUTHOR MEETS REVIEWER

AUTHOR MEETS REVIEWER

Black-Eyed Susans – a sweet sounding title for a haunting book Author Julia Heaberlin liked Mike Stafford’s review – see p97 and nudge – so much that we suggested they be our latest AUTHOR MEETS REVIEWER and here’s what happened. allows me to jump into dark places knowing that I won't ever be sucked in permanently. I also refuse to spend much time with characters I don't like or who aren't interesting or redeemable in some way. And when the book inevitably did bring me down at times, I added something that amused me. So if you (hopefully) find a funny place in the book, it was there to cheer me up (along with the reader). I think a few light threads are very important in a dark thriller.

Mike Stafford: Black-Eyed Susans is a tense, haunting book to read. Emotionally, how did you find the experience of writing it?

Julia Heaberlin: I have a happy, lucky life here in sunny Texas: a great husband and a smart, kind son; goofy, encouraging friends; sweet relatives; supportive 85-year-old parents; and a good dog. When necessary, a movie in a cold, inky theater or a long baseball game on a hot day can pull me out of any funk. is support system 60

MS: You include a lot of fascinating real world information.

Was there anything else you'd like to have included but couldn't squeeze in?

JH: So much, so much, so much. is book more than any of the others combines my journalism experience with fiction writing. I consulted a number of experts and was constantly editing out information to keep the voice and pace of the book on track. I could have written at least four pages on how DNA solved the case of Princess Anastasia (escaped or dead?);

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another 30 on the mind-blowing science of using isotope analysis in identifying old bones (basically, the memory of where we lived is stored inside us); and chapters on the culture and future of the death penalty in Texas (are we at a tipping point?). My editor, Kate Miciak at Ballantine, used her de, brilliant finger in streamlining toward the end. ere were a lot of themes going.

MS: e character of Lydia is absolutely fascinating, with a striking arc over the course of the book. Did you always plan to take her character in the direction it goes in, or did she take the lead herself ?

JH: Let me say this about Lydia: I would have wanted her as a childhood friend. Eccentric, smart, overprotective, obsessive, highly entertaining. I bonded with her morbid side as I, too, wrote an English paper on Jack the Ripper replete with gory photographs. Lydia definitely evolved by herself, like all of my characters do, although there were a few tug-of-wars along the way.

MS: e book has seen you compared to Gillian Flynn, among others. How do you feel about such comparisons?

JH: I think, ‘Poor Gillian Flynn.’ Because everybody is now the next Gillian Flynn, right? It is very, very gratifying, of course! Like Flynn, I do like to weave in deeper themes beyond the mystery itself and to write a dark, character-driven thriller you hopefully won't figure out. But there will only be one Gone Girl like there is only one Strangers on a Train (Highsmith, a genius) and only one Rebecca. Gone Girl is a classic, a phenomenon, brilliantly executed. All that said, Gillian Flynn and I have, at one time in our lives, likely chanted the words, "Rock, chalk, Jayhawk" (a requisite of both being alums of University of Kansas).

MS: You're against the death penalty, and the book makes a persuasive argument against it.

Did you set out to change readers' opinions on the subject?

JH: I did not have that as a goal. I did not want to preach about anything. I only knew I did not want a standard over-

dramatic Hollywood ending and I wanted what I wrote to be authentic. I have not believed in the death penalty since I was a kid (the product of a mother who still carries spiders out of the house on a newspaper and lays them gently in the grass). I live in the red state of Texas, with the busiest execution factory in the United States, and I can tell you that arguing a hot button point is not an effective way to get anyone to change his or her mind. My goal was to tell the story as honestly and factually as I could and hope people would think about it. I believe thrillers are a terrific way to get people paying attention to bigger issues (look at Gillian Flynn on the insidious nature of marriage; Dan Brown on overpopulation).

To that end, I interviewed David Dow, a legendary death penalty attorney, and Anthony Graves, an innocent man (now free) who sat in prison for 18 years, 12 on Death Row, wrongly convicted of helping slaughter a family of six. I handcounted the list of the men on Texas Death Row and was horrified by their crimes because even death penalty attorneys will say most of them are guilty.

I stood outside the Texas Death House during an execution, in the middle of a quaint town, and observed the banality of the whole thing for myself. At the same time, I had to unexpectedly wrestle with my beliefs and my character Tessa's emotions,

i.e., how would I really feel about the death penalty if my own life had been ripped apart by random evil? Would I seek revenge? e answer to that is, who knows? But I can say for sure, with everything I know now, my revenge would not be by putting someone on Death Row. MS: Can you tell us anything about what you're working on now?

JH: I'm describing it as a creepy Texas road trip. e spotlight is focused on two characters: a man long suspected of being a serial killer who claims to now have dementia, and a young woman who says she is his longlost daughter. ey set off across Texas to examine cold cases to discover the truth. And guess what? Neither is exactly who you think.

Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin is published by Michael Joseph as a £12.99 hbk and is available now.

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ded en

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his story started with a dead guy.

A man with weird markings on his face showed up in my head.

He had long, dark hair and was wearing clothing from another time.

Who are you? I asked him.

What do you want?

something wasn’t quite right. I sensed that her porcelain coolness was only a veneer, and that underneath it, a fierce intelligence burned. In her gray eyes, I glimpsed a restless longing.

As my characters do, Jo made me work to get to know her. As she labored to uncover the dead man’s story, I labored to uncover hers.

I learned that she’d been born into an old and distinguished New York family and that she led a life of privilege. Jo was fortunate in many ways, but she didn’t have the one thing she

determine whether she was of good character—all for the “crime” of being an unaccompanied female walking alone in the city at night.

I met Consuelo Vanderbilt, a teenage heiress, forced to marry the Duke of Marlborough, a man she didn’t love, to satisfy her domineering mother’s social ambitions.

I met scores of teenage girls for whom an education was only a dream—and the factory floor or scullery or sweatshop, a reality.

Edith eventually broke free.

Consuelo, too. I doubt poor

These Shallow Graves Jennifer Donnelly on why Jo Montfort’s story had to be told But he wouldn’t answer. Not right away. He just lay in his coffin with his hands folded over his chest, decay beginning to creep. He wouldn’t leave, either. And since he wasn’t going to explain himself, I needed someone who could.

That’s when other people started showing up: a teenaged reporter named Eddie, a thief lord called the Tailor; Oscar, a coroner’s assistant. And a girl.

Her name was Josephine Montfort.

Jo immediately intrigued me.

I could tell she was wealthy and educated from the way she dressed and spoke. And yet, 62

wanted the most: freedom.

So few young women of the 1890s did. Poor girls were expected to work, as early as possible. Wealthy ones were expected to marry, as well as possible. As I researched These Shallow Graves, I met many of these young women.

I met Edith Jones, brilliant and misunderstood, and watched her marry the wrong man and live the wrong life— until she found the right life and became Edith Wharton.

I met eighteen-year-old Lizzie Schauer, who was arrested, imprisoned, and subjected to medical examinations to

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Lizzie or the scullery girls ever did.

I so badly wanted Jo to. And thanks to the dead man, she finally did. He gave Jo her life, and by the end of the book, he gave me my answers, and my peace. He stopped haunting me and went on his way.

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly is published by Hot Key Books as a £14.99 hbk and is available on 27th October.

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Darkbriar Asylum for the Insane New York City November 29, 1890

“

Josephine Montfort stared at the newly mounded grave in front of her and at the wooden cross marking it.

“This is the one you’re after. Kinch,” Flynn, the gravedigger, said, pointing at the name painted on the cross. “He died on Tuesday.”

Tuesday, Jo thought. Four days ago. Time enough for the rot to start. And the stink.

“I’ll be wanting my money now,” Flynn said.

Jo put her lantern down. She fumbled notes out of her coat pocket and counted them into Flynn’s hand.

“You get caught out here, you never saw me. You hear, girl?” Jo nodded.

Flynn pocketed his money and walked off into the darkness.

Moonlight spilled over the rows of graves and the looming towers of the asylum. A wail rose on the night, high and piercing. And suddenly Jo’s courage failed her.

“Step aside, Jo. We’ll do it. Oscar and me,” Eddie said.

He was standing across from her, on the other side of the grave. He said nothing more as she met his gaze. He didn’t need to. The challenge in his eyes spoke volumes.

How did this happen? How did I get here? Jo asked herself. She didn’t want to do this. She wanted to be home. Safe inside her Gramercy Square town house. She wished she’d never met Eddie Gallagher. The Tailor. Madam Esther. Fairy Fay. Most of all, she wished she’d never laid eyes on the man buried below her.

“Wait by the vault. Go back,” Eddie said. Not unkindly.

Jo laughed. Go back? How? There was no going back. Not to her old life of drawing rooms and dances. Not to Miss Sparkwell’s School. Not to her friends, or to Bram. It had all gone too far.

“Jo . . .”

“You wait by the vault, Eddie,” Jo said crisply.

Eddie snorted. He tossed a shovel at her. Jo flinched as she caught it, then started to dig.

These Shallow Graves – Jennifer Donnelly

Miss Sparkwell’s School for Young Ladies Farmington, Connecticut September 17, 1890 ‘Trudy, be a dear and read these stories for me,” said Jo Montfort, laying out articles for her school’s newspaper on a tea table. “I can’t abide errors.”

Gertrude Van Eyck, all blond curls and dimples, stopped dead in the middle of the common room. “How did you know it was me? You didn’t even look up!”

“Duke told me,” Jo replied. Duke’s Cameos were Trudy’s favorite brand of cigarette.

Trudy sniffed her sleeve. “Do I smell?”

“You positively reek. What does Gilbert Grosvenor think of you smoking cigarettes?”

“Gilbert Grosvenor doesn’t know. Not about the ciggies, or the bottle of gin under my bed, or that utterly swell boy who delivers apples,” Trudy said, winking.

“Slang does not become a Farmington girl, Gertrude,” sniffed Libba Newland, seated nearby with her friend, May Delano.

“Neither does that fringe, Lib,” said Trudy, eyeing Libba’s badly curled bangs.

“Well, I never!” Libba huffed.

“And I’m sure you never will,” Trudy said archly.

“Stop being awful and read these, Tru,” Jo scolded. “My deadline’s tomorrow.”

Trudy sat down at the table and helped herself to a jam tart from Jo’s plate. It was three o’clock—teatime at Miss Sparkwell’s—and the common room was crowded with students on break. Everyone was chatting and eating except Jo, who was busy finalizing the layout for the second edition of the Jonquil.

“What do we have this week?” Trudy asked. “The usual tripe?”

Jo sighed. “I’m afraid so,” she said. “There’s a piece on the proper way to brew tea, a poem about kittens, Miss Sparkwell’s impressions of the Louvre, and advice on how to fade freckles.”

“Ye gads. Anything else?”

Jo hesitated, working up her nerve. “As a matter of fact, yes. A story on the abuse of girl laborers at Fenton’s Textile Mill,” she said, handing one of the articles to her friend.

These Shallow Graves – Jennifer Donnelly

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“Ha! So funny, my darling!” Trudy said, smiling. Her smile faded as she read the first lines. “Oh dear God. You’re serious.”

Trudy kept reading, riveted, and Jo watched her, thrilled. Jo was a senior at Miss Sparkwell’s and had written for the Jonquil during her three previous years at the school, but this was the first important story she’d written. She’d worked hard to get it. She’d taken risks. Just like a real reporter.

“What do you think?” she asked eagerly when Trudy finished reading.

“I think you’ve lost your mind,” Trudy replied.

“But do you think it’s good?” Jo pressed.

“Very.”

Jo, who’d been perched on the edge of her seat, shot forward and hugged Trudy, a huge grin on her face.

“But that’s entirely beside the point,” Trudy said sternly as Jo sat down again. “If you hand in the layout to Sparky with that story in it, you’re done for. Detention for a week and a letter home.”

“It’s not that bad. Nellie Bly’s pieces are far more provocative,” said Jo. “You’re comparing yourself to Nellie Bly?” Trudy asked, incredulous.

“Need I remind you that she’s a scandalous lady reporter who meddles in other people’s business and has no hope of marrying a decent man? You, in contrast, are a Montfort, and Montforts marry.

Early and well. And that is all.”

“Well, this Montfort’s going to do a bit more,” Jo declared. “Like write stories for newspapers.”

Guy Pringle nominated These Shallow Graves as One to Watch Out For: “Aged 17 [Josephine Montfort] is already destined to marry the rich heir of another society family – of lesser standing and keen to add to their ‘bloodline’ by association with the Montforts. So how convenient that a mystery comes along, albeit tainted with personal trauma. Her father accidentally shoots himself in his own study while cleaning a hand gun.

Of course he didn’t. It was suicide, obviously. No it wasn’t – it was murder.

And we’re off and running with handsome Eddie Gallagher who Ladbrokes won’t give you odds on when it comes to Jo’s marriage prospects.

I read, well start, loads of books and it’s rare that I’m gripped like this.

Highly recommended.”

You will find his full review on on nudge.

We have copies to give away FREE. See page 50 to claim yours.

Top class historical fiction from north of the Border As the nights start to draw in Polygon, the literary fiction arm of Scotland’s leading independent publisher Birlinn, has three big historical fiction titles on the way.

The Magpie & the Wardrobe: A Curiosity of Folklore, Magic and Spells.

E

nter the spellbinding world of The Magpie & the Wardrobe...

This truly unique book is a treasury of marvels and oddities, a lovingly curated compendium of time-honoured traditions and peculiar customs that have bewitched us for generations.

This eclectic book takes the reader on a path of discovery through the celebrations, superstitions and folklore that shape our year – presenting simple magic, heirloom recipes and forgotten fairy tales from throughout the seasons. From cherished and familiar traditions like Valentine’s Day to the lost excitement of May Day Eve, The Magpie & the Wardrobe reveals a calendar bursting with history and curious facts.

Penelope’s Web is the new novel from highly acclaimed author and dramatist Christopher Rush. Odysseus returns to Ithaca after twenty years at war and discovers that sometimes soldiers can find the return from battle harder than the fighting itself, and that peace can be more hellish than any conflict. This absorbing novel examines the effects of war through the eyes of the people left behind.

Penelope’s Web by Christopher Rush is available now as a £14.99 hbk.

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Lavishly illustrated with an extraordinary collection of ephemera and embellished with trinkets and charms, this sumptuous volume will appeal to the creative and curious – encouraging you to rediscover the magic we conjure every day and including nostalgia projects and recipes such as how to make a candle wish, mix a moon oil elixir, make delicious chocolate truffles and hang your romantic hopes on the predictions of an apple peel. The Magpie & The Wardrobe presents a charming and imaginative insight into folklore, festivals, magic, superstitions, traditions and homespun treasures, aiming to delight and inspire any inquisitive reader.

Medieval investigator Hew Cullan is back in Shirley McKay’s fourth novel, Queen and Country. Hew returns to Scotland following the death of Mary Queen of Scots with a new bride in tow. The marriage is controversial and to get the King’s blessing he asks Hew to discover the meaning behind a mysterious painting. This series, set in and around St Andrews, is ideal for fans of CJ Sansom and Hilary Mantel.

Dacre’s War is a vivid and fastmoving tale of personal and political vengeance which goes right to the heart of the power struggle tearing England and Scotland apart during the time of Flodden. Ten years have passed since the battle and the Borders are in turmoil. Adam Crozier, head of his clan and of an increasingly powerful alliance of Borderers, learns for sure that it was Lord Thomas Dacre who ordered his father’s murder and determines to take his revenge.

Queen & Country by Shirley McKay is

Dacre’s War by Rosemary Goring is

The Magpie & the Wardrobe: A Curiosity of Folklore, Magic and Spells by Sam McKechnie & Alexandrine Portelli is

available now as a £12.99 pbk.

available now as a £14.99 hbk.

published by Pavilion as a £20.00 hbk and is available on 15th October.

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67

B E S T. . . T R A V E L B O O K S

B E S T. . . T R A V E L B O O K S

The Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year shortlist The announcement of the winner on Sept 28th comes too late for this issue but here’s what your reviewers thought of the shortlist THE LAND WHERE LEMONS GROW Helena Attlee Penguin Books

I heard an extract of this book on Radio 4 and was enthralled. How an author could build a history of Italy around lemons intrigued me and, to be honest, I was sceptical.

The author not only manages to achieve this but exceeds all expectations. The book draws you in and you can smell the lemons, taste the food and see the views.

What a fabulous way to learn about a country.

The book both entertained and informed, a formidable combination.

This is very clever writing by a very knowledgeable writer.

I could feel the sun’s rays as I read and wanted to be there to experience what I was reading about, which, I guess is what travel writing is all about.

Dorothy Flaxman, Bude Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.............................★★

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DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS Horatio Clare

It is a fascinating book to read as Clare gets to the heart of the shipping industry and the people that run these ships. [He] manages to convey well the feelings and the pressure that the crews feel, as well as recounting some of the stories from other ships some of which are terrifying.

Did drag a bit at times, but otherwise worth reading.

Paul Cheney Personal read ................★★★★

Vintage

If you take a look around you at some of the things that you own, almost all of them have arrived in the country in a box. A container box that is. These containers are shipped in their millions back and forth across oceans and round the world every year.

Clare was invited to be the writer on board for the Maersk Group, to see how these veins of the capitalist world work and operate. He joins the first ship at Felixstowe, the UK largest port, on its journey from there to Los Angles via Suez and Hong Kong. On the ship he is allowed free access anywhere, and to meet and speak with the crew and officers with the aim of finding out just what makes these vast vessels tick.

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ALSO REVIEWED ON NUDGE BY DEBBIE MIKA

have never quite got round to it. However, I feel I now have a flavour of the style, having read this book which follows in the footsteps of PLF across Europe to Istanbul in 1933. Hunt includes quotes from PLF’s writings at apposite moments, though the book overall is very much in his own style.

What stands out is the contrast over the intervening decades: whereas PLF moved from one aristocratic host to another, Hunt “couch surfs”, courtesy of the internet, and the former’s grand houses are often now ruined or used as lunatic asylums.

Despite all this, much is familiar to Hunt from PLF’s books: the kindness of strangers and the malevolence of dogs, as well as the deepseated prejudices of one ethnic group towards another. Despite the odd clunky passage, the writing is deliciously lyrical, and is a very enjoyable read.

WALKING THE WOODS AND THE WATER Nick Hunt

Vivienne Jarvis, Andover Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

Nicholas Brealey

ALSO REVIEWED ON NUDGE BY PAUL CHENEY

I have promised myself time and again that I will read one of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s travel books, but

RISING GROUND Philip Marsden Granta Books

A JOURNEY INTO RUSSIA Jens Mühling bookHaus Armchair Traveller

I am afraid that I am not going to be able to do justice to this wonderful book . . . it is packed full of interesting details and needs thoughtful, slow reading . . . while it is a journey round Cornwall looking at how the landscape is linked to the history, myth and legends, it is also a wider exploration of why some places bring out deep feelings and emotions in us.

The depth of research is stunning [and] the author [presents it] in such a readable and accessible way.

Then there are the people Philip Marsden meets – some chance encounters, some arranged meetings with experts – but all giving new insights and perceptions. It is also a very personal book in that we hear about the renovation of the farmhouse where he lives and feel we are actually walking with him.

It’s a complex, entertaining, enlightening book. A must read for anyone interested in the history and culture of Cornwall but also a delight for anyone who feels a “spirit of place”.

Berwyn Peet, Carmarthenshire Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

Jens Mühling, a German journalist, participates in a Moscow drinking session, consuming a terrible sounding brand of vodka, Three Old Men. The session inevitably ends in drunken philosophising about the nature of the Russian character. One of his Russian friends claims that “The inscrutable Russian soul does not exist.”

This proves to be less the case than the next sweeping statement that Russia is “a country where the real stories are more incredible than the invented ones”.

This becomes both Mühling’s challenge and conclusion.

He journeys through the history and geography of 21st and 20th century Russia; the 1917 revolution, Ektarinburg and the death of the Tsar and his family, Moscow and Rasputin, Kiev and Chernobyl, the Trans Siberian Railway. Mühling meets a myriad of characters including an embittered and unrepentant KGB officer, a renegade priest, another who believes Stalin must be canonised, a cult leader who has written another testament and, of course, the requisite duplicitous drunks

happy to drink rubbing alcohol better suited to a two stroke engine.

Any book would struggle to cover Russia in a digestible form but A Journey into Russia is a brilliant introduction to the subject.

It contains all the requisites of a good adventure story – discomfort, jeopardy and ultimately success. Mühling describes his travails, travels and the people he meets with acute observation and good humour. He allows the intrepid reader to enjoy everything about Russia that he endured.

Amelia Ashton, Winchester Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

INDONESIA ETC.: EXPLORING THE IMPROBABLE NATION Elizabeth Pisani Vintage

This book is a wonderful journey across the varied islands of Indonesia.

Elizabeth Pisani has visited the islands on a number of occasions and embarked on this illuminating travelogue in 2011. I believe that I am not alone in being less than knowledgeable about Indonesia with its vast size and great diversity, so this book was interesting and

educational.

The book is easy to read and has many intriguing, charismatic "characters" that Pisani captures on her 13,000 mile travels. As well as outlining a dynamic nation, the descriptions allow us to experience the variety of sights and sounds that change from island to island.

The book begins with a short history of Indonesia and its numerous invaders up until it eventually gained independence from the Dutch. Pisani describes the people and their local customs with a gentleness that allows us to appreciate their very different circumstances. The government system is especially mentioned as it varies dependent upon the community. However Pisani is not shy in mentioning the corruption which appears to be accepted.

Poverty on one island is counterbalanced by wealth on another island. Even in the communities that have little, great kindness and generosity are exhibited and Pisani is offered hospitality on many occasions, which in turn gives us a clear picture of how these villages interact.

The book is a real find and has made me aware of this fascinating country, its people and its customs. A very worthwhile read.

Linda Ryley

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Qui rk y Q+A QU IR KY

Anthony J. Quinn, author of Blind Arrows spills the beans. sense, travelling through tunnels is a bit like writing. I'd rather have a circle of darkness hovering ahead of me than a clearly mapped out plot. The deeper and denser the darkness the better. When Lewis Carroll dropped Alice down a hole, it was in the knowledge that tunnels are perfect places for vanishing acts from reality.

TUNNELS OR BRIDGES? Both high bridges and deep tunnels bring out the sweats in me as a car driver, so I'm glad I live along the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It's a landscape of introverted little lanes with very few bridges or tunnels, and lots of shadowy corners and skulking places for hesitant drivers. I'd choose tunnels over bridges because the most exciting journeys are always leaps into the dark. In that 70

QUI R KY

Q&A

a blue sky or a blue room. Black is not a colour to be gazed at for long. It presses too hard upon the mind, but blind darkness is much less oppressive than the blind whiteness of an empty page.

RELIGION OR POLITICS? Middle. What a choice for someone who grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles! One or the other, but definitely not the two combined. It's hard to think of a more toxic or intoxicating pairing. Like mixing poisons or alcoholic drinks. I've witnessed how religion can be used as a political rallying force, and as a BLACK OR BLUE? form of repression, but I would For the same reason that I prestill opt for religion over polifer tunnels to bridges, I'd choose tics. Not the shouty, outraged form professed by zealous moral black over blue. Black because guardians, but a deeper spirituit's terra incognito, mysteriality, one that has a strong ous, a realm for the connection with nature. I love imagination. However, blue is visiting old churches, holy wells also a wonderful colour for and trees, and ancient pilgrimartistic inspiration. Its brightage sites on mountains and in ness is beneficent - think of gazing at the light of a blue sea, lonely glens, which hold a

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residual magic and are free from the stranglehold of motorways and creeping towns. Places where the subconscious can still rise up from the depths. I count myself lucky to live on the edge of one such wild glen that has a well and rock where Catholic mass was said during Penal times.

RURAL HIDEAWAY OR CITY? I have a weakness for rural hideaways with no internet connection because I like being out of touch. Let's face it, a hideaway with broadband coverage is not really a hideaway any more. This notion of everyone and everything having to be accessible all the time fills me with horror. I liked the old world before social media, when one might bump into an old friend and spend an hour or so catching up properly. The internet has taken the freshness and mystery out of social encounters. Facebook and Twitter are particularly dangerous for someone trying to tap out a book on a computer keyboard.

Dickens and Shakespeare accomplished so much because they didn't have hundreds of friends and followers waving from their inkwells. I prefer hideaways to cities because writers should be prepared to vanish from time to time, like Agatha Christie, or at least quietly remove themselves from view. My perfect hideaway would be one

of the dens or treehouses in which I spent my childhood and an embarrassingly large part of my adolescence. Hiding in a wild hedge, reading a book, rocked and lulled to sleep by a swaying tree - as a teenager I thought I had perfected the art of vanishing.

Q &A

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TEA OR COFFEE Tea while I'm working and coffee while I'm on holiday. I find it easier to enjoy the mood-enhancing jolt of caffeine when I have nothing to do but admire the scenery, but when I'm writing, especially early in the morning, I drink lots of tea, gallons of it, sometimes rivers, in fact. Green tea and dark chocolate is one of life's perfect combinations.

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And in the middle of the month we focus on upcoming festivals & events around the country plus other bookish news.

Sign up at: Blind Arrows by Anthony J. Quinn is published by No Exit Press as a £8.99 pbk, available now.

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n the facing page are the books already nominated for our growing collection.

These are books that we feel truly merit a place on your bookshelves. You will find full reviews individually on nudge by searching for title or author but if you use BB21C as your search it will present them all together for your delectation.

Better still, we now add the latest clutch.

O

The Thing About December Donal Ryan the locals seem eager to help him, and even appear to befriend him, but Ryan skilfully conveys a feeling of mounting dread as the reader begins to understand what is going on behind the scenes as the pressure is put on Johnsey to sell.

This is a heartrending and moving story. The descriptions of Johnsey’s loneliness and bewilderment, those of a young man ill-equipped to survive without

The Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far!)

Although we are only fifteen years into the new century we thought it was a good time to take stock.

The Thing About December uses a more traditional thirdperson linear narrative to tell the story of Johnsey Cunliffe, than in Ryan’s highly acclaimed previous novel The Spinning Heart. In 12 chapters that cover one year of his life, Johnsey is not quite as other people and finds it hard to find his place in the world, especially the world of a small Irish community.

Regularly bullied, without friends, struggling to make sense of the world around him, he is particularly vulnerable when his parents die and he is 73

left completely alone.

The novel is set during the days of the Celtic Tiger and the boom in property prices.

Johnsey owns land, land that has now become extremely valuable and it seems that everyone around him wants to take advantage of his innocence and force him to sell the land that he so dearly wants to hold on to, for it is all that he has left of the happier times when he was safe at home with his loving parents. He simply doesn’t understand why he should be willing to give it up. Some of

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guidance and vulnerable to the avariciousness and greed that surround him, the book is a fable of how the innocent suffer when the profit motive is given free reign.

This is an unsettling and deeply moving book, beautifully written and expertly plotted, and one that deserves a wide readership.

Mandy Jenkinson, Cheltenham The Thing About December by Donal Ryan. 2014.

Also by Donal Ryan. The Spinning Heart, Black Swan. 2013

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By the nature of her cases many of them are controversial especially when she must make a decision with haste in line with the Children Act, but not necessarily in agreement with parents and family involved.

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chose the wrong moment as so absorbed in her work was Fiona it barely registered with her that she was alone.

Losing herself in Adam’s situation next morning finds in her chambers, smart and

Credit: (c) Geraint Lewis/ Writers Pics

A case could be The Children Act made for several Ian McEwan if Ian McEwan’s novels of this When a court determines any century to be We meet Fiona as she is question with respect to….the contacted about a teenage boy, upbringing of a child…the child’s included in our Adam, suffering from welfare shall be the court’s collection. leukaemia whose only chance paramount consideration. of a cure rests on him accepting Section 1(a), the Children Act And who knows, (1989) donated blood. As a staunch Jehovah’s witness Adam and his others may yet family refuse to allow the What elevates a book to be nominated. hospital to go ahead with the become a ‘Best Book of the Century’? For me it must linger transfusion. Fiona has the After all, this power to override their in the mind long after I have writer has been read it. It should have an religious beliefs and allow the medical staff to proceed even if immediacy about it with a consistently it means holding Adam down gripping story that arouses a to receive the blood. variety of emotions and providing Relaxing at home, absorbed in characters who, like them or thoughtcase notes, Fiona is aware that not, are realistic. If the story is Jack, her husband is lingering controversial leading me to provoking nearby anxious to speak to her. consider what I would have reading since His words shock her as he done in similar situations then bemoans the lack of intimacy of that is a bonus.

The Children First Love, Last late in their marriage, claiming Act fulfils all of these criteria Rites in 1975. they live like siblings rather one hundred fold. than lovers. In vain he attempts Fiona Maye, a duty judge However, here to discuss the situation specialising in Family Law can asserting that he has the right be called in emergencies where Sheila A. Grant to expect intimacy. When quick decisions must be made. makes her case Her long standing marriage has Fiona, stunned, is not prepared to at least attempt to mend the been passionate but childless, for his most for which she blames her career situation Jack leaves intent on recent work... having an affair. Perhaps Jack as ‘she never got around to it’.

Published by Vintage. 2002

professional as ever dealing with broken families but unable to fix her own.

Always cool and with an invisible emotional shield, now at the age of 59 Fiona finds herself less detached from cases that involve the life or death of a minor. The case involving Siamese twins where she chose to go against parental wishes and allow the hospital to operate, saving one twin at the expense of the other, is weighing heavily on her, disturbing her sleep.

Uncharacteristically Fiona visits Adam to ascertain that although he is three months short of his eighteenth birthday he has the maturity to make his own decision regarding accepting or refusing the blood transfusion. She is immediately taken by this ‘lovely boy,’ and he intrigues her. An emotional bond between this older woman and a vulnerable lad is

created. A situation that is not ideal and bodes ill for both of them.

Fiona rules that the hospital must proceed with the transfusion. Adam recovers well and he and Fiona remain in touch.

The first part of the book has a hint of journalism and readers will recognise some of the actual cases that took place. The writer does not make judgement on the law or religious adherence but does highlight the dichotomy, leaving the reader to decide what they would consider the correct route to go down. If only it was so easy. As a parent and a grandparent I was totally absorbed in this very moving book and greatly affected by the ending. It is fairly short but intense and would I imagine create lively discussion at a readers’ group.

Sheila A. Grant, Kilmarnock

Published by Vintage. 2005

Published by Vintage. 2008 Recommended Read in nb43, January 2008

Published by Vintage. 2013

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Book of Human Skin Michelle Lovric

Mark Haddon Christopher comes across his neighbour’s dog who has been murdered and decides to solve the mystery of who did it.

Published by Vintage. 2004 Through the course of finding out he also discovers more Or what life with Asperger about himself and his family syndrome can teach all of us. than he expected.

Learning difficulties were a The way in which Haddon relatively new idea when I went opens up a dialogue about the to school. They used to be a issues individuals face with black mark against your name such diagnosis is thoughtful. to have them. However, now Christopher suffers from panic Special Educational Needs and attacks. Panic attacks are a fight Disabilities (SEND) is an or flight response suffered in integral part of all schools in the wrong place. An example of the UK. The Curious Incident a wrong thing that causes panic looks at learning difficulties and attacks is stress and in the book how they can affect those that this happens when Christopher live with them. finds out his Mum is still alive.

Mark Haddon’s book is told Individuals can also suffer from from the first person such attacks in the right place, perspective of Christopher, a 15 for example Christopher talks year old with Asperger about having them when he is syndrome. Conventional novel hit by his classmates. form is broken to introduce a It is very valuable knowledge to series of smiley faces to show know how to deal with panic in that Christopher finds it hard yourself and others and to empathise with others.

Christopher impressively Asperger syndrome is a form of manages his own fear at the age autism that is not always easy to of 15. He goes to London to recognize. Individuals with the visit his mother finding himself condition can find social in an unknown situation. communication, interaction He manages to make his way and imagination difficult. through a busy train station 76

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and tube. By including images, timetables and other details Haddon shows some of the possible tactics that people use to overcome their fears of the unknown and achieve their dreams.

Christopher has dreams and aspirations as a teenager.

Despite the strains on his family that his diagnosis exacerbates, he manages to achieve some of them. Through this novel Haddon shows that one individual’s emotional limitations can be supported.

The book illustrates how one person’s weakness can allow another’s strengths to shine.

When Christopher tells his mother the lie his father had led him to believe she wants to hold his hand. Christopher does not like physical contact and so his Mum has to be content with drying him off after having a bath. Through this exploration on how to tackle life with Asperger syndrome Christopher and those around him grow stronger and more resilient.

And we as the reader learn to support each other.

Roseann Campbell

beleaguered sister has the unfortunate role of heroine and has to endure much because of this. Gianni, the valet, adds much humour with his Published by Bloomsbury. 2014 phonetic account, which will have you seeing familiar words in a completely different light.

At the centre of this audacious novel is Minguillo Fasan, one of Sister Loreta is a fanatic nun in the most malevolent characters a Peruvian monastery, who can in literary fiction. He is without give Minguillo a run for his money with her machinations. any redeeming features. He manipulates, plots and seeks to Last of all is Doctor Santo with an interest in skin conditions destroy others and yet, he is and Marcella. strangely attractive to us Set in Venice and Peru in the readers. He knows this. From early years of the nineteenth the start he points out the century, this is a book about question we should ask revenge and the lengths gone to ourselves as readers is “Do I ensure an inheritance.

It is also, wish to go on a long walk in the as implied by the title, a book dark with this person?” We all about skin.

Minguillo collects know the answer. Towards the books covered in it, end he taunts us, “Tell me that “anthropodermic bibliopegy” you did not love what I wrote”. I and sells “The Tears Of Santa absolutely did. Minguillo is a Rosa” to improve the quality of villain with a catchphrase, “This Venetian ladies’ skin (they is going to be a little believe it is made from nuns uncomfortable” and he’s not sobbings rather than lead). He wrong, but it’s a gleeful is a man with “flocculent skin” discomfort. There is much pleasure to be had amongst the who, he tells us, has “lived his skin to the limit.” Others have pain.

Fasan is one of five narrators in their skin disfigured by their the book who take turns to tell own actions or by the actions of others. The Doctor seeks to their tale; Marcella, his

cure skin complaints and in the background there is Napoleon, a man driven by his itchiness and other symptoms of his dermatological problems.

This book is delightfully gruesome, outrageous, very funny and heart-rending. The incorporation of history into the narrative is achieved seamlessly. It’s dark, edgy and cruel but the reader is driven on by the hope that the author will not leave us floundering in the dark for too long. There’s an escape sequence which has me on the edge of my seat every time I read it. The research is superb. In a detailed Historical Notes section at the back of the book Lovric separates facts from fiction for us. I was quite relieved there was so much factual basis and it wasn’t all the imagination of Michelle Lovric. I was getting anxious that one day I might meet her in a dark alley! This is an excellent book.

Phil Ramage

Personal read.................. ★★★★★ Group read....................... ★★★★★

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ICELAND

A Tale for the Time Being Published by Canongate. 2013

Would you pick up a book written by a Zen Buddhist priest that includes appendices on subjects like Quantum Mechanics? A Tale for the Time Being is such a book and, if you allow it, it will weave its magic and take you into a world of mystery, WW2 history, Japanese culture, Marcel Proust and Schrödinger’s cat.

The story appears simple, Ruth finds a bag washed up on the shore of Vancouver Island where she lives and takes it home. Inside she finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox containing a handwritten diary and some old letters. The novel unfolds in alternate chapters telling Ruth’s story alongside the diary of Nao, a Japanese teenager writing of her childhood in the US and her life now in Tokyo with her suicidal father and 78

bullying fellow pupils. Into this she threads the story of her 104 year old great grandmother, Jiko who lives as a nun in a Buddhist temple and endows Nao with a “Superpower”.

Ruth tries to research the family to authenticate the story she is reading and wonders if she should get in touch. The reader is gripped both by Nao’s story and Ruth’s predicament.

As she puzzles over how much of the diary entry is true, the reader has a similar dilemma, this is fiction and the author is named Ruth after all! We are reminded that Schrödinger’s cat can be either dead or alive.

At the end there are still questions and a few weaknesses in the plot but it remains thought provoking, stimulating and a book that needs to be discussed as, I suspect no two readers will reach the same conclusion. As Nao says “a time being is someone who lives in time and that means you and me.” Truly a tale for the 21st century.

Sarah Akhtar

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FINLAND

SWEDEN

Ruth Ozeki To date our nominated books have come from within the ranks of our many reviewers. However, we are keen to hear from any reader about a book that has entirely matched – or exceeded - your expectations of a fabulous read. If you can put your finger on how it was achieved or even if the author’s magic still holds you in its thrall then these are the books which belong in this collection. The only requirement is that it must have been first published in the UK on or after January 1st, 2000. Send your review to info@newbooksmag.com.

Some of this issue’s reviews have had to be edited for space but are now published in full on nudge – so your search for BB21C will present them all for you to pick and choose!

NORWAY

ESTONIA

RUSSIA

LATVIA LITHUANIA

GERMANY

POLAND

BELARUS

Around the World in 80 Books This map will need to change as Jade Craddock continues her literary journey but in this issue she completes her tour of the Nordic countries.

Around The World In 80 Books Jade Craddock is on the move again, pushing on through Scandinavia.

SWEDEN

T

he next leg of my world tour takes me from Finland to neighbouring Sweden. And despite the proximity of the two nations, in terms of literary translations, Sweden has forged ahead in recent years, so much so that it was the sixth most translated European language in English between 2000 and 2012.

For me it was Katarina Mazetti’s simply titled Benny and Shrimp that caught my attention. Although not as contemporary as some of the other titles on the list, first published in 1999 and later made into a film in Sweden in 2002, it wasn’t translated until 2010. And whilst some of the views did feel a bit outdated, this is as much to do with the persuasions of the two main characters, the eponymous Benny and Desiree aka Shrimp.

The novel is a quasi-love story but not as we know it. It is as the original title describes not a normal case of the boy next 80

door but rather the boy from the grave next door! Yes, naturally, this is a love story that begins in a cemetery (where else!). And in that fact lies the offbeat essence of this strange tragicomedy. And in the first few pages I was totally engaged, the humour was wry if a bit crazy, the characters compelling if a bit bizarre and the story edgy if a bit kooky. I was thinking arty film territory.

However, as the novel progressed, it all became a bit too much, with some very peculiar instances and a preoccupation with the physical relationship. The narrative too became extremely circular, as the characters move around in a seemingly endless loop of pushing away and pulling together, with little actually happening. There were glimmers of hope and some really interesting and compelling uses of language.

The ending seemed to be heading towards a rather unexpected poignancy until it was all undone in the final

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scene. There has been, I have discovered, a sequel, but as it’s yet to be translated, we are made to leave Benny and Shrimp very much in limbo, not exactly that different to how we found them. I much preferred Katarina Bivald’s The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend and would suggest that newcomers may prefer to start there, but if you want something a bit different, Benny and Shrimp may just deliver.

Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.........................★★★

Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti. Published by Short Books

NORWAY

F

rom a land that has brought us the Vikings, trolls, and Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream and has amongst its townships a little old place called Hell, Norway’s most famous literary offering – Nordic Noir – seems somewhat inevitable. But there’s more to Norway and Norwegian literature than Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole et al.

Naïve. Super is not normally something that I’d particularly read but one whose premise about a twenty-five-year-old having something of a quarterlife-crisis and heading to New York interested me and whose popularity preceded it.

Unfortunately on reading the novel, I soon discovered that this was one that was absolutely not for me. Navel-gazing and introspective, the narrative lacks any real direction or action. We watch as the unnamed narrator sits in his brother’s apartment whiling away his time, waiting on faxes, throwing a ball against a wall and knocking pegs into a plank with a hammer and really that’s it for the first half of the novel.

There are also some meanderings into physics and metaphysics as the narrator tries to get his head around matters of time and the universe but really these just felt unwieldy. It’s about halfway through that the prospect of an

adventure in New York finally emerges but by this point you realise that this isn’t going to be the adventure you expect. The narrator is too caught up in his own musings to really reflect on the world around him, let alone have an adventure. And indeed although he declares that New York has in fact had a positive effect on him, we are shown virtually nothing of this.

I hate to be so downbeat about a book, especially when I was hoping to find something noteworthy at each port of call, but really I found this book hard-going, self-indulgent, lethargic and too meditative.

And stylistically it was a bit unconventional too, with a very simplistic, almost childlike narration, dotted with lists and later pages of unnecessary internet searches.

What I can say is that the novel very much re-enacts the narrator’s ennui and introspectiveness, the tedium and futility of his life, but unfortunately I found nothing super about this one.

Personal read............................★ Group read.............................★★

Naïve. Super by Erlend Loe. Published by Canongate

YOUR PASSPORT TO FOREIGN LITERATURE AWAITS ...

Not only will you find extended versions of Jade’s reviews on nudge but she has been good enough to provide a comprehensive overview of recent or forthcoming English versions of each country’s literature.

For those wishing to venture beyond the usual we hope it will be fertile ground.

And if you read any of Jade’s choices, do send in your review – info@newbooksmag.com

You will find a full list of Jade’s 80 books (and a few spares, just in case) on nudge and see over the page for where she’s going next.

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DENMARK

A

mongst the most acclaimed of Danish writers is Helle Helle, so I was intrigued to read her first novel translated into English. Stylistically, Helle’s novel stands out. Written in sparse, simple prose, with short sentences and childlike clarity, it’s something of a fast, plain read, but this simplicity both enacts the narrator’s struggle to make something of her life – twenty-something Dorte is directionless and apathetic, drifting through her life – and belies the wider realities that are hinted at and alluded to.

Having said that, on the face of it, it is quite an easy novel to dismiss, very little happens and the style can become somewhat monotonous – but such is Dorte’s life and existence. Helle doesn’t make it particularly easy for the reader to really find a way in and get a foothold on the narrative. Is this really just about the day-to-day life of a young woman in its stark mundanity? At the most essential level, yes. But is it too about the struggles of youth?

The process and art of writing?

Both of these things, I would suggest, and more, but these are questions and answers that Helle keeps at a distance, hidden in the minimalist style.

Dramatic tension and climactic action are non-existent, but that’s not to say that there’s no 82

character development or narrative arc. As one of the characters in the novel – a writer – says, ‘Usually you can make do with a lot less… I’m always asking myself why does this have to be there, why does that have to be there? And if I can’t find a reason, it goes’. This seems to be very much the artistic philosophy of Helle herself, an author who cites amongst her literary heroes Samuel Beckett. Whilst some readers may find it all a bit stylised and vacuous – I’ll admit I was tempted to give up within the first fifty pages – other readers may be drawn in by the simplicity and what lies beneath. [Overall] for me it just doesn’t have that naturally engaging and inquisitive style that gets you on board. This is a novel that I think will very much divide readers but one too that would be an interesting choice for reading groups, if only to see what they make of it.

Personal read........................★★ Group read.............................★★

WHERE NEXT JADE?

Uzbekistan: The Railway

by Hamid Ismailov.

Published by Harvill Secker.

Azerbaijan: Ali and Nino by Kurban Said.

Published by Vintage.

Moldova: Either: The Good Life Elsewhere

by Vladimir Lorchenkov Published by New Vessel Press

directory The reviewers have their say

This Should Be Written in the Present Tense by Helle Helle.

Published in hbk by Harvill Secker

nb magazine & www.nudge-book.com

or Bessarabian Nights

by Stela-Brinzeanu Published by Arochs

For reasons of space some reviews have been edited but you will find them in full on nudge.

Tip: simply use dir86 as your search.

reviews

THE KINDNESS OF ENEMIES Leila Aboulela Weidenfeld & Nicolson

I was very pleased to receive this book for review as a few years ago I read and enjoyed an earlier novel by this author – Lyrics Alley [Ed: a Recommended Read in nb67, Nov 2011]. I was not disappointed.

The chapters alternate between a modern day story set mainly in Scotland and a period covering 1839 -1871 set in the Caucasus, Georgia and the Russian Tsarist court resulting in a multilayered novel.

The main character of the modern day story, Natasha, is researching the life of Imam Shamil, a warrior who is trying to defend the Caucasus from Russian invaders. When Natasha realises that one of her students is descended from Shamil this gives her research new interest and she becomes very concerned when he is arrested for suspected links with terrorism. The Russian part of the story involves Shamil’s struggle to regain his lost son who has been taken hostage by the Russians.

This leads to Shamil taking a Georgian princess hostage in an attempt to get his son returned The story is quite exciting and I found it difficult to

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reviews put down – in spite of it being 392 pages I read it in three days.

There is quite a connection between the world of the Muslim resistance fighters in the Caucasus in the mid nineteenth century with what is happening in various parts of the world today so there would be plenty for reading groups to discuss around the topic of terrorism – what exactly is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter?

Sue Smith, Worcester Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read .................★★★★★

THE TIGER IN THE SMOKE Margery Allingham Vintage

Five years after the end of World War II Meg Elginbrodde, a young war widow has recently become engaged. However, soon after the engagement is announced, she starts to receive photographs of a man who appears to be her “missing in action, believed killed” husband, Major Martin Elginbrodde. She is shocked and upset: is he really still alive or is someone playing a cruel trick on her; and, if so, why? In desperation she turns to Albert Campion, gentleman sleuth, and he calls in the services of Scotland Yard.

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Against the background of a London shrouded in a choking smog there is a strong sense throughout that every character is blundering about in the dark.

This is not a conventional “whodunnit” because the reader learns almost immediately who the serial killer is. However, mysteries abound and it gradually becomes evident this is a chain of events which started many years before.

When I read that Margery Allingham was a contemporary of Agatha Christie, my heart sank - I had very quickly given up on [my very first Christie] (apologies to any Christie fans reading this!).

Occasionally there were contemporary references which didn’t mean anything to me but I didn’t find that this took anything away from the basic story. The writing style is very mannered and now rather dated, but it certainly helped to conjure up an evocative picture of post war Britain.

Although I have not been left feeling that I would like to read more books in this series, I do think that this one offers lots of discussion/debating points for groups.

Linda Hepworth, Cumbria Personal read ....................★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

on nudge

Crime Fiction – A Very Short Introduction Richard Bradford OUP Ben Macnair

NO SAFE HOUSE Linwood Barclay Orion

The book begins with the murder of a married couple, then we meet Cynthia and her family. As the story continues we find Cynthia is indirectly linked to a series of events and there is no logical reason as to why. As we meet other characters the reasons become clear but not without several surprises along the way. Reading this book was like being on a rollercoaster . . . an excellent read, lots of twists and turns, I found myself reading into the small hours. I liked that the book spent time with each of the characters so you got to know a bit about each of them and how they linked. Some characters were likeable and a few others were not.

I didn’t know this was a ‘follow on’ but it can also be read on its own. This is my first Linwood Barclay and if this is anything to go by it will not be the last.

Recommended and for a reading group it would certainly liven up the discussion.

Suzanne Brett Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

THERE’S SOMETHING I’VE BEEN DYING TO TELL YOU Lynda Bellingham Coronet

This is Lynda Bellingham's second memoir written while battling terminal colon cancer. We’ve all seen her on TV in various drama series, or on the panel show Loose Women, or perhaps we remember her best as the 'Oxo Mum'. Here we really get to know Lynda best of all: the warm funny friend we all would love to have had in our lives.

Written between hospital visits and bouts of chemotherapy, Lynda talks us through her life. Two unhappy marriages. Two wonderful sons and stepson, and finally the love of her life 'Mr Spain' Michael Pattemore.

We learn of her life as an actress on stage and TV, the difficulties for women in the business. How four years on Loose Women made it difficult for her to be taken seriously as an actress.

Lynda bravely talks us through her cancer diagnosis and treatment. How much her friends and family mean to her, particularly her sons, stepson and loving husband Michael and her hopes for their future without her and her preparation for her death, and how happy and excited she was to receive an

OBE for her extensive and exhaustive charity work.

This is a witty, heartbreaking and funny book written by a very courageous, charming and down to earth lady. Her sheer energy and vibrancy will take you through the gamut of emotions: you will laugh and you will cry and you will be especially moved by the final chapter in this edition which is written by Lynda's soulmate, Michael Pattemore.

Written in the hope that it would help other people with cancer, what a truly unselfish act from a very generous and warmhearted soul.

Teresa O’Halloran, Galway Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read .................★★★★★

RIDLEY ROAD Jo Bloom W&N

Vivian Epstein is a 22 year old Manchester hairdresser.

She has been brought up by her father, following the death of her mother in childhood. When he, too, dies, Vivian decides to move to London partly to make a fresh start, but principally to track down Jack Fox, a man she was introduced to by her father and with whom she had an intense whirlwind romance a few months earlier. The book chronicles Vivian’s attempt to find him, to settle into London life

and the developing relationship between the couple.

The book is a love story, but is set apart from a conventional romance by its context. Vivian and Jack are Jewish; her father was heavily involved in the rising anti-fascist movement of the time and it is through this that he met Jack, a journalist.

The political details are wellresearched and used to develop an intriguing and well-paced tale that had me enthralled. The principal characters are not always what they seem and their motives and methods are sometimes questionable.

The brutality of the fascists was tackled head on, as were the moral dilemmas thrown up by the attempts of the Jewish groups to stand up to it and conquer it. The ambiguity and ambivalence was in contrast to the innocence of Vivian, although her character develops a strength and determination that was not apparent at the start of the book.

The Soho of the 1960’s, with its coffee and jazz bars and high fashion are evocatively detailed and the novel is very firmly rooted in its time.

There are occasionally ambiguous and individual motives but the many twists and turns made for a real page-turner and I found the book difficult to put down.

Ann Smout

on nudge

ORKNEY TWILIGHT Clare Carson Head of Zeus

Sam Coyle takes a short break to Orkney along with her undercover policeman father, Jim, and her trainee journalist friend, Tom. Jim is a bit of a mystery to his family, never discussing his early life or what his work entails and Sam decides to keep an eye on her father while they are away.

Secret meetings, cryptic messages and suspicious strangers are only a few of the mysterious and, at times, dangerous things that Sam encounters. Back in London, the story comes to a dramatic conclusion.

Orkney Twilight is an adult version of the adventure stories most of us read when we were children. At times, the story comes across as a little unrealistic and everyone Sam encounters seems to be up to no good or hiding a secret. It is difficult to keep track of who is the good guy and who is bad.

However, the references to Norse myths and the beautiful setting of Orkney and its magical ancient sites made this book an entertaining and lively read.

Christine Rolls, Bury St. Edmunds

Watch the Lady Elizabeth Fremantle Michael Joseph Susannah Perkins 2★

Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.........................★★★

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reviews 2O15

THE GREEN ROAD Anne Enright Jonathan Cape

We’re in familiar territory with Enright’s latest novel – family tensions, squabbling, misunderstandings, conflicts and loss – and for me it was her most enjoyable novel to date. I don’t usually like her work, finding it too obsessed with sex and over-the-top emotion, but here she seems to approach her characters with more empathy and insight than usual.

The story centres around Rosaleen Madigan, matriarch and difficult mother par excellence. Her four children gather for one last Christmas in the family home before Rosaleen threatens to sell it. Each child has forged their own individual path in life, and Enright traces that path in chapters dedicated to each one of them. Rosaleen herself is a deeply unpleasant character but the children are far more sympathetic if also flawed. I found Dan’s trajectory the least satisfactory as we see him as part of the gay sub-culture at the height of the AIDS crisis and the gay characters come across as rather clichéd and stereotyped.

For me the most compelling character was Constance, the dutiful daughter who stays home in Ireland and bears the brunt of her mother’s caprices. The dialogue is

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reviews usually convincing, particularly in the scenes set in Ireland, and often witty, and Enright shows real insight and perception when it comes to family relationships. It’s a wellstructured and well-paced narrative, and the gradual reveal of each child’s trajectory leads to a satisfying and well-timed (if a little melodramatic) climax. All in all I found the book engaging and immensely readable, and I’ll certainly now be less reluctant to pick up any future novel by this acclaimed Irish author.

Mandy Jenkinson

ZEMINDAR Valerie Fitzgerald Head of Zeus

Zemindar follows the story of Laura, poorer cousin to Emily, a cossetted but benign girl who has wed Charles, the man Laura is secretly in love with.

Following their marriage, Charles’ mother suggests that Charles, Emily and the older, worldlier Laura travel to India and make acquaintance with Charles’ estranged brother Oliver.

Oliver manages a vast estate and Charles’ mother tactically suggests he might nominate Charles as heir if he is able to ingratiate himself.

Laura is excited and

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delighted by the possibility of experiencing such a foreign culture and keen to absorb herself in its enchantments, but there is foreboding from those she meets. Unpopular political moves by the ruling British class threaten to cause insurrection by the native military Sepoys and Pandie mutineers.

To be honest it’s difficult to stop gushing about Zemindar long enough to give a critical review. Laura is brilliantly narrated, and even now a modern heroine, despite her perfect 19th century patois.

She is independentlyminded, forthright, thoughtful and unique amongst her counterparts as being unsentimental about the trivial frippery of 19th century society, and more interested in culture and authenticity. Her growth as a character in maturity and emotions is true to life, and the romantic aspect of this novel is prominent, but only one lovely aspect of a much greater story.

It came as some surprise to find that this incredible book was originally published in 1981, and deserves to become a modern bestseller.

Fitzgerald wrote Zemindar from the true accounts of her grandmother, who endured the Mutiny, and whose father was posted in Lucknow during World War II where she was raised between the city and a zemindari estate. It is tragic that this was Fitzgerald’s only book . . . this was one of the best books I have read in a very long time.

Tannith Cattermole

In other respects 150 years of progress have not served us as well: since the Beeching cuts, any sequel would presumably have to be called Three Men, a Bradshaw, and a Bicycle!

Nicholas Cutler Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

THREE MEN AND A BRADSHAW George John Freeman

YA

Random House Books

This is a previously unpublished Victorian travel journal, recounting Mr Freeman’s holidays during the years 1873 to 1877 in the company of his brothers.

What really sets this apart is the narrator's humour, and keen observations on subjects as diverse as social history and the British climate. Much more than a travelogue, this book is a remarkable study on the way that the railway enabled modern tourism. On reading this, it is certainly interesting to reflect how much British infrastructure owes to the Victorians.

Although I found this a slow read at times, it is well worth persevering. The editor has supplied ample footnotes to help explain some of the less familiar references. The text is also accompanied by a number of the author's delightful ink drawings, and extracts from Bradshaw's Guide (a reminder that the Bradshaw was much more than a railway timetable).

Many of the buildings mentioned in the text still stand today, raising the prospect of a modern version. In some respects this would open up new possibilities, such as the use of photography instead of the author's own drawings.

plotted and well written thriller, every word was necessary and I hung on each one as I worried about the characters, I just couldn’t put it down. The tagline on the book says: there are only three rules within the walls: run fast, trust no one and always carry your knife. My rule would be to not pass this book by; it is a gem. I can’t wait to read more from the author.

Thank you for sending me this!

Vicky Jopling

desperate live.

From the first page I found this a gripping fast paced, easy read. The only downside is that it’s the second book of a series. As the story unfolds mention is made of actions that took place in the earlier book so I would advise reading Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders first. In my opinion it doesn’t really work as a standalone novel.

I would recommend this as both a personal and book group read. Although the scope for discussion is limited.

Doreen Furze Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

THE WALLED CITY Ryan Graudin Orion Books

Wow. This book had me hooked from the first page, and it has definitely won a place on my favourite books list. It follows the lives of Jin Ling, Mei Yee and Dai three teens who are trapped within the walls of Hak Nam, a labyrinth of slums where crime lords rule and survival is everything. Street gangs run drugs for those in power, young girls are kidnapped and forced to work in the sex trade.

Others, like Jin Ling, learn to hide in the shadows in order to survive.

I don’t want to give the plot away so I’m loathe to say much more. Suffice to say, I was impressed. I read a lot of YA books and they can become repetitive, but reading this was a breath of fresh air. The story is told from each character’s perspective, thus giving us an overview of life in the slums; I particularly enjoyed Jin Ling’s chapters. A tightly

KITTY PECK AND THE CHILD OF ILL FORTUNE Kate Griffin Faber

In the year 1881 seventeen year old Kitty Peck unexpectedly inherits a vast criminal empire from her ruthless and aged grandmother, Lady Ginger.

Despite opposition from several quarters, idealistic young Kitty decides to try and clean up the operation.

However, her troubles really begin when she pays a short surprise visit to her brother Joey in Paris and is persuaded to bring a young baby back to England.

The author paints a vivid picture of the vice ridden streets of Victorian London and transports the reader to an area of mean dirty alleys where only the poor and

THE ENDS OF THE EARTH Robert Goddard Bantam Press

The Ways of the World and The Corners of the Globe were books one and two in Robert Goddard’s The Wide World trilogy and although I had found the first book a bit too “Boys’ Own/Biggles” for my taste, as I had acquired both books from nb in 2014, I decided that I had to at least start the next instalment. Having done so, I soon found myself totally engaged with Max’s continuing, international search for the truth behind his father’s death. I was therefore delighted when I

received a proof of this final part, to review. Max’s search has now taken him and his friends to Japan where he is continuing to ruffle feathers and to put his own and others’ lives in danger.

Robert Goddard has surpassed himself: the triplecrosses are triple crossed, and it seems that nothing is as it first appears. This is an engaging “derring-do” story, and the author’s usual style of complex plotting is very well-suited to espionage/thriller/mystery novels and, as always, his elegant and literate writing style makes his prose a delight to read. I also found myself quickly immersed in a powerfully evoked sense of time and place, as late 19th/ early 20th century Japan was brought vividly to life. The story is strong on historical detail and the author’s excellent, easy use of this makes for much more enjoyable, multi-layered reading than is often found in books in this genre. I did find that the story-telling lacked the psychological depth which I have always appreciated. However, set against that, I did learn a lot about the history of the period, an added bonus which the author never fails to deliver Linda Hepworth Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.............................★★

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A Cornish Stranger Liz Fenwick Orion Judith Ayles 4★/4★

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FATES AND FURIES Lauren Groff William Heinemann

In Lauren Groff 's third outing, she considers the marriage of Lancelot Satterwhite and Mathilde, charting their lives over two decades. The first half of the book focuses on the life of Lancelot, better known as Lotto, then at the mid-way point flips over so that we see events from the perspective of his wife.

Those two young twenty year-olds who, post nuptials, walked hand in hand along the beach grow older and change but at their shoulder are the omniscient yet invisible Fates and Furies to remind, to consider, to evaluate - who are we? Who do we become when we marry?

Lotto battles to be an actor but after years of failure, he finds instead acclaim as a playwright. His wife watches sideways as he experiments with different forms Mathilde has her own view on the act of writing, 'She was so tired of the old way of telling stories, all those too worn narrative paths, the familiar plot thickets, the fat social novels. On the other hand, the Fates and Furies who are telling us this novel occasionally click their tongue and correct Lotto as he mis-remembers a detail we know that the story Lotto believes in is not

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reviews necessarily the correct one.

The same is not true of Mathilde. She remembers everything.

I was reminded more than anything of McCarthy's The Group, which takes a similar aerial view of relationships.

The terror of carrying a secret which you fear will cancel out the love someone has for you - this does feel like a book written with enough thought and skill to carry those ideas. This is not a story of heroes and villains but rather of humans who long to be better than they are.

Susannah Perkins Personal read ................★★★★

FALLOUT Sadie Jones Vintage

Set mainly in early 1970s London, against a backdrop of the battle between the newly-emerging, experimental theatre companies and the more predictable, traditional theatrical productions, Fallout is about a group of four young people who want to make their mark on the world.

Luke is an aspiring writer who is desperate to escape his dysfunctional family life and the restrictions of a small Lincolnshire town.

Since he was five his French mother has been a patient in the local psychiatric asylum.

Although he is very fond of her and visits her weekly, he hates to see the effects that her incarceration and the

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violent electro-convulsive treatment have on her, and to feel so helpless in the face of her illness. He has a difficult relationship with his father, a Polish, ex-RAF pilot, who refuses to visit his wife and instead seeks solace in alcohol and denial.

A chance meeting with Paul, an aspiring theatre producer, and Leigh, an aspiring assistant stage manager, proves to be the catalyst for Luke to give up his unsatisfying job at the local paper-mill and to move to London. He moves into Paul’s flat and they are later joined by Leigh, who, although she was initially attracted to Luke, has now become Paul’s girlfriend. His friends become the warm, accepting, loving family he never had.

I thought that Sadie Jones captured the ephemeral, brittle world of showbusiness, of the rapidly changing London theatre scene and the lifestyle of early 1970s London, with its political and social unrest, in a very convincing way.

However, what makes the character depiction so powerful and believable is that there is no black and white: all the characters are complex. As she explores themes such as ambition, desire, obsession, rejection, loss and love-triangles, the author’s insights into the dynamics of human behaviour are compellingly convincing.

Having read all three of her previous books, I had thought that Sadie Jones’ story-telling couldn’t get any better. However, Fallout has proved me wrong – I think it is her best yet!

Linda Hepworth, Cumbria Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .................★★★★★

A PLACE OF REFUGE Tobias Jones Quercus

Writer Tobias Jones and his family have spent five years living another way. They share their rural Somerset home with an ever-changing cast of characters, living communally with those in need; addicts, battle-scarred soldiers, anorexics, depressed people, those in search of something. They live largely but not exclusively from the land around their home, carving out a frugal but meaningful existence in which "community" is not a forgotten or loaded concept, but real and immediate.

Make no mistake though, this is not the kind of commune that may leap to mind. It is sustainable but not obsessed with Gaia; it is egalitarian but has rules and boundaries; payment is accepted in kind but there are still bills to be paid.

Windsor Hill Wood is a pragmatist's community. A transcendentalist hippie who arrives expecting good karma alone to satisfy the electricity supplier is not with the group for long.

The descriptions of tasks conducted are essential to understand the community's lifestyle, but it is in the interpersonal struggles where A Place of Refuge is really fascinating. Jones has a great deal of psychological insight.

This is not a proselytising, ad-man's account of communal living. As much as it has benefited the Joneses morally and spiritually, it is clear this is still not a lifestyle for everyone, nor is it a gap-year or weekender's paradise.

This is hard graft, but ultimately you get out what you put in. Idealism may be lost along the way, but if idealism is a flattering word for naivety, is that really so bad?

Mike Stafford

THE LIFE OF SAUL BELLOW: TO FAME AND FORTUNE 1915-1964 Zachary Leader Jonathan Cape

Certainly a big read [Ed: 832 pages!] but if you are a fan of Saul Bellow or even, as I was, you are intrigued to know more about the man who has been described as "the greatest writer of American prose in the 20th century" stick with it because this certainly is a remarkable biography.

Laden with excerpts from Bellow's novels which are related to his background and life this biography also provides a fascinating insight into American culture in the first sixty years of the 20th century.

Zachary Leader has not only used Bellow's own papers to inform the book but also

included extensive interviews with Bellow's friends, foes, wives, lovers, children, extended family, colleagues, neighbours and many others. The result is an extremely vivid portrait of the man behind novels such as Humboldt's Gift, Herzog and The Adventures of Augie Marsh and the recipient of a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Leader's style is scholarly but he also injects such an obvious enthusiasm for his subject that the biography never feels like an academic tome and is extremely readable, entertaining and in places very amusing.

Bellow's personality grows as the biography progresses and we leave him at the height of his powers in 1964. Bellow was of course to live for another 41 years so Volume 2 of Leader's biography is a certainty and I am definitely looking forward to it.

Lots of material in this work for discussion with like minded readers and definitely a biography which had left me wanting to read more Bellow novels but now with a greater understanding of the man behind the writing.

Kathy Jesson, St. Austell

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The Astrologer’s Daughter Rebecca Lim Text Publishing Jade Cranwell 3★

THE LETTERS OF IVOR PUNCH Colin MacIntyre W&N

If you were to judge a book by its title (and we do, don't we?), then you could be forgiven for thinking that The Letters of Ivor Punch is just about one man's missives. Yes, there are letters from Ivor in the book (mostly to a certain American president), but only a few. This book is about amily history, storytelling and those traits and familial strands that link us together. And a headless horseman. Ivor Punch lives on a Scottish island.

Known as 'the clock' because he has one arm shorter than the other, he's also the local sergeant, prone to swearing and turning a blind eye to his best friend Randy's misdemeanours. We learn the story of Ivor, his nephew Jake, and their family history through various family members over the period of 150 years. The narrative isn't a chronological one, but Colin MacIntyre does an excellent job of weaving these multiple narrative voices (both male and female). The Punch family history is both fascinating and sad. The book is interesting, funny, has a famous cameo and keeps you reading, and it's only when you reach the end of the final chapter that the Punch

family history falls into place.

It's a pity that the book begins with the prologue, as the first chapter is fantastic and does a far better job of hooking the reader in. I really enjoyed reading it - the characters are original, wellwritten and it's one of those books you want to re-read after you've finished it in order to fully appreciate the Punch family history once the final strand has been revealed. Or even just rereading it because it's a very good read!

Judith Griffin Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

GOOD HOPE ROAD Sarita Mandanna W&N

This novel plunges us straight into the mud and horror of the trenches of the First World War. Mandanna avoids cliché by having Obadiah Nelson as a narrator, an AfricanAmerican who has enlisted into the French Foreign Legion. In his words the experience becomes as chilling as one would expect.

Central to the novel is his relationship with New Englander James Stonebridge and it is when these two characters are together that the novel really sizzles and when time runs out on this relationship.

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reviews I couldn’t help but feel slightly cheated.

Parallel to Obadiah’s account is a third person narrative which follows James from the early 1930’s, back at home and part of the damaged generation, refusing to discuss his experiences and in a brooding relationship with his son. For the veterans the war is being lived over and over again, not just through shell-shock but through political issues, a march to Washington to get what is due through the much delayed Bonus Bill and also in the build-up to World War 2.

There is a striking change of pace between the two narratives which does work well. In the 1930’s sections Mandanna writes lyrically and vividly, but uniting the sections is the theme of hope; for survival during the war and for getting a life back together after it.

It is convincingly done and there is an epic sweep to this novel which works well. The historical events of America’s participation during the war and inter-war years are generally well incorporated into the plot. Americans in the French Foreign Legion provides an original slant.

All in all this is a solidly impressive second novel.

Phil Ramage, Isle of Wight Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

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Goebbels Peter Longerich Bodley Head Reg Seward 5★

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THE MARK AND THE VOID Paul Murray

I loved the characters, Claude, the “Everyman” with little going for him; Paul, always hopeful he’ll find the next big thing before total destitution, whose literary career was stalled by one bad review; Ish, the female analyst of out of place in a male dominated world and the boorish men who make up the majority of the workforce. It’s intelligent yet outrageous and Murray gets it just right.

It took me a while to get into his previous novel Skippy Dies as I felt there was just too much being crammed into the first half of the book but I was with this one all the way. The pace never flags and it becomes funnier and funnier, which is some achievement in a comic novel. This is the best book I have read this year.

Hamish Hamilton

Phil Ramage, Isle of Wight

The Irish financial crisis has been responsible for at least one great novel already Donal Ryan’s The Spinning Heart which concentrates on the effects upon a smalltown community. This book is even better and may very well be the Great Comic Novel of our time.

The narrator, Claude Martingale, a French analyst working in an Irish investment bank, is approached by Paul, looking for an Everyman for his new novel set in Dublin’s financial institutions . It soon becomes apparent that there is no story to be told.

He has other plans in his shadowing of Claude.

Murray doesn’t simplify matters, finance is a complicated subject but he makes it all understandable, plausible and, extraordinarily, very funny.

Thanks to Phil for allowing us to post this review from his blog http://reviewrevues.com where you will find much else of interest

mean that although he is an absolutely dedicated detective, his motives are flawed, but the action within the book means that any plotholes are quickly skated over, and it adds up to an action packed read, that will keep the audience quessing, and at some points, at the edge of the seats for a while.

Ben Macnair

BLACK RUN Antonio Manzini Fourth Estate

Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone is a man with a lot on his plate. He is married, with an eye for anyone in a skirt, and preferably out of it. His superiors have exiled him from his beloved Rome, to a graveyard beat in the Italian Alps, in Aosta, but it is not long before his first case happens.

An unknown corpse is found, its bloodied remains bearing the markings of an argument with a Snowcat machine in the black run of the title. The only clue is a tattoo of Luisa Pec, the owner of the local bar, whose physical charms prove to be something of a distraction to the womanising detective, and could jeopardise the case.

Add in twist after twist of storyline, involving property crime, and corruption, and you have something that should appeal to fans of the crime genre.

However, there is one caveat with this novel, and that is the action seems to be driven too much by the actions of the corrupt, and uncompromising Schiavone.

His own behaviour, such as trying to make some profit from the local market for marijuana, or his unscrupulous way with the women who share his bed

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JACK OF SPADES Joyce Carol Oates Head of Zeus

Fifty three year old Andrew J. Rush is the author of twenty eight “bestselling mystery-suspense novels with a touch of the

macabre”. The fact that they are never nasty, mean, disturbing, obscene or sexist is a source of great pride to him. He is flattered to be described in the media as “the gentleman’s Stephen King”, and the very frequent references to, and drawing of parallels with that author’s work, demonstrate the strength of Andrew’s admiration of that author (and possibly Joyce Carol Oates’ admiration too).

However, he is not quite what he appears: he is harbouring some dark secrets. When feeling a little bored with, and complacent about, his bestselling stories, he had adopted a fictitious alter-ego and has since written four, soon to be five, much darker, more violent, brutal, horrific and gory novels, using the pseudonym Jack of Spades. No one has any idea who Jack of Spades is, and no one has ever met him. [Hence] much wild speculation about the identity of Jack of Spades.

Then, totally out of the blue, Andrew receives a court summons accusing him of theft, later defined as plagiarism, and ordering him to appear in court to answer the charges. In his panic he quickly begins to unravel.

This psychological thriller is fast-paced and full of twists and turns of plot. The fact that it was written in the first person, almost as a stream of consciousness, meant that I was quickly drawn into Andrew’s mind.

It soon became clear that from childhood he had struggled with a dark-side, and had always led something of a double life.

Who was the real Andrew J. Rush?

I really enjoyed Joyce Carol Oates’ exploration of the

idea that everyone has a dark side to their personality, and that childhood traumas can haunt us throughout life.

There is plenty of scope in the story for very lively group discussion and debate!!

Linda Hepworth, Cumbria Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

YA

and fascinating main character.

I cannot remember when I enjoyed a young adult book more and Lauren’s secret kept me guessing throughout. I wouldn’t want to be a member of a reading group who hadn’t quite finished the book when discussions about it began. Teenagers read this book and pass your enthusiasm on, don’t Tweet or Facebook about the plot.

I’m off to discover more of Simon Packham’s books.

Phil Ramage Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

ONLY WE KNOW Simon Packman Piccadilly Press

Simon Packham should get readers to sign an agreement whereby they give away as little as possible about this young adult novel. Sixteen year old Lauren has a secret which has caused her family to relocate and for her to start a new school and that secret is so central to the plot. Who else knows about it and whether she will be found out is a major preoccupation for her. Aside from that we have a convincing school story with the setting of St Thomas’ Community College, a location which has featured in a number of the author’s previous books.

Lauren needs to settle into the school, find new friends and there may even be romance in the air in her first term. This book is geared perfectly towards its intended audience. It all feels contemporary, relevant and authentic and in Lauren, Packham has an involving

THE BEGINNING OF THE END Ian Parkinson Salt

This is the story of Raymond, a single man who spends his life eating microwave dinners and watching pornography on his computer. The only interaction he has with other people are the women on the various internet sex sites he visits and the women in the massage parlour. He travels to Thailand to marry his future wife, Joy, and while he's there receives the news that his estranged father has died.

Upon returning to Belgium and his father's villa by the sea, whilst Joy furthers her career in pornography,

Raymond has plans to renovate the villa and begin his new life. However, his detachment from reality returns and his addiction to tablets and alcohol soon take over. As Raymond succumbs to these, so too the villa succumbs to the weather and the seashore. Raymond's physical and mental disintegration mirror that of the villa, as he retreats further and further into himself.

I really enjoyed reading this novel. The blurb on the front cover describes it as 'hypnotic and deeply disturbing...' and I would agree. Raymond's descent into depression and ignoring of reality is very well-written and although the subject matter sounds bleak, the writing makes you want to continue reading. Ian Parkinson has done an excellent job of portraying Raymond, and even the pornographic scenes are narrated in Raymond's clinical, matter-of-fact tone, as if he was describing the weather. The sparse, pareddown narrative is effective and the short chapters also mean that the novel is an easy read.

A very good first novel and a rewarding read. I look forward to reading more of Ian Parkinson’s novels, Phil Ramage Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

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Dark Aemilia Sally O’Reilly Myriad Jan Jeffery 4★/4★

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THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT Helen Phillips Henry Holt and Co.

Josephine and Joseph are newlyweds and new to the city in 2013. Broke and almost homeless, getting jobs is more important than the work itself. For Josephine, the dingy, windowless room, and mindless work, are depressing, until she figures out the significance of the information she's inputting.

That's when everything and everyone becomes puzzling and ominous.

Dystopia, Kafkaesque, speculative, fantasy, science fiction - call it what you will, this is one very unusual novel, and I don't mean that in a bad way. From the blankness of the prose and grayness of the surroundings, Phillips has put together a very dismal and cruel world.

She even goes as far as starting the story during the brisk and bright autumn and having us follow the action as it moves into the cloudy and colder early winter, making even that into a metaphor for the novel. This story poses the questions: what if machines and an infinite number of bureaucrats with data control our lives; and what consequences come if these bureaucrats' rebel?

Despite the encroaching

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reviews darkness that we witness, Phillips also injects little splashes of hope and light.

For example, there are the word anagrams in the middle of conversations and thoughts, or sudden bouts of little splurges by the couple, as they slowly have the money to buy themselves treats, or just take a walk to escape the dilapidated states of their string of increasingly depressing sublets.

Combining these two elements allowed Phillips to carefully build the tension and slowly increase the pace, and bring it to an explosive climax and conclusion.

Furthermore, Phillips does this with a shockingly stark narrative, which matches Josephine's world, and exacerbated by failing eyesight perfectly. While this book is creepy, it also grabs you subtly and is ultimately fascinating, and well worth the read.

Davida Chazan

unplanned acts where I saw a need. But it never occurred to me that I needed an eight hundred-page book to tell me how to do this or why I was doing it.

This is a great subject for a book – but if it were onetenth of the size it would be so much more digestible that it might actually be read by people who want to know more and may even go on to change the world. There are some very interesting topics covered in here and some chapters were fascinating, but would be better expressed as a single page, paragraph or even sentence.

In fact, I could summarise the whole brick in one sentence: "Being nice to people is good – get off your couch and do something for someone else without expecting anything in return."

Meg Kingston, South Wales Personal read ....................★★★ Group read ................................★

Factory in Welwyn Garden City. Marnie finds herself captivated by him, especially when she realises he is a dancer. Enter Miss Crewe, Marnie's teacher, a former dancer who Marnie believes can help Freddie.

The alternate chapters by Marnie and Miss Crewe didn't always work as I had to keep looking back to see who was talking, but it did enable each character to tell the story from their own perspective. Poor old Freddie never gets a voice of his own: he’s portrayed from the two female points of view but really Freddie is not the point of the story. The real point is how Marnie and Miss Crewe, through their friendship with Freddie, find a greater piece of mind and happiness in their lives. This is a charming and unusual story, written in a unique style by Eva Rice. Those who have read any of her other works will recognise her characterisations, her settings and her style. The story kept me interested throughout and I really enjoyed reading it, right up to its lovely conclusion which worked really well.

I'm not sure reading groups would find all that much to talk about, although Marnie's home life and its setting may be of interest.

Nicola Smith

ALTRUISM: THE POWER OF COMPASSION TO CHANGE YOURSELF AND THE WORLD Matthieu Ricard Atlantic Books

An intriguing brick! I offered to review this book, as I have experience of giving as acts of altruism. I have gifted items, money and my time to various causes and in

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LOVE NOTES FOR FREDDIE Eva Rice Heron Books

Marnie FitzPatrick is a student at St Libby's boarding school for girls in the late 1960s. On the day when she and her schoolmate, Rachel, play truant, she meets Freddie Friday, who "does the electrics" at the Shredded Wheat

Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

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On The Move Oliver Sacks Picador Nicky Hallam

LILA Marilynne Robinson Virago

Lila is the last part of a trilogy set in Gilead, Iowa in the mid 1950s. The first book, Gilead (2004) won the Pulitzer prize; the second Home (2008) won the Orange prize for fiction.

Will Lila also win a prize? It deserves to do so.

The novels are deeply moral, spiritual and lyrical with an underlying religious (or rather theological) theme.

But don’t let that put anyone off. They are beautiful books peopled with intriguing characters and also raise some important issues e.g. civil rights, abolition, personal redemption. The first two novels relate the same events from different perspectives. This third novel complements the other two and covers some of the same events from Lila’s point of view but it also broadens out the story.

We find out how Lila ended up there, only hinted at before. Her background and upbringing is in stark contrast to John Ames and his neighbours, who epitomise middle America in the ‘50s. Rescued from a neglected childhood by a drifter called Doll, she scrabbles through her life until fate brings her to Gilead and into John Ames’ church. Her marriage to him forces her into constraints

and behaviours that are often hard for her. At the same time she brings a different perspective to his life.

Although Lila can be read separately, it would definitely mean more if you read the other two as well.

They could actually be read in any order as they complement each other so well. Reading groups would find plenty of material for discussion - religious tolerance, moral duty, May/November marriages to name but a few.

Maddy Broome

persevered because I got used to it and really enjoyed this quite sad tale. Most of the story is about how the characters fare in England, and mostly in Sheffield, but there are three quite lengthy segments looking at how the characters found themselves here.

Their stories gradually drew me in until I really cared about them and hoped they would find the better life they were looking for. I felt their desperation and disappointment when trying to find work and fit in with their cultural differences and I also enjoyed reading about their lives in India. A very good read.

Nicola Smith Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

between friends and between men and women, plus the enormous impact of World War II on European society.

It is also a mystery thriller and retains the usual elements of tailing suspects, badgering witnesses and general skulduggery.

I found this a light, quick read and enjoyed the development of Mirabelle’s relationships with her friends and colleagues. As ever Sara Sheridan is convincing in her creation of a specific time and place. I prefer the earlier books in this series but will continue to read it (if only to find out whether Mirabelle’s putative romance with McGregor blossoms).

Christine Storie Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.............................★★

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THE YEAR OF THE RUNAWAYS Sunjeev Sahota Picador

This is primarily the story of Tochi, Avtar, Randeep and Narinder. The first three are young men who have come over from India, looking for a better life for themselves and their families and are all living and working together.

Tochi is illegal, Avtar has a student visa and Randeep has a marriage visa. He is married to Narinder.

This book got off to a slow start and I did wonder if I could carry on with it. Part of the problem for me was the large amount of Indian terminology that I just didn’t understand and a glossary would have been useful. But I’m so glad I

BRITISH BULLDOG Sara Sheridan Polygon

This is the fourth in Sara Sheridan’s Mirabelle Bevan series. It’s Paris and London in 1954. Mirabelle is left a mysterious bequest and must confront much of her past by investigating the disappearance of an English pilot; Philip Caine was a friend and comrade of her dead lover, Jack. This is a more serious book than the previous three with its weighty themes of loyalty and betrayal, the inescapable influence of the past, trust

SIXTY DEGREES NORTH Malachy Tallack Polygon

Recently British nature and travel books have welcomed the inclusion of autobiographical material – Simon Armitage’s Walking Home (2012) comes to mind, as do Helen Macdonald’s prize-winning H is for Hawk (2014) and Katharine Norbury’s The Fish Ladder (2015). The mixing of genres makes for

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reviews rich, textured prose that connects with readers in a more intimate way than dry, detached writing about places and creatures. This new nature literature is all about finding the self in the context of both experience and the natural world.

Like H is for Hawk, Sixty Degrees North begins with the loss of the author’s father. When Malachy Tallack was 16, his father died in a car accident. His parents were estranged, and he and his brother had lived with their mother on Shetland since he was 10. By coincidence, though, he had been accepted to study music at a performing arts school in London and was living with his father in England; he was the one waiting at home the day his father never returned.

There is some inconsistency in quality but in the best ones, themes of nostalgia, solitude and connection with nature arise naturally from the subject matter.

Meanwhile, sections on Canada and St Petersburg are highlights in terms of capturing local colour and inspiring tourist interest.

Autobiographical material runs throughout, but is always subtly interwoven with travel and research, and the maps and colour photographs help to bring the places he discusses to life.

As the editor of The Island Review and a reporter for the Shetland Times, he works to celebrate our relationship with islands. He comes to conclude that Shetland is home by virtue of familiarity if not by blood. With our modern disconnectedness and loneliness, this is perhaps the best we can hope for.

Rebecca Foster

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reviews

NOTHING SACRED David Thorne Atlantic Books

Daniel Connell is a struggling lawyer with a complicated history. His best friend Gabe has been invalided out of the army after service in Afghanistan.

And they are both keeping secrets. Secrets from the past which threaten to blow their lives apart. So the scene is set for this fairly gritty thriller set in the Essex underworld.

I have to confess I struggled with it at first, jumping around in time and tense were distracting. As a family lawyer I almost gave up when the portrayal of a care case had me complaining, ‘that’s not what happens!’

But I read on and things got better. Once the scene had been set the story moved along quickly and I was keen to know how Daniel was going to get out of his predicament. The sense of helplessness in the face of the ‘Essex mafia’ was palpable.

I felt the most convincing characters and scenes were those relating to Gabe and his time in the army. Gabe himself was a compelling character and I would like to read more about him. The portrayal of the army as a world apart was convincing and slightly chilling.

What I didn’t enjoy, and this might just be down to my personal reading preferences,

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was the constant undercurrent of violence.

This is apparently the second Daniel Connell novel but reading the first isn’t necessary. It will appeal to readers of thrillers and those who enjoy gritty crime but I don’t think I will read another one. It’s not really a book for reading groups although there could be some discussion of postAfghanistan fiction and the thriller genre in general.

Rebecca Kershaw Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.............................★★

2O15

A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD Anne Tyler Vintage

Anne Tyler's 20th novel is all about the Whitshank family, starting with Abby and Red. They live in the home that Red's father built on Bouton Road in Baltimore. Here, they raised their four children. Well, actually, only three of them are theirs.

They informally adopted Douglas, the boy they call Stem. Now they're all grown up. Stem, Amanda and Jeannie are married with children of their own.

Denny was married as well and has a daughter, but no one is sure if the girl is biologically his, and he's not living with her mother anymore. However, there is more, and to understand this

family fully, looking at them today isn't enough. For that, you need to go back, at least three generations.

As usual, Tyler builds her story around ordinary people, the types that have sigh-inducing flaws that both endear and annoy.

Equally as important, Tyler's writing style is deceptively simple, bordering on the poetic while still ultimately accessible.

However, what really impressed me about this novel was how Tyler used the house as a metaphor for this family and their various stories - what I believe is the underlying theme of this novel. As Tyler deconstructs the Whitshank family, so too does she deconstruct this house. Each little situation that causes the family distress is a mirror of the signs of decay that need attention and fixing in the building. Tyler's ability to combine carefully chosen characters, an open writing style and universally relatable themes makes her work so popular and - if you think about it - timeless. No wonder everyone is celebrating her 50-year career, to which I can only add my wholehearted recommendation of this novel with a full five stars out of five.

Davida Chazan Many thanks to Davida, who lives in Israel, for allowing us to post this review from her blog - The Chocolate Lady’s Book Reviews which you can find here http://drchazan.blogspot.com

THE EXPEDITION – SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF A POLAR TRAGEDY Bea Uusma Head of Zeus

The Expedition retells the true story of Salomon Andrée’s expedition to cross the Arctic in a hydrogen balloon in 1897. The expedition, made up of three men who had no experience of either ballooning or of Arctic exploration, never returned and their bodies and equipment were only found thirty-three years later (the latter still in working order) and with enough supplies to survive the punishing Arctic winter. Yet today, 100 years later, despite numerous books proposing various theories, it’s still unknown how or why they died.

In 2012 the Natural History Museum in London showed an exhibition on the history and science of Captain Scott’s famous Terra Nova Antarctic expeditions. The exhibition completely captured my imagination, and I was spellbound by the story of the failed attempt to reach the South Pole that caused the deaths of many of the expedition, the last of whom died just eleven miles short of the food depot that would have saved them, having travelled an extraordinary 1,795 miles in temperatures up to 40°C

below freezing. It was with that in mind that I read The Expedition, and within two pages discovered that Bea Uusma has found a similar spontaneous passion and intrigue for Andrée’s expedition as I did for Scott’s.

Part diary, part dissertation, the novella flits in both style and content between Uusma’s own thoughtful record of obsession juxtaposed against a clear and chronological presentation of the evidence from her painstaking poring over diary entries from the expedition, their recovered remains and other written accounts. Uusma explains how she became captivated by the story, and details the amazing obsession that took fifteen years, hours of fanatical research, and took her across the world to make three attempts to reach the ice-bound scene of their deaths.

It is a politely diminutive book given the sheer volume of research to write it, and the equally compelling presentation of evidence is written in an unbiased and scientific yet simple and engaging way. Uusma follows the clues dogmatically, and takes the reader along for the ride, allowing us to draw our own conclusion from the evidence, which sadly may never be enough to incontestably resolve the mystery. We understand what is known, what is not known, of the timeline of events. The facts of the expedition - the woeful lack of experience and preparation, and the sparse diary accounts cataloguing the many errors and events – hint at possible feelings of futility that the reader shares

with a morbid horror and feelings of dismay and foreboding.

The Expedition is a compelling piece of work that assembles the curious details of a fifteen year labour of love, and won Uusma the 2013 August prize for best non-fiction book before being translated gracefully by Agnes Broomé.

A legend in Sweden, Andrée’s story may be unjustly forgotten by the rest of the world, yet this brings to the modern reader a tale that is lesser known than stories of Scott or Amundsen and unique in its method of transport. This is a wonderful, yet heartrending tale of hopelessness and quiet, nameless disaster – three lives extinguished pointlessly and desolately 1,300 miles from home - a remarkable mystery.

Tannith Cattermole Personal read ................★★★★

DEATH IS A WELCOME GUEST Louise Welsh John Murray

This is the second book in the Plague Times Trilogy, the first being A Lovely Way to Burn: I decided that I should read the first one.

However, either book could be read as a standalone except there is a very clever link between the two on the last page of the second book, which gives a clue to Volume

3. If you are like me and don’t like to miss anything then I would recommend you read both books.

In both ‘the sweats’ are ravaging the country. Masses of people dying, looting and gangs of survivors are becoming increasingly ruthless, but the stories are very different. In this book Magnus McFall is a comic on the brink of his big break when the world changes forever. A bizarre sequence of events sees Magnus wrongly arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of rape. He and his cell-mate Jeb manage to escape, away from London leading them to many adventures bearing in mind the plague ravaged environment. Magnus is keen to head for his home on the Scottish Islands to find his family. These two characters are well drawn and even though they know nothing about each other, they watch each other’s backs through their adversities.

A minor quibble, though: research for the book is weak. Where did people keep getting their food from? How could they have running water with no electricity?

If, like me, you are not a fan of post-apocalyptic novels then you might think this is not for you. However, the plague is almost secondary in my mind as these stories are about individuals and how they cope with the situation confronting them.

I will definitely be buying volume 3 to see if/how it all comes together.

Dorothy Flaxman, Bude

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reviews

reviews

We didn’t have space to include the following reviews in full but thought you’d find a quick fix useful. You will find them in full on nudge either by individual title/author or, for an overview of all this issue’s directory reviews, simply search with dir86.

COMMON GROUND Rob Cowen

SANCTUARY Robert Edric

Hutchinson

Black Swan

When Rob Cowen moved back from London to Bilton, a suburb of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, the nature writer set about finding a patch of his own. This turned out to be a tatty edge-land by a railway, as full of electricity pylons, sewage treatment works and skiving teenagers as it was a haven for foxes, owls, hares, deer and insects . . . When the book avoids melodramatic anthropomorphising, it is very beautiful indeed. The chapters have strong thematic links and draw on legends as well as scientific facts to reveal how remarkable common species truly are.

Cowen’s own black-andwhite linotypes are perfect illustrations at the head of each chapter. He has all the alliterative grace and fresh metaphors of a poet.

Admit it, did you even know the Bronte sisters had a brother who was a failed writer? In his fine new novel, Robert Edric brings us a chilling portrait of one of literature’s great bystanders, Patrick Branwell Bronte, who watches his sisters’ fame grow even as his own dreams turn to ashes and dust.

Fans of the Brontes will be fascinated by the insight into their lives, yet this is grimly mesmeric reading as Branwell’s downward slide is so realistically drawn. As the man himself exclaimed in real life: “I am dying. In all my past life I have done nothing either great or good.” Yet after his funeral Emily Bronte never again left the family home.

Charlotte wrote, “There is such a bitterness of pity for his life and death – such a yearning for the emptiness of his whole existence as I cannot describe.” It is a tribute to Edric’s fine writing that he comes close to describing what Charlotte Bronte could not.

Rebecca Foster

Stephen Joyce Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

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FIELD NOTES FROM THE EDGE: JOURNEYS THROUGH BRITAIN’S SECRET WILDERNESS Paul Evans Rider

Guardian country diarist from Wenlock Edge, Shropshire [Evans] calls the region “my plot, my place and story.” [Initially] feels like lots of short, unconnected pieces shoved together [but] within a few chapters, Evans won me over.

Take this book with you on a weekend trip to a new spot – or an old favourite – and make the effort to see things afresh.

father and returns to the home of her birth, Andalucia, Spain, where she is introduced to her extended family.

As a young, although already established novelist, she is enthralled by all she sees: the romantic landscape; the food; the history and the culture of Spain . . .

However, unlike our heroine, my head failed to be turned by the numerous romantic suitors who were portrayed. I would have preferred to have seen some of the family relationships develop further, for example Alexandra's relationship with her father and grandmother after being estranged from them for most of her life.

The book skips along at a fast pace and Alexander has many encounters and trists, more depth and detail was required to ensure the reader was totally absorbed into the plot.

(PS Similarly, you can find Around the World in 80 Books using ATW80 and Best Books of the 21st Century with BB21C.)

from where Familiar Wars left off. Gregoris by now is an old man showing symptoms of dementia. His wife, Anastasia, has recently died and the book opens at her funeral which brings their three daughters together. The daughters argue about the best way to deal with their aging father who is quite determined to remain independent. My sympathies were with the youngest daughter, Eleni, as I felt the other two were very callous in the way they treated their father.

Although I quite enjoyed this novel, I didn’t think the plot was as interesting as Familiar Wars. The main topic for reading groups to discuss would be how families decide how to deal with an aging parent.

her saying 'look how fascinating this is...' and she's right.

Black Eyed Susans is a fine achievement. It drips with authenticity, empathy and dread, meditating on the Death Penalty as well as offering an empathetic study of the life of a survivor. Take note - Julia Heaberlin belongs on every suspense fan's bookshelf.

THE SQUARE Rosie Mallard

Mike Stafford

Legend Press

Rosie Millard’s debut comic novel . . . a well-paced romp with a good build-up but she doesn’t quite pull out all the comedic stops [nevertheless] an enjoyable experience and any reading groups wanting to experience a North London comedy of (bad) manners should certainly consider this.

Mario Guslandi

Phil Ramage, Isle of Wight

Sue Smith Personal read........................★★ Group read.............................★★

relationships turning sour, of love getting betrayed and lost. Those are the true artists of the word, where phrases are music and music becomes symphony, the soundtrack of the human comedy.

Elizabeth McCracken is one of these writers and the present collection is an excellent showcase of her ability as a gifted storyteller.

Please do yourself a favour and secure a copy of this splendid book. And not because it is the winner of the Story Prize, but because is exceptionally good.

SENTENCED TO LIFE Clive James Picador

Clive James is dying of leukaemia . . . and has more time to reflect on his life.

Jayne Townsend Personal read........................★★ Group read.........................★★★

Rebecca Foster

BLACK EYED SUSANS Julia Heaberlin Michael Joseph

INDISCRETION Hannah Fielding London Wall Publishing

ONE THIRD OF PARADISE Julietta Harvey Polar Books UK

After her mother dies Alexandra is left in England to be brought up by her maiden aunt. At the age of 25 she is reunited with her

One Third of Paradise takes the story of the Gregoriou family forward an unspecified number of years

At seventeen, Tessie Cartwright was left for dead in a grave she shared with the remains of her would-be killer's other victims. She was found later, close to death, in a field of black-eyed Susan flowers.

Far from Heaberlin saying 'look how clever I am,' this is

These poems come out of this reflection and are poignantly dedicated to Prue [his wife who threw him out in 2012]. Full of regret and physical frailty but still run through with James’ trademark dry humour, the poems comment on approaching death, his close observation of nature, on politics and on repentance.

He is still with us and still writing. Long may he continue.

Gwenda Major Personal read ................★★★★

THUNDERSTRUCK & OTHER STORIES Elizabeth McCracken Vintage

There are writers endowed with the ability to describe the reality of daily life, full of small events that change our existence little by little, and make it sound like a magic adventure. There are writers who probe with ease the secrets of the human soul, the texture of our feelings, the tragedy of human

NOW AND AT THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH Susana Moreira Marques & Julia Sanchez & Other Stories

An unexpected mixture of short observations on how patients and their families prepare for death during wasting illnesses . . . a thought-provoking look at hospice services and the emotions surrounding death.

Publisher & Other Stories always delivers intriguing works that make readers rethink their easy assumptions.

Rebecca Foster

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FOR GENERAT TIONS THE Y HAV VE DIED YO YOUNG. Now Iris and her father are the last of the Viillarca line.

reviews

WIND/PINBALL Haruki Murakami

THE UNBURIED Charles Palliser

Harvill Secker

W&N

Wind/Pinball collects together Haruki Murakami’s first two novels in a beautiful hardback, with an introduction from the author that outlines the circumstances that these stories came into being.

These stories do not show the author’s writing as fully formed, but there are already signs of what was to come in some of the turns of phrase and the set pieces that the characters found themselves in. Yet this is not an exercise in nostalgia, these stories are worthy of their place on the shelf of any Murakami fan. I couldn’t put the book down, curious and moved by these characters who felt both uncannily familiar and strange at the same time.

Wind/Pinball makes a great introduction to Murakami for new readers, and is a real treat for long-time fans.

As a fan of Victorian pastiche I loved this book, the creepy atmosphere of it, and the complicated rivalries between the cathedral and academic staff, which are intricately rendered. It's also about history, the fallibility of historical sources, how research into the subject is used for inter-academic rivalry. I haven't read The Quincunx, Palliser's most well known novel, but will certainly do so now. All in all, The Unburied is a fantastic read for anyone prepared to engage with its complexity.

Shelby Pomeroy is a resourceful and determined young woman, widowed

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And only then do they understand the true horror of the Vi Villarca curse.

Sue Hardiman Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

Oxford World Classics

Black Swan

Piatkus

But Iris breaks her promise to hide from the world.

She dares to fall in love.

THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET Anthony Trollope

HIPPY DINNERS Abbie Ross

THE LIAR Nora Roberts

Their disease confines them to their lonely mansion on Dartmoor; their disease means they must die alone.

Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

Personal read ................★★★★

the local town.

I enjoyed reading this…it was a real trip down memory lane. It resonated with me as I was of a similar age in the 70’s and also grew up in Wales.

I would also recommend this for book groups. I think there would be a great deal to encourage discussion for example: how this book compares to other childhood memoirs and how it might relates to reader’s own recollections etc.

Jayne Townsend

Sue Glynn

Brendan Wright

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and with a 3 year old daughter. Although initially devastated at her loss she soon uncovers details about her husband that throw her life into confusion and debt . . . the fancy house and luxurious lifestyle will have to go. She soon finds out that her husband Richard was not what he appeared.

Who was Richard Foxworth?

Shelby copes with all the trials and tribulations thrown at her in an admirable way, I enjoyed taking the journey alongside her and this is an excellent read and real page turner totally addictive and kept me guessing throughout. I would recommend as an individual, but also group read.

This is a heart-warming and humorous recollection of the author’s formative years in the heart of the Welsh countryside. Having been transplanted from an urban life to be immersed in a rural setting . . . Abbie soon becomes rather anxious about the close ties her parents seem to be making with a hippy commune in

Trollope finishes his Barchester series brilliantly.

Permanent Curate, Josiah Crawley is accused of the theft of a cheque for £20.00.

Those who are determined to ruin him are headed by the formidable Mrs. Proudie, wife of the Bishop (who is terrified of his wife). Readers and reading groups would gain a wonderful experience from the choice of this book.

It is the “fine dining” of literature.

Ruth Ginarlis, Winchester (Barset!)

Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read .................★★★★★

‘I raged, wept and hid under the bed covers . . . hauntingly brilliant’ ‘Gloriously dark and claustrophobic, Rawbl blood is a haunting gothic novel of intelligence and complexity’ OU T IN HARDBACK , EBOOK AND AU AUDIO

The Sunday Times Times Top Ten bestseller

‘A complex, compelling brain-teaser …

Hannah – like Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell before her – is an expert at exploring the delicate line between the ordinary and the monstrous’ Independent

‘The go-to queen of contemporary

brain-twisting crime’ Metro

COMING SOON – LOOK OUT FOR SOPHIE’S BESTSELLING BACKLIST WITH A STUNNING NEW LOOK