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Now I’m cutting up books – why? Among the many highlights in this issue is our Maggie O’Farrell Retrospective. We have done several of these over the years not least Margaret Forster, which we recently recycled on nudge – including Sheila A Grant’s review of the posthumous How to Measure a Cow, should you wish to check it out. Traditionally, we ask our reviewers if they would like a free copy in order to compile our overview. The number of freebies is limited and the angst levels are palpable but this time I was overwhelmed with offers: the subtext was, ‘I’ve got them all on the shelf and I’ll send you a review of my favourite’. I’ve read two of Maggie’s backlist, Esme – loved it! – and Instructions – let’s just say, Mel and I differ on this one – so I thought I would help myself to a copy of the new book, This Must be the Place, and you will be horrified by what I've done to it: I've cut it up. And before you write to complain of this sacrilege, let me say I had finished it and it was 'only' a proof copy. So why did I do it? Well, this is Ms O'Farrell's seventh title and it is extremely ambitious, perhaps even her masterpiece. It is a big book in all senses: nearly 500

pages - a good hundred pages more than her previous longest. Not that size is a pre-requisite of quality in a book [or anything else!] but it does venture across continents and time zones without thought to the cost of air fares. But that still doesn't explain my actions, does it? I call it 'word processor sequencing' - authors have always juggled their narratives to create tension or reveal their plots. However, many of the books I've read in the last 20 years seem to have had a linear narrative deliberately disrupted - simply because, with a computer, it is easy to do. Now I have no way of knowing whether Ms O'Farrell approached her story this way, or any other author come to that. What I'm railing against is the experience for the reader particularly a simple soul like me - who can see there is an unfolding of events in a synchronous way and wonders how it would have read if it had been presented in that way. So, I have read and thoroughly enjoyed This Must be the Place twice, all 438 pages of it. First as the author meant it to be read BUT tackling it in chronological order proved just as enjoyable. Obviously, the first reading meant that I knew more of how

events would unfold - which, had it been published in my instalment version, may well have confused AN Other reader further. And my conclusions? Well, obviously the author is entirely at liberty to do what they will but this reader would have appreciated a dramatis personae and perhaps a timeline of some sort. Keeping us guessing is a way of keeping us engaged but I have to admit there were times when I nearly didn't pick it back up. Ms O’Farrell is an extremely talented writer and this is a very good book well worth reading but I feel better for having seen what the chronological version had to offer. Mel and Maddy Broome have provided more sensible reviews on page 56!

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CONTENTS

newbooks FROM US TO YOU 3 GUY PRINGLE

THE VIEW FROM HERE Your publisher is cutting up books – why?

Publisher, nudge and newbooks ALASTAIR GILES

Managing Director, AMS Digital Publishing BERT WRIGHT

Nudge List Editor MELANIE MITCHELL

Publisher Relationship Manager DANIELLE BOWERS

Production Manager CATHERINE TURNER

Project Production Manager Community Voices JADE CRADDOCK MIKE STAFFORD PAUL CHENEY PHIL RAMAGE REG SEWARD SHEILA A. GRANT

WHAT WE'RE READING Our new community voices on books they’ve recently enjoyed. COMMUNITY VOICES Who they are and why they’re here.

10 - Phil Ramage’s Confessions Of A BookHugger. 11 - Mike Staﬀord, our man of crime (purely ﬁctional!). 12 - Sheila A Grant can spot a good Diva yarn. 13 - Paul Cheney has a forensic eye for BookLife.

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.

32 MY TOP TEN CRIMEFEST MOMENTS Mike Staﬀord remembers the south of England’s premier crime festival.

40 THEY SAY, WE SAY Shtum by Jem Lester - what our reviewers thought.

44 BOOKSHOPS WE LIKE We visit England’s smallest bookshop.

48 THE WORLD OF BOOK PRIZES Jade Craddock on some you may not have heard of.

46 THE VERDICT on Katherine of Aragon by Alison Weir

20 - Steve Burrows on A Siege of Bitterns and . . .

60 The nb/nudge BOOKS OF 2016 Community by community AND the Daddy – or should that be Mummy? – your Reading Group Book of the Year.

37 EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN by Chris Cleave

49 ROUND THE HOUSES Michael Heyward, Publisher at Text Australia on publishing for the UK market.

62 THE BEES Laline Paull on why she wrote it.

66 BLACK-EYED SUSANS Julia Heaberlin on the journalism that became the book.

Chris Cleave

74 OUR INTREPID REPORTER Essex Festival – behind the scenes Words by the Water Festival Linda Hepworth takes her seat.

82 AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BOOKS Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

22 AUTHOR MEETS REVIEWER Mike Staﬀord meets Holly Seddon, author of Try Not to Breathe.

85 THE DIRECTORY Our reviewers insights on recent publishing worth seeking out.

24 - No Exit Press Publisher, Ion Mills, on how they approach their crime including . . .

98 WHAT WE ARE THINKING Petra Bryce on her addiction.

70 THE DAUGHTER’S SECRET Eva Holland on why she wrote it.

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77 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY We add 5 more titles to our collection

21 - Ryan Ireland on Ghosts of the Desert.

25 - Dodgers by Bill Beverley

big interviews RECOMMENDED Peter James READS

16 READING GROUPS St Martin’s Book Group on Higher Ed by Tessa McWatt 42 IN CONVERSATION Debut authors Joanna Cannon and Jem Lester share their experiences.

56 RETROSPECTIVE Our guide to Maggie O’Farrell’s latest and her backlist.

18 - AND THE WINNER IS . . . Mike Staﬀord announces our BookNoir Book of the Year.

IN THE TRADE Joanna Czechowska, Book Review Editor of Woman, on her dream job.

33 GIANTS OF THE GENRE Harrogate’s Old Peculier crime writing festival.

15 - Reg Seward, a man of many non-ﬁction interests.

19 POINT BLANK Jenny Parrott on her new crime ﬁction imprint including . . .

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

28 QUIRKY Q+A Leigh Russell, writer of scary crime novels, ‘fesses up to what scares her.

52 SCRIPT Our round up of recent ﬁlms and TV

17 CRIME FICTION SPECIAL

Features 8

14 - Jade Craddock invokes a still resonant TV programme.

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26 RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES! Erin Britton digs up the gruesome truth behind your reading.

CONTENTS

ISSUE 88 SPRING 2016

WHAT WE ARE READING

This issue we asked our community voices to let us in on what’s floating their boat right now.

WHAT WE ARE READING

Carpathians, to the Balkans left me full of admiration for his staying power. Full of tales of the characters and problems he encountered carrying little more than an umbrella and a towel and sleeping rough this was a great read. He put my few attempts at climbing Munros into perspective. I enjoy reading of people who uproot and head off to fresh fields. Frances Mayes’ Tuscan trilogy paints an idyllic picture of wandering through Italian villages, eating delicious food, sipping wine on sunlit terraces in balmy evenings was seductive.

runs through every morning. The other book that I have just ventured into is The Northmen's Fury by Philip Parker. It is a history of the Vikings from the 8th century and the major influence that they had on Ireland, the UK and Europe with their brutal and aggressive raids, their mastery over the sea but it also about the sophisticated cultural changes that came with their occupation. Fascinating so far.

What we are reading SHEILA A. GRANT Book lovers look at me askance when I bang on about Do No Harm by eminent brain surgeon, Henry Marsh but it’s a gripping book revealing the dilemma skilled doctors face as they approach intricate procedures where precision is essential. The title says it all. The sensitivity as the writer deals with patients and families pre-op was extremely moving. Nicholas Crane’s 1996 journal of his trek from Finisterre to Istanbul, following a mountain route from Cantabrian mountains, Pyrenees, Alps, 6

PAUL CHENEY I have been sprinting through two books this weekend, the first is Running Free by Richard Askwith. This is not a book I would have normally selected purely because I am not a runner, preferring two wheels, but it had appeared on the Wainwright Prize long list last year, so it has got to be worth reading, right? Askwith has not only gone back to what he describes as free running, avoiding the latest tech that sports companies now charge the earth for; he has also through his running - learnt to love the countryside that he

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JADE CRADDOCK Although I have a strictly one book at a time policy – I’m not one of those readers who can dip in and out of several different books at once, I have to give my undivided attention to each – I do get through several books a week and so there’s often a few swirling round my mind at any time. I don’t stick to one genre or author. As I write this, I’ve recently read Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling, Virginia MacGregor’s The Astonishing Return of Norah Wells, Estell Laure’s YA debut

The Raging Light and Gemma June Howell’s poetry collection Rock Life. As to what I’m currently reading, I’d say it’s going to be the most strangely original title of the year, arguably of recent years – Daniel Pennac’s fictional journaling and journeying through the life of one man’s body – Diary of a Body. Relating the most physical realities in the diarist’s life from childhood through to old age, it sets itself up to be a fascinating experiment, but whether it can work as a novel, the jury's still out at the moment. Watch this space.

PHIL RAMAGE It’s been a delight to discover Yann Martel on top form with his latest The High Mountains Of Portugal. Fourteen years after his Booker winning Life of Pi he has come up with another crowd-pleaser of a novel. Like all great storytellers he is able to weave a tale which is surreal, believably unbelievable and feels both real and allegorical. It’s a story in three sections, the first and third containing extraordinary journeys which Martel showed us with Pi that he can do so well. At the start of the twentieth century a griefstricken man whose loss has caused him to walk backwards begins a car journey into the High Mountains. It is one of the first cars and he has no knowledge of how to drive it.

It’s laugh out loud funny. A very odd, dark, surreal second section cites Agatha Christie as a new apostle and the third sees a journey from Canada to Portugal with a grieving politician and a chimpanzee. Sounds bonkers? Well it is but it is also totally captivating.

REG SEWARD

I guess it is my age that made MGM British Studios: Hollywood in Borehamwood so very interesting to me. Celebrating 100 years between 1914 and 2014, the main narrative is basically compiled of anecdotal evidence, one short tale after the other, in a veritable blaze of MIKE STAFFORD information that involves the making of many great British Judas Pig is a films. Many celebrities and crew fictionalised members tell of their autobiography of a retired memorably funny, serious, and London gangster, now living in sad tales of the world famous hiding. When released, Silver studios, unfortunately now expected the book to provoke a gone. Particularly sad to realize bloodbath in London gangland that after the place was as truths about certain events eventually razed to the ground, were revealed. I never it has been transformed into a discovered whether this came to Tesco Store. pass, but I can tell you it Lots of studio pictures, helping changed my perception of to show how films were made, gangsters forever. There are the people who made them and many enjoyable but absurd the crews in their place of work. books written which would Lots of secret film tricks have us believe that the Krays explained [such as] the big and the Richardsons used to explosions in the centre of smash each other's heads in Borehamwood that angered with coshes then retire to the residents in the middle of the boozer for a few choruses of night. Then there's the huge ‘Knees Up Mother Brown’. water tank they built to film Nonsense. Judas Pig is strikingly Moby Dick with Gregory Peck and authentically violent; and Orson Welles, all the harrowing and disturbing, but Indiana Jones films, Star Wars, on occasion is also blackly 2001 Space Odyssey, Where funny. It's an account of a Eagles Dare, The Shining and damaged man disappearing loads more, it is all herein down a drain of greed and encapsulated. cruelty and anaesthetising himself against it all with drugs. It's aware of Cockney folklore You will find fuller versions and more that around gangsterism and the team have read on nudge under couldn't be more scornful. WHAT WE ARE READING.

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TH E

TR A DE

COMMUNITY VOICES

Wine, chocolate * and pastries? Joanna Czechowska, Book Review Editor of Woman, on what it’s like to have her dream job How did this paradise come about? After university, I started my first magazine job working for the book review editor, but it’s taken many more jobs in magazines to get back to book reviews. At Woman, we have a weekly books page where we review the latest hot novel (it’s always fiction) then three others in the ‘If you liked that, try these’ section.

Our website allows me more space and scope for interviews, Q&As and book giveaways. I was proud to get one of the first interviews with Paula Hawkins of Girl On The Train fame, and I’ve also interviewed Philippa Gregory and done Q&As with, for example, Judy Finnigan, Emma Healey and Cathy Kelly. I find twitter particularly useful Every day a large pile of in keeping me up with trends. books arrives at my desk. That’s Many book review editors real, actual paper – not virtual, are writers themselves – or asebooks. Most come in brown piring. I wrote my own novel jiffy bags, but some distinguish The Black Madonna of Derby, themselves by arriving in pink and as it was published when I luminous wrapping for chicklit was over 40, I’ve also joined or black for griplit. Sometimes The Prime Writers, (primewritit’s beautiful printed I look at every book and read ers.com) a group of authors paper (The Butterfly who were also first published a Summer by Harriet every press release. Some may Evans came in suit- not be our type, such as non-fic- little later in life. It gives hope tion, science fiction or anything to us all. ably gorgeous too literary or too ‘blokey’. But paper), and occapretty much anything else is sionally there is a covered. I try to keep a mix of little something extra such as genres – one week it might be wine or chocolate (last week historical fiction, then psychothere were some pastry cutters with a book about baking). I’ve logical thriller, or chick lit. You can follow Joanna Christmas books is a fun time as @joczechowska also had books arrive in a hessI get a double page spread to ian sack at Christmas or neatly highlight not just fiction but bi- www.womanmagazine.co.uk packed in straw in a wooden box. Opening them is the high- ography, coffee table books and children’s stories too. *Not at nb HQ, unfortunately. light of my day. 8

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6 new BFFs for a noble cause nb publisher, Guy Pringle on some additions to your team

have 6 brand new best friends who I’ve never met - although I very much hope to do so one day. Over the last 15 years various people have helped in my mission to seek out the best books for you, our readers. Since 2000 I have shamelessly traded on the goodwill of our reviewers and readers, cajoling them into writing about their bookish interests and being volunteer reviewers. But joining up with nudge has widened nb’s sphere of interest beyond my reach and expertise. So it is fortunate indeed that I have been able to draw on the knowledge and enthusiasm of such a broad range of people at one time as those you see on the following pages. And before I wax too lyrical about our community voices I need to pay tribute to the many, many people who continue to send in reviews and articles of interest. So how did Jade, Reg et al come to be the chosen ones? Well, it wasn’t entirely scientific but from the varied, thoughtful and invigorating econversations I have with many of our reviewers these six seemed to fit the community identities and, when I approached them - with a fairly woolly brief, it has to be said -

they were willing to give it a try. There is a gender imbalance of 4:2 for which I hold up my hands and we are, it seems, a ‘white Anglo Saxon protestant’ bunch (and I’ll hazard a guess that we’re the educated middle classes, too). Geographically, Sheila is in Scotland and Phil is on the Isle of Wight but we’re lacking representation from Wales, Northern Ireland and Eire. So not scientific at all, actually. I suppose what I discerned was an interest in what the magazine – and now the website – were trying to do; a willingness to think outside the box (awful phrase but it works) that would add to the mix, the appeal of nb. And they have – immeasurably! So what’s their brief now? To be champions, mavens, crusaders within their community, discovering books that you will want to read. Over the next few pages you can read more about what makes them tick and if you wish to engage with them then

Reg BookChap Rides Again

Jade – Woman of Mystery and Geekism

Paul – In search of the meaning of life

Phil – I blog, therefore I am (a Hugger)

Sheila – Moi? Une diva? Mais non!

simply email info@newbooksmag.com with your query and it will be forwarded.

Mike – Gonna make you an offer . . .

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I have loads of unwanted books Obviously I use nudge and newbooks as my main guide for choosing what I read but now there’s shelves full of them. I’ve taken over a spare room to store those that are waiting for their own shelf space. Last time I moved house I was embarrassed by the number of boxes that were labelled “Books” and now I have even more – are you with me so far?

ookhuggers?

We’re an odd lot. If you’re reading this then you are probably as obsessed about books as I am and like all obsessives we have our little quirks and foibles when it comes to reading. Maybe we should see if anyone wants to commission a TV series about us – but then again, Obsessive Compulsive Readers doesn’t sound the most actionpacked of shows. How we choose what we read and how we go about the process of reading fascinates me and I thought I’d reveal for the first time ever some of my reading guilty secrets . . . 10

Sometimes I use random methods to choose a book I will quite regularly go to a shelf (I like to move round the bookshelves so I’m not always picking from the same shelf ) pull out six books that I would like to read but haven’t got round to and throw a dice. I have a ‘To Be Read’ spreadsheet – Inspired by a fellow blogger who had devised a multicoloured (and admittedly complex) spreadsheet for the books she wanted to read, I thought I’d have a go and list those that have been recommended to me, those by authors I’ve previously enjoyed,

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Mike Stafford, our man of crime (purely fictional!).

the next in a series I’ve been reading etc etc. When I got to 94 titles I thought I’d better stop. I’ve read eight books so far this year and not one has come from the ‘To Be Read’ List – I wonder how many I will be able to cross off by the end of the year. I can’t remember the last time I gave up on a book – If it’s a dud I’ll still read it. I have a Kindle full of unread classics – A recent browse led me to discover Delphi Classic Editions where you can download the entire output of a classic author for just a few pence. Walter Scott ? Never read him, can’t go on without getting everything he’s ever written. John Galsworthy? E Nesbit? Arnold Bennett? Just get them all. How long do I think I’m going to live....! For Phil’s last two confessions see his Profile on nudge!

Check out Phil’s blog - reviewsrevues.com

Got a question or suggestion for one of our Voices? Email info@newbooksmag.com stating which in the subject header

'm a man of eclectic tastes, although like my namesake Mr Corleone*, I keep being pulled back into crime. An unrepentant philosophy and sociology student, I'm interested more in what's going on beneath the surface of a book. To me, trying to unmask the killer will always be a distant second to wrestling with the bigger questions; what makes this place tick? What’s the culture of this city? How do the characters’ minds work? For that reason, I admire writers like Denise Mina, William McIlvanney and Peter May though my interests stretch far beyond Caledonia.

Among the most enduring books for me are William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw, and Stephen King’s The Stand. William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw is a compassionate book. The hero is a cop, Jack Laidlaw, who reads Camus and Kierkegaard and believes that solving crimes using forensics and evidence is like picking a daisy using a crane. He's a rugged intellectual, a cop philosopher and a kind of Glaswegian Christ, championing the victim and the common man in general. McIlvanney looked at the detective genre and thought more could be achieved, so did it. In the hands of another writer, this would all be dazzlingly pretentious; with McIlvanney at the wheel, it's earthy wisdom, a voice of the streets that sounds just as fresh after forty years. And then there's The Stand. At his best, King is peerless, and The Stand is his best work. It creates a universe so rich and credible that I genuinely did have dreams about it for months after turning the final page. The book is broken down across three sections; in the first, the apocalypse is wreaked

Community Voices

Phil Ramage’s Confessions Of A BookHugger.

by accident after a superbug escapes from a military base; in the second, the few remaining survivors traverse the vast North American landscape, gathering in two opposing camps; in the third, a climactic battle ensues between good and evil. The characters are rich and complex; the description of the end of the world is utterly credible, in part because it's such an indictment of human civilisation; the battle between good and evil is pure King, with a strangely Christian core to it despite all that has come before. An American classic to rival anything that loftier writers have produced. Perhaps my tastes match your own, or perhaps we disagree in complementary ways. In either case, I hope I can help navigate this wonderful literary world we live in. * [Ed: A Godfather reference – and probably not the last we’ll hear.]

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“

We had few books in the house when I was young, three DK Broster novels, a dictionary, a Ready Reckoner, a couple of Bibles and a leather bound copy of Dombey and Son. But we were all keen readers and my mother and I paid weekly visits to the library. Zane Grey and such for Dad, novels for Mum and Enid Blyton and Elinor M Brent Dyer for me. As I outgrew the girlie books, I coveted that Dombey and Son with the black leather cover, the gold lettering and the unique smell and feel of fine pages. 12

Chicken pox in those days meant bed rest - Dad reluctantly gave me his much loved school prize. I was soon lost in the tale, driving my parents crazy asking them the meaning of obscure words. That was my introduction to the classics - now I was reading books that took longer than an afternoon to read. A love of Austen, the Brontës, Hardy, Dickens and Shakespeare followed. In a lighter mood I briefly dipped into Agatha Christie underwhelmed - but did scare myself witless with Sherlock Holmes, especially The Hound of the Baskervilles. An aunt gave me a battered copy of How Green was my Valley, and I was transfixed continuing the genre with such as Gone with The Wind. I was often caught reading under the covers with a torch long after lights out. I still find it difficult to stop reading a gripping book. An evening class on 20th Century Literature encouraged us out of our comfort zone: Dr. Zhivago, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Thence to Solzhenitsyn, but not without a struggle. In contrast I love

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books telling the tale of true adventures, such as The Ascent of Everest, The Kon-Tiki Expedition, even The Voyage of the Beagle. I am not picky and enjoy a rattling good read - romantic fiction (not too mushy, and certainly not chick lit) a thriller, an adventure, or biography. I greatly admired Maya Angelou and was thrilled to meet her once. Margaret Forster is my favourite. Her books are beautifully written and her sharp observation of character gives colour to her most enjoyable reads. They touch your soul. Recently space compelled me to have a clear out. Very hard. However, I will never part with my Dombey and Son, not just because it was the catalyst that lifted me from childhood books but Dad obliterated the year he received the prize so that I would not know his age!” Sheila is an aspiring writer herself, seen here as winner of the Dorrit Sim Published Writer of the Year Award at Ayr Writers’ Club. “Daughter is quite shocked that I use a picture of myself as my screen saver on my phone!”

Paul Cheney has a forensic eye for BookLife. On Hawthorn Time. A Walk in the Park is a new book by Travis Elborough, author of several quirky and fascinating books. Already being compared to H is for Hawk, The Outrun by Amy Liptrot is all about her recovery from alcoholism on the island of Orkney. The publishers are hoping for a hit with this one. Anna Pavord is better known as a garden writer and the author of Tulip, a book all about the madness of ast year I read some Tulipmania. Her new book, exceptional books Landskipping, to be published Landmarks by Robert in June, is all about some of Macfarlane and The Road to Britain’s most iconic landscapes Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson - and how artists and farmers and the odd disappointment, have responded to it. but overall it was a pretty good Blending travel with nature and year. And there are still others history, comes The Naked Shore which I have yet to get to, but I by Tom Blass. All about the am still drawn to all the new North Sea, he has travelled the catalogues and releases for periphery of this small, but 2016. significant body of water, Several titles have caught my eye meeting those that depend on it whilst browsing, including: for their livelihoods and Rain: Four Walks in English venturing beneath the waves of Weather, a non-fiction book by this still wild place. Another Melissa Harrison, author of the defining part of England is the beautifully written patchwork of fields, and John

Community Voices

Sheila A Grant can spot a good Diva yarn.

Wright in his new book, The Natural History of the Hedgerow aims to bring alive these ancient boundaries and wildlife havens. For those with a riskier outlook on life, there is The Perfect Bet by Adam Kucharski. Until now those running casinos have had the upper hand, but in this new book, Kucharski details just how professional gamblers are using cutting edge science to claw back the advantage. Even though we have just crept into the new year, there have been two books of note for me so far; The Land Where Lemons Grow by Helena Attlee which is a fascinating account of Italy and its aromatic citrus groves. A nominee for the Stanford Dolman Travel awards it made perfect reading for a very damp January. The second was Pondlife by Al Alvarez. This journal describes his frequent swims in the Highgate Ponds and his observations of the local wildlife, weather and people is just a delight to read. Indeed, a year to look forward to.

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The Secret Garden – Whilst I wasn’t (I hope) a precocious child, I was a precocious reader and this is the first book I have a clear memory of enjoying and loving. It has a lot to answer for, not least groaning shelves and hours of my life completely lost to reading. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

rom the mid-1950s, there was a TV programme called This is Your Life, where celebrities were taken through the story of their life with the help of the famous ‘big red book.’ The original series was slightly before my time, but maybe the big red book spoke to the bibliophile in me. Anyway writing this piece, This is Your Life came to mind. Don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you with baby snaps and holiday shots, nor have I done anything remotely of note to warrant a ‘life story’. Instead it’s a whistlestop tour of a different kind – of the books that have had an impact on me. 14

Fearless – The gap between children’s and adult fiction seemed a lot more pronounced when I was a teenager. Then Francine Pascal’s Fearless series came along and all my prayers were answered. Powerful, refreshing and original, and – for a teenage girl – the feisty ‘fearless’ female lead was a shining light amongst other heroines. Pascal kept me going through my teens – the only problem, she couldn’t write the books fast enough. PS I Love You – Cecelia Ahern introduced me to contemporary fiction and continues to be a go-to author today. To my mind, she receives both undue criticism and insufficient recognition. Quickly brushed aside for not being rigorous or literary, critics often miss the significance and

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value in contemporary women’s fiction. PS . . . exemplifies a genre rich in emotion, and introduced me to a whole sphere of novels that are a balm for the soul. Canterbury Tales – probably suffers for seeming too academic, too inaccessible, which is a huge shame because it is one of the funniest, most nuanced and enjoyable books ever written. Yes, there’s the not insubstantial matter of ‘olde English’, but even if you can’t get your head around your als from your ay, at their heart, the stories are universal. Possession – ‘postmodern historiographic metafiction’ anyone? No? This was one of many books I had thrust upon me, and one of the few that was truly brilliant. Again one of those books that I don’t think has been surpassed. So there you have it, my book life so far. And I hope I’ll find a few more to add to the collection along the way. (In fact, there are 5 more ‘pages’ in Jade’s big red book, the full version of which you can read on nudge.)

Reg Seward, a man of many non-fiction interests. thereabouts. The more tedious ones are the rags to riches, or 'my hell with drug and alcohol addiction' etc, ad nauseam. So may I introduce you to three* of the books that appealed to me recently? The protagonists themselves supposedly wrote each book, yet they are popular musicians, and have been alongside me for years as I have grown into an am not one to really adult. Although of a similar age indulge in so called to myself, they went their way ‘Celebrity’ culture. I of course, and I went mine. understand nothing at all of Their hard luck is that they why I should go into raptures when a particular person reveals cannot read about my life like we can about theirs. themselves to our gaze, unless, The first one is entitled this person has done something simply Ronnie, the life story of worthwhile with their lives. Ronnie Wood, written by I enjoy a varied diet of himself and published in 2007. biographical books on the I have no solid reason to have assumption that the relevant read this other than I enjoy his person has made a noticeable way of playing slide guitar but, difference to our society; over the course of time, his usually over the course of many varied experiences, guises and years, not simply just a person personality have become who is famous for being enshrined in the public famous; as so many are these days. Charity shop bookshelves consciousness. He is a revered artist, a are groaning under the weight musical composer, rock legend of five minute wonders who, unfortunately felt it necessary to and a strange person indeed. compile their life stories, even if This book has his entire life effectively mapped out in they are only 20 years old or

Community Voices

Jade Craddock invokes a still resonant TV programme.

chronological order. Many eyebrows are raised as you read what he has got up to, not just the drink and drugs, but a more in depth self-examination. I found it both riveting and intriguing. I recommend it to readers of the genre. Maybe I have inspired you to give these ‘greats’ a look sometime. I have a lot of this type of book, many film actors and actresses, musicians both classical and popular. They all have, or have had a life that is their own story, sometimes fascinating, sometimes a trifle laboured, but the books try to speak for them. They hopefully bring you closer to these people who have hopefully made a substantial difference somehow. *Space does not allow for heroes two and three but you will find Reg’s thoughts about Keith Richards’ and Pete Townshend’s autobiographies on nudge. Got a question or suggestion for one of our Voices? Email info@newbooksmag.com stating which in the subject header

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READING GROUPS

St Martin’s Book Group on Higher Ed by Tessa McWatt Situated, as we are, on the remote Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall it was interesting and challenging to read a novel set in a very different environment. We had differing views of Higher Ed and will be continuing our discussion when we next meet. Having always lived in small towns and communities I felt this book and its mix of characters took me, sometimes uncomfortably, to a place that well described the feel of a city like London and within that the atmosphere of a college trying to function in times of austerity. There is also the sense of people living that slightly anonymous life that city living encourages. A cleverly written, insightful novel set in London, catching snippets of conversations, snatches of life, and moments in time that matter deeply. I found this book interesting and compelling. I was satisfied with the outcome – not all the issues were resolved. I . . . enjoyed the sing songy, repetitious Guyanese style. The novel displayed the interactions between people of different race and culture, but battling to find human strength, love and peace in opposition and ironies of life.

Initial disgust at ugly language gave way to appreciation for the dialogue showing the distinct voices, strengths, frailties and vulnerabilities of the generally, likeable characters. I like the truths this book portrays of damaged, sometimes sad, disappointed people doing what they can do to distract them from their own misery. Finally this is a book one needs to read more than once to take in all its nuances. 16

. . . not many chapters in, quite unexpectedly, I began to care for the characters. I was often disappointed that the chapter had ended. I also found the list of supporting players useful, as there are quite a few to remember. The main connection between the characters was their search for love, and how they reacted to the social and economic pressures enforced on them. We all share to some degree these pressures: everyone is looking for love and economic security.

. . . a promising start, but then on page 4 the author believed it necessary to use very strong language . . . and I only persevered with the rest of the story in order to be able to take part in our reading group’s discussion. Personally, I feel that there is no need to resort to crude language and if a writer cannot find alternative non-offensive ways of using the English language to express themselves, then they demean both themselves and their work.

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I really struggled with this book, it didn’t draw me in, and I quickly lost interest in the characters – some such as Jasmine had little to redeem them. I didn’t really feel that the story was going anywhere. If I were the publisher of Higher Ed I would have wanted Tessa McWatt to have had another attempt . . . as there are glimpses of a literary talent which need to be developed. The short staccato like chapters keep this book moving at a fast pace, and its style is very contemporary which will appeal to some readers and repel others. The theme of how austerity has knock on effects not only in employment (the book concentrates on higher education in particular) but also on people’s lives is very relevant today. No one character emerges as a ‘winner’ and I did feel that the ending needed to be more memorable. I did not feel that there were any satisfactory conclusions. I think the author describes how many people show real humanity but ultimately life is a struggle for all the characters, both emotionally and economically. Higher Ed raises many issues and is very thought-provoking. I am looking forward to our next book club meeting when we can discuss in depth our thoughts and feelings about this book. Apologies that the group’s reviews are much abridged but they can be found in full on nudge. St Martin’s won a reading group set of Scribe’s Higher Ed in an earlier newbooks.

Crime doesn’t pay – but that doesn’t stop us reading about it! A new imprint, real life inspiration, a big interview with Peter James and so much more. We’re getting away with murder!

CRIME FICTION SPECIAL

AND THE WINNER IS . . . As we present our annual crime fiction supplement we lead off with the nb/nudge BookNoir Book of 2015 so please welcome to the podium, Mr BookNoir, Mike Stafford:

“

Oh my god! He’s won the title back at 32!” So Harry Carpenter bellowed over the crowd as Muhammad Ali felled the younger, hungrier George Foreman to become Heavyweight Champion of the World - again. So it goes with our own noble contest. Rebus is still e Greatest, even on his twentieth outing. With a father-and-son dynamic between Rankin creations old (Rebus) and new (Fox), and

the beefy brutality of Scottish gangland, Even Dogs in the Wild is officially BookNoir’s Book of the Year. And I ask you - who would ever bet against Edinburgh’s two R’s? In a very respectable and close-run second place came Jason Starr with Savage Lane. Fans adored the hypnotic, curtain-twitching satire. Rankin offers an existentialist grit, Starr offers something darkly and comically different. If you have to be asleep to believe the American dream, then Savage Lane shows why – behind the picket fences, lives implode under the weight of lusty delusions. If as the reader you’re just watching through the crack in the wardrobe door, it’s a blackly hilarious thing to see. As always, a round of applause for all shortlisted authors. e list really is an embarrassment of riches for us readers, and really – there’s plenty of honour in finishing just behind a true champion.

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Congratulations to Jane Ashcroft from Solihull who wins a year’s subscription to nb from our prize draw.

The BookNoir Book of 2015 shortlist in Top Ten order Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin Savage Lane by Jason Starr The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith Wolf Winter by Cecelia Ekbäck A Game For All the Family by Sophie Hannah Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins by James Runcie All Involved by Ryan Gattis The Insect Farm by Stuart Prebble She Who Was No More by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac

Point-blank

CRIME FICTION SPECIAL

adjective & adverb

1. (of a shot) fired from very close to its target. 2. exciting new crime fiction imprint.

Editorial Director, Jenny Parrott, on the thrills in store.

t’s been an exciting time at Oneworld, as we’ve all been working hard to launch our literary crime, thriller and suspense list, Point Blank. For although crime writers are often overlooked by the literary prize committees, there are some absolutely fantastic genre writers producing excellent prose of a calibre that can easily sit alongside the very best fiction writers working today. At Oneworld we pride ourselves on publishing books that deserve to be published, no matter what. This means that although of course we are eager to be market-aware, we are as keen to make sure that we remain an editorially-led company not overly concerned with trends or fads. This ethos is at the heart of Point Blank too, as we are determined to deliver a broad church of writing, and our plan is that all types of reader will find something to enjoy. We just want wonderful writing and fantastic stories – and as the acquiring editor driving Point Blank, if I can imagine readers wanting to read the submission I am looking at, then that is a major tick in that book’s favour.

While we are a literary house (we won last year’s Man Booker prize with A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James), at Point Blank we are happy to publish also at the more commercial end of the market. And so we have a fantastic trilogy of Norfolk-set ‘Birder Murder’ police procedurals from birding expert Steve Burrows to come over the summer, where wild birds are the stars. Other unputdownable reads are Stephen Price’s By Gaslight, combining the genesis of the Pinkerton’s detective agency with a hunt for Jack the Ripper, while Karen Lee Street opens a trilogy featuring Poe and his literary creation C. Auguste Dupin as a sleuthing duo looking this time into a real-life cause célèbre that captivated 1780s London with Edgar Allan Poe and the London Monster. But we’re not afraid to gently challenge our readers. Ryan Ireland is a gifted young American writer who writes edgily about a side of America one would do well to avoid, and so we have two novels from him, Ghosts of the Desert and Beyond the Horizon. And we have a strong interest in

translated fiction, with two stunning novels originally written in Chinese, French Concession by Xiao Bai and A Perfect Crime by A Yi, along with superb novels from Denmark, Finland, Israel and France in the pipeline. I’ve been delighted by the quality of what we’ve been able to buy so far, and the industry feedback has been most encouraging. Indeed, I find each day it’s a pleasure to open my inbox, as I never know what treasures are waiting.

Jenny Parrott

Email: pointblank@oneworldpublications.com Follow us on Twitter @ptblankbks and if you’d like to be considered to receive review copies, please email publicity@oneworldpublications.com.

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CRIME FICTION SPECIAL

Steve Burrows on ‘the curse of freedom’ backstory I hadn’t bargained on. Similarly, if I now had the freedom to bring together two of my great loves, birding and murder mysteries, in a single story, it came with a price. Since this was to be a murder mystery first and foremost, with birding only as a sub-theme, I had to find a way to keep both birders and non-birders engaged. This et me tell you about ‘the meant creating ways to help curse of freedom’. After non-birders to understand the years of writing nonworld of birding without fiction articles on resorting to lengthy, clumsy environmental issues, there was passages of exposition. It meant, an exhilarating sense of freedom too, that non-birders would when I sat down to write my need to have ample opportunity first novel, A Siege of Bitterns. I to weigh in with their points of was no longer constrained to view on this whole, puzzling write about places, characters birding ‘thing’. and events that existed in the Surely the plotline would real world; now I could create benefit from this new liberty, my own. However, I quickly though? Until now, my stories learned the challenges of had had a steady, linear writing non-fiction paled in progression, from background comparison with what I now to environmental issue to thought of as ‘the curse of resolution - in the more freedom’. satisfying stories, anyway. Now, For example, if I wanted a I could interweave a couple of Canadian protagonist, but an minor plotlines around the English seaside village setting, main story, to make things there was no pesky reality more intriguing and appealing preventing me from bringing for the reader. I hope they find the two together. However, the it so; it certainly turned out to situation would only work if I be a lot more challenging for could offer a plausible reason this writer. for his being there. And that Creating a fictional world was meant creating an entire one thing; turning the

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individuals into people was quite another. Though people were often central to my nonfiction pieces, all I had to do was tell their stories, as they told them to me. Now, I had had to create characters; in particular, a highly-touted Canadian ‘outsider’ and an older, local police officer, who could guide his new inspector through the labyrinthine ways of English village life. In return, this newcomer would show the sergeant a thing or two about his unconventional approaches to investigating a case. And occupying opposite ends of the bird enthusiast’s spectrum, there would be plenty of opportunity for them to exchange views on that subject, too. In the end, I quite enjoyed all this freedom writing fiction had given me; certainly enough to continue the Birder Murder mystery series (currently at three books, with another couple on the way). But if anyone ever asks me about the difference between writing nonfiction and fiction, you can be sure I’ll begin my response with, “Let me tell you about the curse of freedom.” A Siege of Bitterns by Steve Burrows is published by Point Blank as a £7.99 pbk on 3rd March.

Ryan Ireland speculates on what else is out there . . . Today, the site is an out-of-the way memorial with a modest museum—no town to speak of. Lesser known establishments like the prison camp of Dalton Wells, where the troublemakers from Topaz and other camps were incarcerated without trial are almost completely forgotten. Not much has changed in the last century. Today, we have no hosts of the Desert is a better plan to dispose of nuclear confabulation of lore and waste than to stash it under history, the refusal of the Yucca Mountain in Nevada. human mind to accept And let’s not forget that Area what it sees and its inability to 51—the top-secret facility and decipher lies from truths. For ground zero for conspiracy me, a story like this, where theorists—is strategically characters navigate through the located in the desert. murk of memory, the desert What stories we have of the provides the perfect setting. West are often called lore or Deserts are the great American legend rather than history. Las amnesia. Throughout US Vegas—that desert-killing history, if we want to forget oasis—boasts of its something, we simply put it to forgetfulness with the motto: the west of the Mississippi “What happens in here, stays in River. We have a long, sad here.” Indeed, Plutonium-239, history of relocating things the proposed waste for Yucca there—from entire groups of Mountain, has a half-life of people to nuclear waste. 24,100 years. It’s not going American policy in the 1830s anywhere; we’ll forget about it displaced native peoples to like we’ve forgotten so much of reservations on desert lands in the west. We revel in the hopes they would be forgotten, desertification of cultural their history lost. During World memory. War II the Japanese-American As the protagonist in Ghosts of internment camp of Topaz, the Desert finds out, these Utah, held over 9,000 people. layered memories—myths,

personal histories, shadowy government operations—are preserved by the desert. Venturing into those blank swaths of map without lines or dots or patina patterns of terrain becomes the only way to remember. A map can elide memory, but the land doesn’t forget. Ghost towns nestle into mountainsides. Local legends and historical apocrypha are handed down like oral scripture. Trekking across southern Utah is like stumbling through an uncurated museum or a nuclear wasteland. When the human mind tries to make sense of America’s junkyard of memories—that blank spot on a map—the imagination runs rampant. I wonder how many other people go out to the desert and create their own memories, their own versions of history? Whether they encounter things we’ve forgotten and - not knowing any other name for them - decide it was all a hallucination? I wonder if they misinterpret their desert visions and call it history?

Ryan Ireland

Ghosts of the Desert by Ryan Ireland is published by Point Blank as a £8.99 pbk on 5th March.

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AUTHOR MEETS REVIEWER

Mike Stafford meets Holly Seddon After Mike Stafford’s very flattering nudge review of Try Not to Breathe, not surprisingly author Holly Seddon was happy to engage with him on behalf of nb readers. Beyond that, I had a playlist that I listened to over and over, especially while editing, and which has now turned into my launch party playlist. Most of the songs are from 1995 but some are on there for the feelings they generate, I wasn’t super strict. Mike Stafford

Mike Stafford: Firstly, the title of the book is shared with one of the tracks of REM's Automatic for the People, and even the briefest study of its haunting, desolate lyrics suggests the similarities might not end there. Did you draw inspiration from any of the musicians Amy name checks in the book? Holly Seddon: I listened to Pulp over and over when I was writing about Amy’s life pre-attack. ‘His ‘n’ Hers’ and ‘Different Class’ both bristle with the promise of sexual exploration, hope and dark moments. e dra first chapter even had a few lyrics from ‘Do You Remember e First Time?’ strewn through it originally. 22

MS: ere's a rich seam of suspense novels now with leading characters who are psychologically impaired or damaged in some way. Is that something you felt you had to 'live up to' while writing? HS: Luckily no, but only due to my tardiness. I started writing Try Not to Breathe a long time ago (hence the ‘present day’ is 2010). For a few reasons it was quite a stop-start process, and by the time we’d sold the book to publishers, there had been a wonderful explosion of these complex, ﬂawed protagonists and fresh takes on the unreliable narrator. So while Try Not to Breathe is entering a party that’s already started, I was able to write it without that pressure.

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MS: In seeking justice for Amy, Alex is almost forced to drag her life back on track, but the book never really feels like a selfish quest for redemption. Was redemption important to you when writing, or was your focus always on justice for Amy's character? HS: ank you so much, I’m glad that’s how it comes across – I’d have hated for Alex to be either too worthy and earnest or outright selfish. Perhaps I should lie and claim I knew all along, but actually, Alex’s own journey developed almost under the radar. Initially, I wanted justice for Amy, and Alex was almost a vessel for that. But the more I got to know her, thinking about why she would have been in this mess, the more I wanted her to have a second chance. MS: Perhaps inevitably, your book has drawn comparisons with e Girl on the Train. As a writer, how helpful do you find that type of comparison?

HS: From a marketing point of view, it’s probably very helpful to the folks who look aer that side of things but for me, it’s a bit of a strange feeling to be compared to someone else, even if that someone else is awesome. As a newcomer to this world, I’m not used to it as no other job I’ve had has involved that experience. e Girl on the Train is brilliant, and Paula Hawkins is a fantastic writer so it’s incredibly ﬂattering, but at the same time the books are not the same. It would be boring if they were! I am also trying not to pay attention to anything that will mess with my head while I’m writing my next book! I don’t need to be thinking, “I wonder if this is anything like this author or that author’s next book?” I’m neurotic enough! MS: We can't not ask - how did you set about researching coma patients for Amy's scenes? And did you feel a sense of duty towards real life coma patients when writing? HS: It was actually a Radio 4 programme about persistent vegetative states that ﬁrst sparked the idea. I hadn’t known anything about these long-term conditions before and most of my ideas about comas came from soap operas. But it was both fascinating and heartbreaking. One of the experts described the condition as “a living death” and that was a springboard for developing

Amy’s experiences. I did a lot of reading about treatment, watched documentaries and read some unbearably moving accounts from a handful of patients who had recovered from states like this. But I had to allow myself to use huge dollops of artistic license. I tried to be respectful to anyone who might have experienced this bleak situation, but the story came ﬁrst. MS: For us, Amy was the star of the show, but it's clear she's not got a great deal of series potential. Can you tell us any more about what you're working on next? HS: at’s lovely to hear because I’m so fond of Amy. But no, there’s not a great deal of potential for Amy in future books! I never considered writing a sequel, Try Not to Breathe was always a standalone story. A few people have asked about another book focussing on Alex but I’m not sure I would want to do that. Never say never but right now, it feels a bit like sleeping with an ex when you have a new boyfriend. And I do have a new book boyfriend! I’m working on another standalone thriller. I’m about a third of the way through the ﬁrst dra so it’s early days but I’m really enjoying the new characters, a fresh setting and pulling in everything I learned writing Try Not to Breathe to really tighten the tension.

Holly Seddon

AUTHOR MEETS REVIEWER

Part of Mike’s review Try Not to Breathe is a formidable suspense novel, but as might be expected, the coma passages are its unique-sellingpoint. Seddon tells a moving but urgent tale of lives screwed up through weakness and vulnerability, of people struggling with their motivations, and of a justice that desperately needs to be served, but if the book is to truly be remembered – and I think it will – the dark, lonely chapters spent inside Amy’s head will be the reason why. Is this going to be the best book of 2016 then? The year is young and much is to come, but I can certainly recommend that readers find out for themselves. Mike Stafford

Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon is published by Corvus as a £12.99 hbk and is available now.

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CRIME FICTION SPECIAL

No Exit Press: More than Just the Usual Suspects

Alejandra , Ion, Claire and Clare

o Exit Press has been in business for almost 30 years. Publisher, Ion Mills, provides an insight into how the independent publisher has survived and thrived. “We look for a mix in the titles we publish. We look for books that will be popular with a wide range of audiences such as Leigh Russell’s Murder Ring, part of the Geraldine Steel series, which has sold over half a million copies and Kickback, the latest in the continuing Robert B Parker Spenser series. But our size and independence means we can also be flexible, so we publish literary crime like the gripping

Dodgers by Bill Beverly, a book so good we entered it for the Man Booker prize! We also love discovering quirky new titles like Haints Stay by Colin Winnette, an acid western for noir fans, and international titles that we can bring to the attention of British readers like Martin Suter’s Montecristo, a conspiracy thriller that reached #1 in the German bestseller charts. Things have changed a bit since we first started publishing and maybe one of our smarter moves was to embrace ebooks early on. The crime and thriller genre has proved very popular and we know that a lot of readers love devouring crime ‘series’ – to the extent that we now release some titles as ebooks first. Getting our books discovered has also changed over the years and we are always looking at new ways to connect with our readers. Social media has a big part to play but ‘old school’ reviews are still important and author events

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have a growing significance. Not a lot of people know this but we run the online magazine, CrimeTime and we will be expanding that in 2016 so we can better hear from readers directly. No Exit also has a longstanding relationship with ‘Mr Crime’, Barry Forshaw and we are very excited about the imminent publication of Brit Noir, his ultimate guide to the crime writers of the British Isles.

So what else to look out for in 2016? You could try the ‘New York Times Notable’ debut literary thriller, Dragonfish by Vu Tran, reviewed on p97, the atmospheric, Amsterdam based, The Harbour Master by Daniel Pembrey or the latest historical crime thriller, The Divided City by CWA award nominated, Luke McCallin. No matter your choice of poison, we’ve got you covered – because, above all else, we’re crime fans too! ” www.noexit.co.uk

So good we entered it for the Man Booker prize! hard chance: to climb into an inconspicuous van the next morning, cross the country, and carry out a bloody mission. He takes the offer, and with three other young men, a small sum of cash, and one small, smuggled pistol, East leaves LA for the first time in his life. The country’s landscape – mountains, deserts, plains, pine woods and truck stops, from A mean and moody Bill Beverly LA sun to Midwestern winter – isn’t what he expects. Nor are No Exit Press are the other three: a fast-talking convinced Dodgers college student, a gluttonous is one to watch. problem-solver, and East’s own brother, as inscrutable and odgers is the story of East, deadly as a snake. The a tough kid in a tough Los American road is hostile in ways that surprise even a kid Angeles neighborhood, The Boxes, all hot asphalt hardened by a frightful life on the streets. And that road and helicopters dangling from carries East to the end of his the sky. As a watchman mission and beyond – to hard standing guard outside a busy drug house, East leads a crew at choices about what he’s done, and about whom he will fifteen: he knows the streets become. already, the people, the As a teenager, I came to love routines. He is attuned to stories that questioned the rules movement, to threat. He is or their practice, or that tested good at his job. He has never and expanded the limits of my imagined doing anything else. empathy – from Roald Dahl’s But one morning the police Danny, The Champion of the arrive: something goes wrong. World, I graduated to Native And in a flash East is on the Son and In Cold Blood. outside, without gang or job. Dodgers was written after I Called to account for the spent years writing a catastrophe, he is offered one

dissertation, now a book, on American stories about criminal fugitives. The fugitive genre has great bones – a crime to begin, a flight from apprehension, the constant threat of the search. Fugitive stories are a type of road story, and they can be meditative too, turning the outsider’s eye on the police, on home, on American myths and landscapes. The hardbitten quiet of the fugitive is part of East long before he hits the road – his reserve, his pique, his sharp alertness in the world. He is a teenager, capable, resourceful, and wise, and simultaneously almost frighteningly naïve about the world and his place in it.

Dodgers by Bill Beverley is published by No Exit Press as a £14.99 hbk on 30th March.

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CRIME FICTION SPECIAL

Ripped from the headlines! Erin Britton, our Law and Order Reporter, digs up the gruesome truth behind your reading.

hile most would agree that it would be highly suspicious if well-known authors kept turning up at crime scenes, it appears that Jessica Fletcher isn’t the only crime novelist to proﬁt from real life crimes. In fact, some of the best loved and bestselling crime novels, both modern and classic, have actually been based on reports of real murders, mysteries and mayhem. Real crimes are rarely cosy, although Agatha Christie, arguably the queen of genteel, ﬁnely plotted crime novels, did borrow from true events at least once. Murder on the Orient Express sees Hercule Poirot investigate the killing of malevolent businessman Samuel Ratchett on board the snowbound Orient Express. While the denouement is entirely the work of Christie’s ingenious mind, the trigger for Ratchett’s murder – the death of the Armstrong baby – was 26

inspired by the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Charles Lindbergh’s son. An initial suspect in the Lindbergh case was the family’s maid, Violet Sharp, who tragically committed suicide following heavy-handed interrogations by the police. Christie managed to work that into the plot too.

Despite writing perhaps the most famous crime novel in this regard, Agatha Christie wasn’t the ﬁrst author of a “classic” crime novel to seek inspiration from reports of a real crime.

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Edgar Allen Poe’s macabre novel e Tell-Tale Heart was actually based on the murder of Captain White, whose nephews sought to profit from his death, although there’s no indication that they were plagued with guilt over the affair. In fact, Poe ripped another story from the headlines when he craed e Mystery of Marie Rogêt as a sequel to e Murders in the Rue Morgue. e story sees pioneering detective C. Auguste Dupin tasked with solving a murder based on the real life killing of Mary Cecilia Rogers, whose murder Poe attempted to solve by constructing a fictional investigation into the matter. In keeping with the more classic approach to crime, Arthur and George by Julian Barnes has the distinction of being based on both a real life crime and a real life crime writer. e crime in question involved George Edalji, who was convicted of the so-called Great Wyrley Outrages, a series of attacks on animals that took

place in 1903. e novel follows to indicate he had turned down Arthur Conan Doyle’s attempts a request to assassinate the to clear Edalji’s name and bring strike’s organiser. the real culprit to justice. While it’s not surprising that sensational cases inspire novelists, it is certainly disturbing to discover that some particularly brutal and disturbing crime novels were based on real events. Prior to writing the Lisbeth Salander trilogy, Steig Larsson worked as an investigative reporter. e murder of prostitute Catrine da Costa led to him writing extensively about violence against women, and it inspired him to write e Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as a means of The Anaconda Road miners publicising the issue. e Black Two of the greatest writers of Dahlia by James Ellroy was crime noir also turned to the inspired by one of the most newspapers for inspiration for famous unsolved crimes in their books. In e High America, the killing and Window by Raymond dismemberment of Elizabeth Chandler, when Phillip Short. Marlowe reminisces about the Cassidy case to help him unravel the mysteries he is facing, he is actually drawing on the murder of Ned Doheny, son of oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny, while Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett was inspired by the Anaconda Road massacre, which occurred during a miners’ strike in Butte, Montana. Guards hired by the mining company opened ﬁre on the striking miners, killing one Elizabeth Short and injuring sixteen more. Hammett was working as a Jointly winning the award for Pinkerton agent in Butte at the most gruesome plot, both time and paid close attention to Psycho by Robert Bloch and the events, even going so far as Silence of the Lambs by omas

Harris were based on serial killer Ed Gein, who police theorised was killing women in order to make a skin suit so that he might dress as his dead mother. Reports of real life crimes have clearly led to some excellent works of [practically] ﬁction, and it doesn’t look like Ed Gein aka Hannibal Lecter?

that phenomenon is going away any time soon. Indeed, a couple of recent bestselling and awardbothering novels have used the practice to great eﬀect. Emma Donoghue conceived the idea for Room aer hearing about the children involved in the Josef Fritzl case, while Hannah Kent based Burial Rites on the case of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last woman to be executed for murder in Iceland. Crime is certainly an ongoing business, as is crime writing, so it’ll be interesting to see the next crime to make it big, ﬁctionally speaking.

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CRIME FICTION SPECIAL

BIG INTERVIEW

Quirky Q+A Leigh Russell, writer of scary crime novels, ‘fesses up to what scares her

CATS OR DOGS? I'd love to have a dog. My problem is that I'm scared of them, especially large dogs. This fear goes back to my early childhood when I was attacked by an Alsatian in our local park. Alsatians still terrify me to this day, and I suspect they know how I feel. Cats always come and sit on my lap. So it seems my answer has been chosen for me. Cats.

TEA OR COFFEE? Until a few years ago, I used to drink coffee all day long. About three years ago I had very severe pneumonia, and was unable to eat or drink normally for three months. My first coffee after 28

such a long break shocked me, the effect was so powerful. Before that I had no idea how strong a drug it was. I now enjoy coffee as a treat when I'm out, but at home I stick to tea. With four of us living in the house, there's always someone putting the kettle on. Sometimes we have hot cross buns or crumpets as well... CINEMA OR THEATRE? Theatre every time for me. I love live performances, whether it's watching plays or listening to live music, attending literary festivals or visiting libraries to meet readers. We spend so much of our time connecting online, it's wonderful to witness real people doing real things. It's not only enjoyable, but that kind of real world human interaction is valuable. BRIDGES OR TUNNELS? Both bridges and tunnels feature in my books. I love the resonance of their symbolic meanings; a bridge between two worlds, a tunnel leading somewhere in the darkness... Although I like the symbolism of tunnels, I don't feel comfortable underground. We visited a

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disused mine recently to view the spectacular subterranean rock formations and stalactites. In the dark I grabbed hold of what I thought was my husband's arm... The gentleman I dragged around the caves with me was very gracious about it. It's a close call, but I'm going to choose bridges because they're out in the open air.

DENIM OR LINEN? I hate to cause offence and hope no one who makes irons is put out by what I'm about to say, but ironing is such a waste of time. Why do we bother? What's wrong with wearing creased clothes? Linen needs ironing, so it has to be denim for me.

Journey To Death by Leigh Russell is published by Thomas & Mercer as a £7.99 pbk and is available now.

Peter James nb reader Jayne Townsend, is an ardent fan of Peter James’s work and lives in Brighton so ... I arrived at Peter James’s House just as the radio announcer gave us the sad news that Harper Lee had passed away at the age of 89. Turning off the road, I stopped at the white gate as instructed and pressed the intercom and Linda Buckley, Peter’s assistant, answered and buzzed me in. The Old Rectory is easily seen from the road of this Sussex village just north of Brighton, the city he knows particularly well and where Roy Grace (Peter’s famous detective) is based. Many of Peter’s books are set in and around Sussex, incorporating real life local characters like Norman Cook (AKA Fatboy Slim), Gresham Blake (the tailor) or lifelong friend Chris Gebbie. As I got out of the car I glanced at the upper floor of the house, just in case there was a ghostly face at the window but, unlike two of Peter’s former houses, this one is not haunted… The inspiration for House on Cold Hill (pbk 16th June) is a house near Ditchling which he and his former wife shared with the ghost of a grey lady.

Peter and snake – the joys of research!

Linda (who often features in his Roy Grace books as a Family Liaison Officer) showed me into the garage, explaining that this was where all the work hap-

pened. Peter is a bit of a “petrol head”, and loves to race cars at Goodwood. “The Garage” however is not quite the same as most cluttered homes for bikes

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much at home, and had already gathered some great background information about the man himself. Jayne Townsend : I've read all of the Roy Grace books and am now reading some of the Peter and Jayne under surveillance by earlier novels - what book/s ‘Roy Grace’ have you read and enjoyed recently? and lawnmowers - being the size Peter James : I’m embarrassed of a 3 bed house, and purpose about some of my earlier books, built by Peter when he bought but most proud of the Roy the house 4 years ago. Upstairs Grace series. I get sent about are the offices where I was in10-15 books per week from up troduced to Spook the dog and and coming authors (as well as his wife, Lara, who looks after retired police officers). I usually Peter’s social media and website. only read about 5% of a book – The walls are lined with you can usually tell after a coubook covers, awards and other ple of chapters whether a book memorabilia. There is a collecgrips you or not. The books I’ve tion of crime scene items on the enjoyed recently are I Let You floor, and a mannequin affecGo by Claire Mackintosh, The tionately known as Roy Grace. Killer Next Door by Alex MarPride of place, by the entrance wood, Double Indemnity by door, is the clocking-in machine James M Cain and Alex by from the original Cornelia Pierre Lemaitre. James glove factory. Peter’s These are amongst the books “I mother founded this business wish I’d written” [which has to which has a royal warrant to be the greatest accolade from a make gloves for the Queen. successful author.] Their gloves have also graced JT : You have a new Roy Grace the hands of the Duchess of book out in May - do you write Cambridge, Princess Anne, every day? Taylor Swift & Madonna. Proud of his heritage, Cornelia PJ : Yes, though there is no such thing as a typical week. I try to James gloves or scarves always write 6 days a week and have make an appearance in Peter’s novels. He also keeps tabs on all Sundays off. I’m most productive with a Vodka Martini, some his main characters using the music and a cigar and write cards in the clocking-in mabetween 6pm and 10pm, this chine. comes from when I was By the time I was ushered combining writing with into Peter’s office I felt very 30

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working as a film producer. I like to get up early and after breakfast and feeding the animals [2 dogs (Spooks & Oscar), 7 hens, 20 ducks, 5 Alpacas, a baby shark, Cosmo the Psycho Cat and Colin the Gerbil!] I will often review what I’ve written the evening before. JT : Your books are so well researched. Do you do it all yourself ? PJ : Yes, I do all my own police research, recently spending 5 hours at Scotland Yard learning about face recognition. Last week I took my wife Lara for a romantic Valentine’s Day outing which we spent in the back of a Met police car, following around and observing the work of the officers during their full shift. We attended an illegal rave and a violent robbery. I like to steep myself in police culture, all in the name of research. JT : I understand that you were shut in a coffin for half an hour when writing Dead Simple. Is this true? PJ : Yes I arranged with a local undertaker to be put into a coffin and have the lid screwed down, I’m claustrophobic, but wanted to experience what it would be like. I asked a coroner friend how much air there would be in an average coffin and was told 3-4 hours, but much less (45 mins) if you panic and hyperventilate. The lid was placed on top and I could hear the screws being

turned. The undertaker was a guy of about 85 and I suddenly thought, what if he has a heart attack and drops dead, whilst I’m in here? JT : House on Cold Hill is a modern ghost story - a family move into what they think is their dream house, a house they can't quite afford, but to which they are now tied. I understand that you had a similar encounter with a ghost when you moved into a new house? PJ : It’s true, it was a house near Ditchling and I experienced the floating particles and the image of a grey lady, I didn’t mention it to my wife and she didn’t mention it to me straight away. I get a feeling about places, there are some where I couldn’t live. There are two kinds of ghost - dumb ghosts and smart ghosts. A dumb ghost is where the energy is released and embedded into the surroundings; we’re all made of carbon and so are the floors and walls of a building and they absorb the energy. There is a Grey Lady at Cambridge, Trinity College, I think, who is seen to float through a room. When the floor needed to be replaced, due to rot, they raised the floor level and now the Grey Lady appears to be cut off – but still continues to visit. Then there are smart ghosts who want to take revenge (like Hamlet's father) these are much rarer. Another house we lived in at Beddingham (near Lewes) was

haunted, I later found out it was built on a grave from the Battle of Lewes. The house was half a mile from the nearest neighbours, yet there was often a very strong smell of cigar smoke and the doorbell would ring when no one was there. Once when I was away, my wife phoned me saying she felt someone get into bed beside her. This was also corroborated by Linda who had worked in the house and heard babies crying. When she checked, the house was empty, she was alone. JT : Is there a little bit of you in your characters? PJ : Oh yes – certainly a lot of me in Roy Grace. JT : When will we get to see him on the small or large screen? PJ : It’s definitely being spoken about, so hopefully within the next couple of years we should be going into production. JT : You are friends, I believe, with Lee Child? What advice did you give him when Tom Cruise suggested playing Jack Reacher? Who would you like to play Roy Grace? PJ : Lee got a lot of flack from fans about the choice of Tom Cruise for the role of Jack Reacher. A film or TV deal really does sell books, a film will be watched by millions of viewers. It’s very important to get it right; Lee and I both have the same philosophy - we like to be

kind to our fans. I have seen so many dreadful adaptations of good books. JT : You have been the Programming Director for this year’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. How has that been? PJ : I was at a meeting in Harrogate yesterday with Prince Charles & Camilla, not the first time I have met them as they came to the Royal Premiere of Merchant of Venice, their first official engagement. I shook hands with Camilla then and asked her if she was still smoking, she said, “How naughty, was I looking for someone to have a crafty cigarette with behind the bike sheds?” I reminded her of this when we met yesterday. She told me she is reading You are Dead currently and loving it. Many thanks to Jayne Townsend.

Love You Dead by Peter James is published by Macmillan as a £20.00 hbk on 19th May 2016.

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CRIME FICTION SPECIAL

My Top Ten CrimeFest moments Mike Stafford remembers the south of England’s premier crime festival. his adoptive French homeland, violence is everywhere. During the hunting season, the summer days are punctuated by explosions of gunfire. As he said this, rising star of Tartan noir Caro Ramsay turned to me and said, "Sounds like Glasgow!" Waking up at 4.30am to get my report on day 3 written. First time ever I've enjoyed any work so much that I was unable to sleep out of excitement over the task in hand.

Getting a boot up the backside with regards to my own novel. Aside from the inspiration gained just by being around other (infinitely more successful) writers, the depth and breadth of advice CrimeFest makes available to struggling / indolent / stagnating writers like me is invaluable.

Over the last few years, I'd forgotten what it looked like, but it was finally back, and with a vengeance. Not thirty seconds walk from the venue, exuberant types were bounding through the fountains opposite the quay, while the streets teemed with beer garden patrons. Bristol's definitely an undeservedly overlooked venue for a UK city break.

If you ever get the opportunity to watch a panel that David Mark's sitting on, grab it with both hands. He was hilarious when I saw him last year at Harrogate, and even funnier this year. Why does Hull make sense as a setting for crime writing, for example? Well, the popularity of Nordic noir has shown us there's a real appetite for the bleak and the desolate...

Martin Walker telling his tale of countryside violence. In

Getting Jeffery Deaver to 6 sign two of his books for my daughter's godmother. She bought her the Complete Winnie the Pooh for her christening, but now I've produced the trump card of awesome book-related presents. Oh, and if you should see Deaver produce a gritty, noir reboot of Pooh Bear's antics, you know who to thank. Successfully holding a brief conversation with Denise Mina and William McIlvanney. There was a scene in an old episode of Family Guy in which, meeting his heroes the rock band KISS, Peter can do nothing more than yell moronically "YOU. ARE. GODS!!" For a bloke knocking 30, I'm pleased I manage to avoid falling into a similar trap, and have now added Mr McIlvanney's phrase "paramedic politics" to my own political lexicon.

Interviewing the delightful Dana Stabenow. I now have a working knowledge of Alaska's own take on Sarah Palin, the warm glow of knowing I've managed to interpret her protagonist correctly, and the reassuring knowledge that even someone capable of living in

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forbidding Arctic conditions can be baffled by a brief journey across a modern British city. Enjoying a pint with Howard Linskey, the man whose debut novel 'The Drop' once made me an hour and a half late for work, every minute of which was spent with bleached knuckles. It turns out there is an overlap between football fans and crime fiction lovers!

Giants of the Genre set for Harrogate!

An evening meal with the fine people at Head of Zeus. 10 Since setting up shop, HoZ have given me countless hours of entertainment, sending me to rural Wyoming with one of my personal heroes CJ Box, to the vast expanse of the Arctic in Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak series, and to Franco-era Spain with Mark Oldfield's deliciously dark 'The Sentinel.' What better way could I thank them for all this than by getting them to shell out for some fine Thai cuisine? A top evening out with a cracking bunch of people, and the cherry on the cake that was a perfect long weekend.

CrimeFest 2016 takes place in Bristol from 19-22 May. Nb readers can claim a 15% discount on full passes by using the voucher code newbooks when ordering tickets. Offer closes 1st May. www.crimefest.com

Val McDermid and Mark Billingham

It’s become Europe’s most-loved crime writing festival, dubbed by authors as their ‘AGM’, and seen by fans as an annual ‘pilgrimage’. 2015 saw 14,000 tickets sold over 30 events. This year, the 14th Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival returns to Agatha Christie’s old haunt, the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate, over a long weekend, 21-24 July. ‘King of the police procedural’ (and newbooks’ cover star!) Peter James, takes the helm as Programming Chair. Peter said the crime genre crosses geographic boundaries: “You can open up the world from your armchair, and so in 2016, I’d like to invite you all on a flight of fancy – an exploration of this enthralling genre that spans the globe…. There will be the Giants of the Genre

we’ve come to expect from a Festival as brilliant as Harrogate and a wealth more stellar names to be announced over the coming weeks.” 2016 Special Guests include international bestseller Jeffery Deaver, who will be in conversation with BBC broadcaster, Mark Lawson. Luther-creator and writer, the extraordinary Neil Cross also stars, as does the ‘queen of medical suspense’, Tess Gerritsen. Building on the Festival’s tradition of injecting comedy into proceedings, (interviewers in previous years include Sarah Millican, Rory Bremner and Eddie Izzard), Val McDermid will be sharing a few killer jokes with fellow Scot, the Edinburgh Festival stand-up, Susan Calman. Festival favourite Mark Billingham will be chatting to the former journalist and columnist-turned-thriller writer, Linwood Barclay. Martina Cole will be in conversation with Peter James, and Gerald Seymour put under the investigative spotlight by the producer of the BBC Radio 2 Book Club, Joe Haddow.

The festival is famed for its no barriers approach as readers and authors alike mingle at the bar. Audiences are invited to grab a pint of Yorkshire’s finest ale, and dip into an intoxicating mix of comedy, heated debate and scintillating socialising. The event features the 12th Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Awards in partnership with WHSmith and the Radio Times. The festival also sees the return of the day-long creative writing workshop for aspiring writers, Creative Thursday.

Neil Cross and Idris Elba

Tickets are now on sale for all Special Guest events, with Weekend Break Packages available. For more information, or to book, visit

www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com

or call the team on 01423 562303.

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AUTHOR MEETS REVIEWER

Alastair Giles, our MD, has been a longstanding fan of Chris Cleave’s work to date – Incendiary, The Other Hand, Gold – and he loved Chris’s latest. So it seemed only sensible to ask him to put some questions to the author.

Alastair Giles: Can you outline your family connection or inspiration to the new novel? Chris Cleave: My maternal grandparents met only nine times before WWII parted them; he to the siege of Malta, she to the Blitz in London. While apart they wrote hauntingly beautiful letters to each other, which I read in awe more than six decades later. Their letters affected me so deeply that I dared hope I could bring that time alive again on the page – the crucible of risk and loss, trust and separation that was the first part of the war, 1939 to 1942, when no one knew which way the thing would go. In the letters I witnessed these two young people falling more and more in love with each other even as the foundations of their world crumbled. I am so proud of them, and of the deep affection human beings can have for each other. They were the inspiration for the novel, which is about the bravery of hope.

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave is published by Sceptre as a £14.99 hbk on 21st April.

AG: The Siege of Malta plays a big role in your tale. Plainly your research on the difficulties faced by the people of the

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island in WW2 was substantial. Why did you feel so keen to focus on that? CC: Everyone Brave is Forgiven is a tale of two sieges. Malta was blockaded for years by the Axis powers, who came within a whisper of starving out the British garrison. And of course Britain was under siege too in that first phase of the war, with its supply lines decimated and its armies corralled. I was interested in hunger – deep, aching, demoralizing hunger – and its subtle effects on bravery. I researched the Malta siege in great depth, staying on the island for three months in the places my grandfather was stationed. I put myself on the London rations that my grandmother would have been eating, and was aghast at the changes in my morale, energy and determination. It made their ability to love and hope so intensely seem even more moving. I’m a great advocate of the kind of research you can’t do on Google. I’m a method writer, if you like. I’ve been that way for all my books, and that’s why they take years to research. I owe it to the reader to do these things so that they

AG: I certainly felt the novel captured the enormous ability of our grandparents to 'endure' generally during this period. Do you agree that todays' generation find it difficult to relate to that level of suffering? CC: Actually I believe in today’s generation, and I know we would rediscover our reserves of dignity if life ramped up the level of challenge. I’m not one of those people who believe in a ‘golden generation’ that will never be equaled: our DNA hasn’t changed in those few decades. A certain type of human is still capable of amazing endurance and Unconditional love. That’s why I wrote Everyone Brave is Forgiven. I wanted to remind myself of what we’re still capable, even now, if we only dare to respect ourselves.

Photo: James Emmett

Chris Cleave

can believe in my characters. I know my books are authentic – not just historically accurate, but emotionally honest.

strictures – was just as heroic as winning the thing. The danger always in victory is in assuming the form of your vanquished foe, and it’s notable that we didn’t become the totalitarian power we had vowed to destroy. In Britain’s case, I think moving AG: The main characters in to the left and creating the the novel are mainly ones of NHS was beautiful and miracuprivilege, yet, there are hints in lous. So yes, in Everyone Brave is the book of the class inequality Forgiven I’m always hinting of the time and a possible at the seed of creation that is move to the left that happened present in all the destruction. just after the war - was this de- The seed of renewal is always liberate on your part to there, and readers who enjoy highlight a changed society? Everyone Brave should watch CC: I think that what the west- this space to see it planted in ern Allies did in the years after the next book. the war – feeding Germany instead of punishing it, widening AG: Racism is writ large in the suffrage at home, relaxing social novel too. The dreadfully

demeaning way some of the characters are treated seems awkward to read today. Were you keen to display that generational societal shift? CC: Britain, like America, was a brutally racist society: we forget this at our peril. Up until 1979 – think about that – 1979! – the most popular light entertainment show on British TV was ‘The Black & White Minstrel Show’. It makes ‘Top Gear’ seem positively reconstructed by comparison. So yes, I am furious at the honeyed nostalgia on display in so many books and films set in WWII. I am appalled that people imagine pre-Windrush Britain to have been an exclusively white society.

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To tell an honest story about WWII, you have to acknowledge that there were thousands of black families living in London and that they were treated shittily. And to tell a real story about Britain’s beautiful and extraordinary renewal after the war, you have to acknowledge the crucial role of black British people: not just of the Windrush generation, but of those who were here for the war. This is a thread that runs all through ‘Everyone Brave is Forgiven’, and it will thicken and gain new strands in the next novel. AG: This is your first historical novel. Why did you make the conscious move to set your 4th novel in the past? CC: I think historical fiction is a higher form, and a much more difficult one, and I began to hope that I had finally hit the technical level necessary to step up to it. Also, after twelve years of development, I believed in my research methods and their suitability for the task. With historical fiction you are telling a story within a greater story that the reader already knows. Therefore, you have the privilege of spending fewer pages building your theatre, and this affords you more pages in which to actually put on your play. You win pages to develop characters, and you gain space to let them talk to one another. For a writer like me, who is excited by a character’s deep 36

Everyone Brave is Forgiven– Chris Cleave

psychology, historical fiction is a bigger and better stage. My novels always have a simple question at their heart – in this case, “What is bravery?” – and I can now allow myself to travel through time as well as space in order to find the best theatre in which to make my characters answer. I thought long and hard before taking the step. I asked myself why Shakespeare, who could so convincingly conjure tragedies and escapes, spent so much time writing history plays. And I wondered why I liked his history plays best. My answer – which may be right or wrong but which certainly informed my attraction to historical fiction – is that it is in the history plays that Shakespeare gets most quickly and most convincingly into character. AG: At its heart, EBIF is a love story. Did you aim to highlight the strong relationships from such snatched, brief courtships - another aspect difficult to relate to today? CC: I think there is much to love in the way those of that generation would pour their whole hearts into letters. There was an intensity and a privacy that we have lost. I think we have also forgotten how to be brave in communication. The high-frequency, low-intensity messages we send each other now are an impoverished way to fall in love. We seem to have become addicted to constant small reassurances – whereas of

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course love, and life, is all about the plunge. AG: Incendiary was filmed back in 2008. Any news on optioning this one? Would you like to get involved with the scriptwriting if so? CC: Yes, Incendiary was filmed, Gold is in development and The Other Hand is in talks as we speak. I do think Everyone Brave is Forgiven will be a film or a TV series, but I’m not sure where we are with it at this moment. Would I get involved with scriptwriting? Certainly, if they want me on board. People know by know what they’re getting with me: deep human psychology, scenes driven by dialogue, no car chases. Alastair’s review of Everyone Brave is Forgiven. “ . . . Mary North, a privileged but attractively rebellious young woman [embarks], naively and without any experience, on teaching the children of the London underclass who somehow missed the evacuation. It details her life and loves during 1940-41 in blitz-hit London . . . plenty to say about the unfairness of society and the ordinariness of an institutionally racist world desperately in need of change. However, the narrative jolts into pure love story . . . in the middle of the book when she meets antiwar military hero Alistair . . . It’s a genuine ‘whoa’ moment for readers and kept me reading until the end of the book in a single sitting.” Alastair Giles [Full review on nudge.]

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

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ar was declared at 11.15 and Mary North signed up at noon. She did it at lunch, before telegrams came, in case her mother said no. She left finishing school unfinished. Skiing down from Mont-Choisi, she ditched her equipment at the foot of the slope and telegraphed the War Office from Lausanne. Nineteen hours later she reached St Pancras, in clouds of steam, still wearing her alpine sweater. The train’s whistle screamed. London, then. It was a city in love with beginnings. She went straight to the War Office. The ink still smelled of salt on the map they issued her. She rushed across town to her assignment, desperate not to miss a minute of the war but anxious she already had. As she ran through Trafalgar Square waving for a taxi, the pigeons flew up before her and their clacking wings were a thousand knives tapped against claret glasses, praying silence. Any moment now it would start – this dreaded and wonderful thing – and could never be won without her. What was war, after all, but morale in helmets and Jeeps? And what was morale if not one hundred million little conversations, the sum of which might leave men brave enough to advance? The true heart of war was small talk, in which Mary was wonderfully expert. The morning matched her mood, without cloud or equivalence in memory. In London under lucent skies ten thousand young women were hurrying to their new positions, on orders from Whitehall, from chambers unknowable in the old marble heart of the beast. Mary joined gladly the great flow of the willing. The War Office had given no further details, and this was a good sign. They would make her a liaison, or an attaché to a general’s staff. All the speaking parts went to girls of good family. It was even rumoured that they needed spies, which appealed most of all since one might be oneself twice over. Mary flagged down a cab and showed her map to the driver. He held it at arm’s length, squinting at the scrawled red cross that marked where she was to report. She found him unbearably slow. ‘This big building, in Hawley Street?’ ‘Yes,’ said Mary. ‘As quick as you like.’ ‘It’s Hawley Street School, isn’t it?’ ‘I shouldn’t think so. I’m to report for war work, you see.’ ‘Oh. Only I don’t know what else it could be around there but the school. The rest of that street is just houses.’

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Everyone Brave is Forgiven– Chris Cleave

Mary opened her mouth to argue, then stopped and tugged at her gloves. Because of course they didn’t have a glittering tower, just off Horse Guards, labelled ‘Ministry of Wild Intrigue’. Naturally they would have her report somewhere innocuous. ‘Right then,’ she said. ‘I expect I am to be made a school mistress.’ The man nodded. ‘Makes sense, doesn’t it? Half the schoolmasters in London must be joining up for the war.’ ‘Then let’s hope the cane proves effective against the enemy’s tanks.’ The man drove them to Hawley Street with no more haste than the delivery of one more schoolmistress would merit. Mary was careful to adopt the expression an ordinary young woman might wear – a girl for whom the taxi ride would be an unaccustomed extravagance, and for whom the prospect of work as a schoolteacher would seem a thrill. She made her face suggest the kind of sincere immersion in the present moment that she imagined dairy animals must also enjoy, or geese. Arriving at the school, she felt observed. In character, she tipped the taxi driver a quarter of what she normally would have given him. This was her first test, after all. She put on the apologetic walk of an ordinary girl presenting for interview. As if the air resented being parted. As if the ground shrieked from the wound of each step. She found the headmistress’s office and introduced herself. Miss Vine nodded but wouldn’t look up from her desk. Avian and cardiganed, spectacles on a bath-plug chain. ‘North,’ said Mary again, investing the name with its significance. ‘Yes, I heard you quite well. You are to take Kestrels Class. Begin with the register. Learn their names as smartly as you can.’ ‘Very good,’ said Mary. ‘Have you taught before?’ ‘No,’ said Mary, ‘but I can’t imagine there’s much to it.’ The headmistress fixed her with two wintry pools. ‘Your imagination is not on the syllabus.’ ‘Forgive me. No, I have never taught before.’ ‘Very well. Be firm, give no liberties, and do not underestimate the importance of the child forming his letters properly. As the hand, the mind.’ Mary felt that the ‘headmistress’ was overdoing it, rather. She might mention it to the woman’s superior, once she discovered what outfit she was really joining. Although in mitigation, the woman’s attention to detail

was impressive. Here were pots of sharpened pencils; tins of drawing pins. Here was a tidy stack of hymn books, each one covered in a different wallpaper, just as children really would have done the job if one had tasked them with it in the first week of the new school year. The headmistress glanced up. ‘I can’t imagine what you are smirking at.’ ‘Sorry,’ said Mary, unable to keep the glint of communication from her eyes, and slightly flustered when it wasn’t returned. ‘Kestrels,’ said the headmistress. ‘Along the corridor, third on the left.’ When Mary entered the classroom thirty-one children fell silent at their hinge-top desks. They watched her, owl-eyed, heads pivoting. They might be eight or ten years old, she supposed – although of course children suffered dreadfully from invisibility and required a conscious adjustment of the eye in order to be focused on at all. ‘Good morning, class. My name is Mary North.’ ‘Good morning Miss North.’ The children chanted it in the ageless tone exactly between deference and mockery, so perfectly that Mary’s stomach lurched. It was all just too realistic. She taught them mathematics before lunch and composition after, hoping that a curtain would finally be whisked away; that her audition would give way to her recruitment. When the bell rang for the end of the day she ran to the nearest post office and dashed off an indignant telegram to the War Office, wondering if there’d been some mistake. There was no mistake, of course. For every reproach that would be laid at London’s door in the great disjunction to come – for all the convoys missing their escorts in fog, for all the breeches shipped with mismatched barrels, for all the lovers supplied with hearts of the wrong calibre – it was never once alleged that the grand old capital did not excel at letting one know, precisely, where one’s fight was to begin.

We have copies to give away FREE. See page 51 to claim yours.

T H E Y S A Y, W E S A Y

They Say,

We Say

Where we ask the publisher ...

and here’s what some of our reviewers thought . . .

o it's over to Jemima Forrester, Senior Commissioning Editor at Orion . . . When I ﬁrst read Jem Lester’s debut novel, I knew it was something special. e story of ten-year-old Jonah and his father, Ben, is one that will age, Jonah can’t speak, can’t dress or feed himself, can’t even use the toilet, and Ben is torn between his overwhelming love for his son and the frustration he faces every day in the challenge to care for him. As Ben battles to secure Jonah’s future – involving a ﬁercely fought tribunal – he must also face plenty of demons of his own. With a light touch and comically black sense of humour, Jem Lester brilliantly observes not only the unique and poignant father–son dynamic between Ben and Jonah, but also Ben’s complex relationship with his own father, Georg (a wonderfully wry and witty character), and

his wife, Emma. As the narrative develops, diﬀerent layers of the plot and of each character are revealed, and it is both surprising and deeply moving up to the ﬁnal page.

While this is a work of ﬁction, it is also incredibly eyeopening about the real-life highs and crashing lows of living with and caring for someone who suﬀers from severe autism. e joy, heartache, love, fear and monotony faced every single day seems almost too much to bear. Jem has drawn heavily on his own personal experience of raising a severely autistic child and the struggle he had to get his son the best care and education possible. It is intensely personal and all the more touching for it. Shtum is a book that will get people talking and that explores a subject rarely touched on in literature. It’s an entertaining and engaging novel that shows how, even in the darkest of days, it is love and laughter that will get you through.

Shtum author, Jem Lester, can be found in conversation with Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, over the page.

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Jemima Shtum by Jem Lester is published by Orion as a £12.99 hbk on 7th April.

The powerful writing made me understand just how heavy the burden of autism can be to a parent, that terrifying mixture of almost-hate and fierce protective love. This is raw stuff and the structure ratchets up the despair, punctuated by bland official letters, reports from assorted social workers and health professionals, showing little comprehension of Jonah’s real needs. Daphne Poupart 4/4

Whilst I found this profoundly moving (and be warned there is one event about which Ben learns that I certainly found heartbreaking) there is a sense that we are reading a second novel. That being said however this did not detract from the fact that Shtum is a remarkable book, well written, moving, funny, enlightening, meaningful and very difficult to put down. . . . highly recommended. Kathy Jesson

I did understand their frustrations and felt very sorry for them, but was irritated by them. Ben turned to drink years

ago and if things are difficult he drinks himself into oblivion, but yet, he is generally wonderful with Jonah. Meanwhile Emma is working and seemingly giving up responsibility for Jonah while Ben struggles. But their love for Jonah shines through. An easy read, I couldn't put it down. I can thoroughly recommend this book, a superb insight into living with an autistic child and how it can affect so many areas of life.

Lynn Latham

I found this novel to be profoundly moving. It made me feel for any parent fighting for their child’s rights, but it also really made me think about what we may hide from those we love and care for and why. And sometimes it’s the most unlikely of situations than can bring about positive change and possible redemption. I would highly recommend this book and would say that it is absolutely perfect for a reading group with lots of material to bring out some interesting discussion. Vee Freir 5/5

The characters aren’t particularly likeable at the beginning [except] Georg and thought he really made the story what it was. His determination and positivity shone through and showed Ben how to be a father . . . definitely one to watch for in 2016 emotional, upsetting but also uplifting, showing all the different types of love and how important family is. Lauren McVeigh

A heartbreakingly, unbearably accurate description of the realities of life with an autistic child, as well as a fascinating insight into Jewish culture and family life . . . Shtum has a warm, light-hearted tone, with touches of wry humour. It gives the reader plenty to think about, and would be a wonderful choice for a reading group, as it is rich in material for discussion. I think it will be one of the outstanding books of 2016. Highly recommended. Judy Jordan 5/5

Apologies to Trish Edwards and Fiona Atley as space didn’t allow but their reviews and full versions of the above can be found on nudge.

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IN CONVERSATION

the comic possibilities, which I felt was vital both for the story and my own survival while writing it. Joanna Cannon: I can completely understand your reluctance. It must have been a very difficult to make that decision. Although writing is very personal anyway, to have a subject so close to your own experience must have made it even harder. Did you find it cathartic? For me, it was the story of Chris Jefferies (the Bristol landlord, who was taken in for questioning over the murder of Jo Yeates). I'm sure you remember the case. His picture was plastered all over the newspapers, and everyone assumed he was guilty, because he looked 'different'. It really made me aware of how prejudiced and judgmental we all are (myself included). Working in psychiatry, it was something I dealt with every day, but the story of Chris really brought it home to me. So sad.

felt as though I was showing him off when we were out in public and, invariably, most people smiled at him. Of course, when he had a meltdown it wasn't like that at all. Shtum by Jem Lester is published by Cathartic? No, not even reOrion as a £12.99 hbk on 7th April. motely. I suppose that's a good thing, because I think if I had written it as therapy it would Jem Lester: Hi Jo. Well, the have been overwrought and trigger that turned the idea into self-indulgent. Many were the a manuscript was a conversation times I had to make 'commando with my then tutor at City Uniraids' back into the story when versity, Jonathan Myerson who, revising, because I just didn't despite huge misgivings on my want to live in it any more. part, suggested 'strongly' that JC: I always found writing my novel should focus on about my experiences on the autism. Given my personal exwards incredibly cathartic - I periences he thought I was mad think it was the only way I if I didn't. To be honest, I didn't want to initially. I was raw and JL: Yes, I do remember the case. could process everything I saw as a junior doctor. I'm sure emotionally exhausted from Somehow, there seems no way everyone loves Noah, and I'm fighting my own tribunal for my back from that kind of brandnot surprised you felt as though son and didn't think I could ing. I must say I never experiyou were showing him off ! cope with it. A weekend of enced that with my own son, thought and anxiety changed Noah. I just assumed that every- As far as being convinced everymy mind - and the arrival of one would find him as beautiful one would like it, I never really expected Goats and Sheep to Georg, because then I could see and hilarious as I did. I always 42

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Jem Lester

Debut authors Joanna Cannon and Jem Lester share their experiences of being published.

JL: I assumed no one would like it. at's my default position. Of course, I was lucky that I wrote the first dra in public under the watchful eye of tutors on the MA. So they were my testing ground. I've been amazed that every step with Shtum has inspired the same positive reaction. By this stage, even I think wholesale rejection is unlikely. I also took virtually every suggestion from my agent as gospel. Despite how close to the story I felt, I never felt precious about it. at's advice I carried from my time as a journalist and it's enabled me to keep learning the cra. What about you? JC: Yes, that's great advice. I think we all have low expectations, don't we? I thought a few people might like a story about 'unbelonging', but I had no idea it would touch such a nerve. It shows how many people out there have felt like that at some point in their lives. Doing the MA must have been a brilliant way to test the water. I did the Faber online course, which definitely helped to build my confidence, but no one in the 'real world' knew I was even writing. I felt almost embarrassed to tell people, which is very strange and slightly ridiculous. Probably the biggest thing I did to

gauge the reaction, was to enter a competition at York Festival (where I had to read 500 words out to an X-Factor style audience). Very scary! I think my best piece of advice was to be disciplined about my writing, and form a 'writing habit', so it became a natural part of my day. I'm not sure I can think of any bad advice. Can you? JL: Oh I can think of plenty of bad advice, not speciﬁcally about the mechanics of writing! But then bad advice, in my experience, only becomes 'bad' when one chooses to act on it. e operative word being 'choose.' I have, in the past, been guilty of taking advice as an order - and yes, it felt like an impossibility to stand up and say 'No! I'm a writer, I'm writing.' I think it took me a lot of years to be able to take my own advice on that one. Ironically, although I've been trying at this game for 30 odd years, the publication of Shtum has been remarkably smooth. MA > prize for Shtum from PFD > PFD representation > Orion say 'yes.' Crazy really. What was your route like? JC: Ha! Yes, me too. I'm still embarrassed to tell people, even though the book is published. Why are we so hard on ourselves?! I was very fortunate that my route was smooth, too. I think the most important lesson for me in all of this, is how important it was to leave the safe corridor of never showing anyone my work. It would

Pic Credit: Philippa Gedge

When Jo met Jem

escape from my laptop, so I didn't really consider whether anyone else would enjoy it! I think I did write it as a 'reader', though. How about you?

have been very easy to not go to York Festival (or at least, not enter the competition), because of an innate fear of failure that haunts all of us. It scares me sometimes, to think of how my life would have been different if I hadn't found that courage. Seeing my finished book for the first time felt so surreal, but I think holding the proof was even more momentous. Before that, it didn't really feel like a 'proper book' - all the editing and page proofs didn't seem real, somehow. This conversation continues on nudge

See also our They Say, We Say on page 40. A Recommended Read in nb87 The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon is published by The Borough Press as a £12.99 hbk and is available now.

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BOOKSHOPS WE LIKE

Small shop,

BIG ideas!

nB Publisher, Guy Pringle visits E n g l a n d ’ s s m a l l e s t b o o k s h o p.

ayling Island is one of my favourite places along the south coast – the old Puffing Billy Line is now a cycleway that flirts with miles of beautiful Langstone Harbour coastline. What I didn’t realise until recently is that it is also the home of Hayling Island Bookshop – officially England’s smallest. Since it is also one of our Love Your Indie bookshops I decided to invite myself to meet owner Marie and events manager Colin Telford. “By all means,” came back the answer, “but we’ll go 44

over the road for a coffee because the shop’s too small for a meeting.” And so it proved – a welcoming window display presaged a space no more than 5 metres by 3, probably smaller, not least because every shelf and space is packed with enticing books and gifts. Baby books, picture books, YA, adult. Fiction and non-fiction, local interest, hobbies – you name it they probably had it and if they don’t they can get it for you in a day, two at most. Over coffee, Colin explained how his wife, and latterly

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himself, had made a thriving business from such a small space over the last 11 years. Bringing career experience from outside the booktrade means a different philosophy to the ‘we’re doing a laudable thing in helping people to read so we should be a special case’. Not particularly well expressed but you catch my drift. For the record, Marie worked for Estee Lauder and Colin in international outsourcing and quality assurance. I’m not entirely sure what the latter are but his clients included Microsoft and the Kennedy Space Centre and he commuted to Atlanta, Georgia every two weeks for several years until he was risking burn out. That Events Manager title is the key – as business partners with Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton they are book suppliers to dozens of school events. Facilitating authors to engage with thousands of children can mean Colin leaves Hayling Island – in the very south east of the county - very early in the

Alan Titchmarsh at one of many events held by Hayling Island Bookshop.

morning to be in Andover, the New Forest or Farnborough for 9am. But it works, as do various adult events they have staged with authors like Sir David Attenborough, the late Terry Pratchett, Jacqueline Wilson, Anne Widdecombe and many more. Intriguingly, attending their events is simply the price of the book - which you receive and can have signed by the author. So, a new hardback and a pleasant evening for £20 – a pretty good deal, I’d say, as do the many who attend. They also help organise and run events for The Portsmouth Festivities – not to be confused

with Portsmouth BookFest with which they are also involved - and Southampton Children’s Book Festival. And if this makes it sound like Colin is doing all the work, you should know that Marie, as well as running the shop, sits on the Advisory Panel for the Independent Booksellers Forum formulating ideas on how to keep small bookshops alive and well. One such was the Hayling Island Scarecrow Festival (2007 to 2012) which attracted thousands of residents and visitors each year – something that intrigued me when I was cycling along the seafront. Recognition of all this effort came in 2009 when they were named as South of England Independent Bookshop of the year and in 2011 were a finalist in the Parliamentary Best Small Shops Awards. Marie and Colin share the philosophy that bookshops now have to be entrepreneurial to survive, and demur from the idea that they are an endangered species. To them the high street is set for a renaissance led by the indies that have proved themselves. Indeed, they balk at the idea

that Amazon are a threat, “Their big new bestsellers may be heavily discounted but their backlist prices have been steadily raised so that now we can supply more cheaply.” Reading groups are next on their horizon as they look to encourage the many avid readers on the island to see these small premises as first port of call for their next ‘fix’, offering 20% discount to group purchases. I came away thoroughly heartened, as you might imagine! You will find Hayling Island Bookshop at 34 Mengham Rd, Hayling Island PO11 9BL and more information at www.haylingislandbookshop.co.uk Twitter: @haylingbooks

Love Your Indie is another arm of nudge and nb, which champions independent bookshops with branded loyalty cards and promotions to attract readers of all ages.

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TH E

VER DIC T

THE

Did Katherine get a raw deal? Prince Philip Hospital Library Reading Group in Llanelli tackled Katherine of Aragon, book one of Alison Weir’s new series, Six Tudor Queens

elcome to our book club! Seven of the eleven of us attending finished this book but, to be fair, it is massive (624 pages) which took time! Interestingly some felt it was a little too much like a history book and could have done with more emphasis on plot rather than trying to be so historically accurate. Others felt the beginning was a little tough and only really began to enjoy it after about 200 pages or so. There really is a lot of detail here - Katherine’s dowry of plates and jewels, her household of staff, an astounding 250

people! Some of these facts we enjoyed but others did feel a little too much. One character we found interesting was Katherine and Henry’s daughter Mary, we could really see why she became the woman she did later in life. Treated like the apple of her father’s eye when she was born [as he thought he would eventually have sons], but as the book progressed and he clearly wasn’t going to have that luck he completely turned on his daughter. She became a pawn to use against Katherine by keeping them apart and unable to communicate – truly evil. Especially so given the number of children that Katherine had carried and lost during the few years that Henry treated her as

his queen - we had no idea that she had gone through so much loss in her life. We had a long discussion about the consummation (or not) of Katherine’s first marriage to Henry’s big brother Arthur. It was interesting to read this slightly new take on why and wondered whether King Henry VII had more plans in mind for Katherine than just marrying Arthur given the fact that he sent a clearly very ill young man away to a not entirely healthy environment. Henry VII also behaved very strangely to Katherine after Arthur had died with regard her dowry and marrying her off to Henry - which added to our theory of background machinations.

Katherine to our minds was a really strong woman having to go through so much with so little happiness. She was the focus of such hatred from Henry and Anne at the end of her life who seemed intent on removing everyone she loved and placing her where she was sure to die a slow and lonely death. There were certain elements we felt could have been explained further such as Frey Diego and the mystery surrounding him, but we also understood that Weir would not have liked to simply make things up just to finish a story line tidily. Knowing that there are going to be further books about the other queens in Henry VIII’s life we wondered how Weir is going to portray Anne Boleyn. She really is painted as an evil woman in this book with her need to remove absolutely everything from Katherine from her husband to her royal jewels and clothes, right down to the Christening robe she brought from Spain as a gift from her mother. Overall we gave the book 7 out of 10, appreciating that Weir had done so much research and felt that this is more for fans of Hilary Mantel rather than Phillipa Gregory, although they all have their place within historical fiction. Sarah Bruch

Back row (left to right) Sarah Bruch (me), Christine Davies, Gaynor Thomas, Rhian John, Kayleigh Morris, Kathryn Francis: Front Row (left to right) Charlotte Beare, Christine Choudry, Ceri Williams, Annette Williams, Joanna Dainton

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Individual reviews from the members and brief summaries of their reading tastes can be found on nudge as ‘So who are the Prince Philip Hospital Library Book Club?’

WHAT THEY THOUGHT

Annette Williams This is my first Alison Weir and it certainly won't be the last. The book has rekindled my interest in history and I am keen to read about all of Henry VIII’s wives. . . . an excellent account of Katherine of Aragon and her time from leaving Spain to becoming Queen and her years in exile. I could empathise with how Katherine must have felt being in a different country away from her family and having to learn to adapt to a new environment. What she had to endure throughout her life, the losses of her children, and being kept away from her only child must have been heartbreaking and reduced me to tears at times. I felt admiration for an incredible woman. I would definitely recommend the book to others and was sad to finish it. 8/10 Gaynor Thomas When I started reading this book I found it difficult to get into, because it read more like non-fiction than a novel. However, by the time I was half way through I was really enjoying it and appreciated the fact that what I was reading was supported by evidence, so that I felt I was getting a real flavour of Queen Katherine and the times in which she lived. Having finished the book I am now really looking forward to reading the next one about Anne Boleyn! Charlotte Beare . . . right up my street. I've read a few books about Tudor characters but this is my first Alison Weir. I think she really

VE RDICT

captured Henry VIII's mercurial character and showed Katherine's tenacity in trying to hold on to him. I liked the way the book really told the story from Katherine's viewpoint and did not include things that happened that she might not be aware of, like much of Henry's plotting. Other books I've read on this subject have been a retelling of events that happened. I did struggle with her constant devotion to Henry but the author did a good job of showing that without him she had nothing and had been abandoned by her country and her church.

Ceri Williams I really enjoyed this book from the outset. I had not appreciated how young the main character was when she arrived in England nor how long she remained in her increasingly difficult circumstances following the divorce until her death aged 50. Clearly based on historical fact . . . the book was thought provoking and made the reader consider what the queen had brought to the marriage and her education, rare at such a time. Historical research was evident along with good characterisation and the quotation from one of Henry's own works on the book was extremely apt and deeply ironic in the context of the book. One questions if, in the end, he was capable of remaining 'unto his lady true'.

www.sixtudorqueens.co.uk

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ROUND THE HOUSES

AWARDS ROUND-UP

AWA R D S R ound- up jade craddock on some you may n o t h av e he a r d o f.

New kid on the block Publishing at a distance – 10,497 miles to be precise

efore getting involved with nb I’d never really bothered that much with book awards. I had a vague sense of the main players and could probably name a winner at a stretch but it was hardly my chosen subject on Mastermind. Quite honestly, the major book awards – the ones that get the headlines and sponsorship – your Bookers, Baileys and Costas – seemed a bit highfalutin for a general reader like me, and the smaller awards I was barely aware of. However, in 2014 I was asked to read the Man Booker shortlist for nb and I’ve been following the various awards ever since, reading shortlists for the Baileys prize, Costa award and the YA prize, and keeping abreast of all the runners and riders in everything from the IMPAC to the TS Eliot Prize. And whilst I haven’t enjoyed all of the books that the awards have thrown my way – in truth, I’ve only been 48

blown away by one (Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North – a book I would not have considered reading otherwise) but what a one it was – actually reading the awards longlists, shortlists and even just winning titles has proven to be an absolute joy, an eye-opening experience and an unparalleled discovery. And I encourage my fellow readers to give it go. Don’t worry, it’s not all about the Booker, Costa and Baileys: there’s an impressive line-up of awards that cover nearly every genre, and yes whilst literary fiction is the mainstay of the pre-eminent awards, there’s a surprising scope to what’s on offer. So don’t be put off by thinking the book awards are too lofty or superior, whether you go all-out with the Bookers and Baileys or find your niche with the YA Prize, the RONAs or one of the other awards on offer, you might just come across the book you’ve been waiting for. And if not, at least you can say you've been there, done that and got the t-shirt. Jade Craddock

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2016 Book Awards

* Desmond Elliott Prize supports new fiction

* Betty Trask Prize - first novels by authors under the age of 35 * Goldsmiths Prize- ‘fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities’

* Jhalak Prize - for best books by writers of colour Genre fiction also has independent awards: * RONAs - Romantic Novelists Awards * Walter Scott Historical Prize Crime Writers’ Dagger Awards For readers of non-fiction: * Samuel Johnson Prize * RSL Jerwood Award For YA fans: * The Bookseller’s YA Prize * Guardian Children’s Prize * Waterstones’ Children’s Prize And undefined by genre: * Hawthornden Prize - best work of imaginative literature * Dylan Thomas Prize - for authors aged 39 or under * Guardian First Book Award

Bord Gais Irish Book Awards recognises popular fiction and nonfiction - a nice way of testing the waters.

ere at nb HQ we are always interested in new publishing houses. There seems an unquenchable desire for start ups with a new zeal and exciting new authors. Now this is tough enough if you are here in the UK but from ten and a half thousand miles away? Enter stage left, Text Publishing who are based in Melbourne, yes, that Melbourne. Michael Heyward, Publisher at Text, told us how so: “Text started publishing directly in the UK in February 2013 with the launch of our Text Classics list. We have sold rights in many great authors to UK publishers but we didn't want to break up this list, with its thrilling series design by Chong Weng Ho and including wonderful titles such as The Watch Tower by Elizabeth Harrower, Wake In Fright by Kenneth Cook and Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott. This also allowed us to form a relationship with Fiona McMorrough and her team at FMcM (an award-winning specialist Communications Agency in London), who have been great supporters. This year we will publish our 100th Text Classic, and the list has been very warmly received by UK readers. All of which has encouraged us to publish some front list titles, too, including such standouts as Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and This House Of Grief by Helen Garner. We make our decisions about what to release on a book by book basis because we want to offer UK readers something different, books they would not otherwise see. We see a growing interest over there in the vibrant Australian literary scene. And now we have some great books coming up in 2016: Good People by the Israeli author Nir Baram is an extraordinary novel set in Europe between 1938 and 1941 which has already been published to rave responses in a dozen countries, while Men by Marie Darrieussecq is a witty exploration of female desire. When The Sky Fell Apart, set on the island of Jersey during the Second World War, is a hugely talented and heartbreaking debut by UK author Caroline Lea. Something For The Pain is a brilliant memoir about a life at the racetrack by the great novelist Gerald Murnane and A Few Days In The Country, the selected stories of Elizabeth Harrower, one of Australia's most important post-war writers.” Michael sees Text’s role as ‘turning good books into great books, to publish them with style, nerve and noise’. And we can’t disagree with that.

The Rosie Project – A Text discovery you might not have known was theirs originally.

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Alastair Giles rounds up recent films and TV derived from books worth reading.

Phil Ramage and my glowing review of Room, a fabulous adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s most famous novel which I earnestly beseech you to go and see or catch the DVD as soon as you can. Now, we’re going to focus on the very recent or forthcoming cinema adaptations coming your way before our next issue in late June:

High-Rise Released 18th March. © StudioCanal UK.

JG Ballard’s dystopian vision unfolds in some style in the hands of British director Ben Wheatley, whose earlier films Sightseers and Kill List - were certainly startling if a little raw. This allegorical tale focuses on the concrete skyscraper of the

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title – a newly built residence for a mix of society, each allocated apartments accordingly set to a rigid class structure. Residents on the lower levels eye the higher ups with a mix of contempt and envy while those top floors view their ‘street level’ neighbours with disdain. The novel was written in 1975 with Ballard in his best and most devilish form and the film is equally twisted with some great performances from Tom Hiddleston & Sienna Miller. If you like ‘challenging’ films and can stay with it, High-Rise is an interesting exploration in human desperation and depravity. However, it has received wildly disparate reviews so far and may not be to everyone’s taste.

Jungle Book Released 15th April. © Walt Disney Pictures.

Tom Hiddleston

ast issue, we introduced this new feature, and we hope ‘script will become a regular part of our quarterly magazine exploring the unique relationship between book and film. On nudge, our partner website, we are also beginning to cluster the articles under the ‘script banner so you can see details of upcoming new adaptations on Film or TV. We also want to post reviews of new, recent or older film adaptations, so please do put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and send us what you think of an adaptation you’ve seen recently and how, of course, it compares to the book. We’ve seen quite a lot recently, be they lavish productions of John Le Carré’s The Night Manager or Leo Tolstoy’s War & Peace on TV or Oscar awardwinning cinema releases of The Revenant, David Ebershoff ’s novel, or Patricia Highsmith’s Carol. We’d love to hear what you made of them, especially if you’ve also read, or re-read, the book alongside it. To stir you into action, we include in this issue; a review of Ian McEwan’s Atonement from

Well, this is a change of pace. For me, the original Disney cartoon Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling’s fantastical tale of a human man-cub, can’t be bettered and in fact to try and disturb that memory is blasphemous. Well, they didn’t listen to me and decided to update it anyhow with an unusual mixture of motioncapture, animation, CGI (computer generated images) and live action filming. You can imagine, perhaps, how all this will turn out. We have Bill Murray voicing Baloo and Idris Elba eking out the terrifying tones of Shere Khan, so maybe it will work, who knows. I look forward to seeing what they’ve done with my – and your? childhood memory.

Whisky Tango Foxtrot Released 22nd April. © Paramount Pictures.

In 2011, Kim Barker, a Chicago-based reporter wrote a book about her adventures embedded with US forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Entitled The Taliban Shuffle, it received very warm acclaim in praise of both its humour and

Tina Fey

sensitivity in equal doses. However, it hardly figured here in the UK and probably hasn’t hit many shelves this side of the Atlantic. All that is about to change after Tina Fey stars in

the film of the memoir re-titled dryly as Whiskey Tango Foxtrot or ‘WTF’ an acronym that has achieved dubious common parlance. It seems perfect for Fey and she is, indeed, very watchable in the film played less as a comedy (though it has very funny moments) than one might imagine. Our own Martin Freeman also stars as a jaded Scottish hack in Kabul. I haven’t read the book but this film will make me (and quite a few others I think) pick up the paperback and immerse myself in the life of a foreign correspondent in this war-torn region.

Me Before You Released 3rd June. © Warner Bros. UK.

One of the sad things from inside publishing is seeing an author change publishing house and find instant and massive success after years of relative struggle. Not sad for the author, obviously, but I always wince for the previous publisher who, despite supporting the author for years, misses out on the sales and celebration. I’m not saying that is necessarily the case with Jojo Moyes. She had, in fact, written 4 or 5 decent sellers and even won a couple of Romantic Novelist Association Novel of the Year prizes. Then her agent bagged her a move to Penguin and Me Before You was the first novel on the new contract.

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Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin

experience. You know, the expectation-building hype of the blockbuster where you know what you’ll get and in the main you quite enjoy the experience, and, yet, forget about it 5 minutes after fleeing the screening. Well, Room the new film by BOOM! 5 million copies sold Dublin-born Lenny around the world and a muchAbrahamson is my film of 2016 loved hit - à la David Nicholls’ and I’ll be mightily surprised if One Day - was delivered. It’s the anything comes along to match simple story of an unlikely bond it in the following 11 ½ between a small town girl and a paralysed man she cares for and months. The first hour of the film is set in an eerie ‘room’ now it’s been filmed as well with two inhabitants and a starring Emilia Clarke (from locked door. You don’t quite Game of Thrones) and Jenna understand why they’re there Coleman (from Doctor Who). Jojo herself wrote the screenplay for quite a way into the film, and for once Hollywood hasn’t but you quickly understand that it represents the whole world to relocated the action to the States. So settle back in June for one of them; to 5 year-old Jack, some home town schmaltz and it’s all he’s ever known. I’ve not been so uplifted by a raise a glass to Jojo Moyes and, film for a very long time. I’d go perhaps too, her original so far as to say that it republisher, Hodder. awakened my love of cinema and the joy of being so rewarded by the telling of such Alastair’s review of an extraordinary story. And Room this, after I had read the book, so knew what was going to On the face of it, it’s none too happen, don’t forget. enticing a prospect; 120 It’s not always the case, but the minutes of viewing on some fact that the author Emma pretty serious subjects: Donoghue co-operated with abduction, captivity, sexual abuse, very young parenting and the director on the screenplay eventual redemption. If I hadn’t may have a lot to do with how read the book I don’t know that good it is. The novel, first published in 2010 was an I’d have been keen to see it, instant book club hit and even on the strength of the shortlisted for The Man Booker phenomenal acting Prize [and won nb’s Book of the performances. It’s so out of line Year 2011]. The film will with the usual cinema-going 54

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certainly add baubles for its protagonists. Indeed as I write this, Brie Larson has just picked up a deserved Golden Globe award for Best Actress. As ‘Ma’ she delivers an incredible performance of a young mother shutting down her emotions to deal with the obvious trauma. Then she delivers a second great role as a teenager ‘Joy’ desperately trying to come to terms with what happened to her life. The acting honours really should go to young Jacob Tremblay, though. Being able to convey the emotions and complexity of the role of the 5 year old ‘Jack’ and provide the narration that links the film, as only a seven year old himself, is remarkable. The relationship the two actors have built on screen is truly believable and memorable. Add to that, scenestealing turns from William H Macy and Joan Allen and you have a unique and powerful experience. Overall the film has really done justice to the book and even enhanced it. The tale is, of course, about the triumph of spirit in times of great adversity, but it has some intense and nerve-shredding scenes too that make it seem more like a thriller. Don’t be put off by the distressing nature of the content, in short, it’s an epic, yet, tiny film about the power of maternal love.

Which is better – the film or the book? Atonement by Ian McEwan vs. Atonement directed by Joe Wright

Atonement Ian McEwan ( Vintage 2001)

hen thinking of a modern novel where the film version is of an equally high quality to the book, the first that came to mind was Atonement. To see if my initial reaction was correct I have recently revisited both. On rereading, the book was even better than I remembered, the film, watched so soon after completing the book, slightly less so, but both deserve to be considered as modern classics and offer five star experiences. Ian McEwan had, up to this point, not fared as well as might have been expected with film adaptations. I had high hopes of 2004’s Enduring Love starring Daniel Craig but it didn’t match the intensity of the book. However, McEwan’s 2001 masterpiece is written in four sections - a country house in a heatwave in 1935: at Dunkirk

in 1940; at a London hospital at around the same time and London in 1999. The first section translates to film sumptuously, closely follows McEwan’s careful plotting and often dialogue (Christopher Hampton wrote the screenplay). It is beautifully performed with James McAvoy and Keira Knightley particularly shining throughout. Where we have a deviation with the intensity of the novel is the second section, particularly on the road to Dunkirk, which to an extent, is glossed over.

to an extent, diffuses the power of some of what comes afterwards. This had passed me by on first viewing but with McEwan’s words and images so firmly in my mind it became apparent. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe when I was reading the book, and although, the film was intense, it was less so. To an extent the viewers have been spared quite a bit of the horrors of war, which probably made sense when marketing the film. The end section avoids the delightful sense of completion

Atonement Directed by Joe Wright (2007) (c) Focusfeatures.

This is a brutal, visceral section of the book, quite difficult to read and obviously deemed too difficult to watch. The Dunkirk of the film has been rightly praised for the vividness of the depiction but is a place of far more hope than McEwan’s vision and by taking away some of the bleakness it,

to the story but does make a final twist more definite and more shocking which had me scurrying back to the book for confirmation. Without doubt the film-makers got it right and made a film which was stunning in both appearance and content.

Phil Ramage

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RETROSPECTIVE

This Must be the Place to check out Maggie O’Farrell Our guide to Ms O’Farrell’s latest book and her backlist

Colin Hattersley/Writer Pictures

'different on the inside from how he is on the outside' 'charismatic . . . . . but underneath self destructive.' We see his character from the varying point of view of his wife, his children and friends. The other main character is the reclusive, slightly mysterious Claudette, Daniel's wife. I liked Claudette's character but I think she could be difficult to live with. Maddie Broome Personal read......................★★★★★ Group read...........................★★★★★

This Must be the Place Tinder Press hbk, May 2016

Maggie O'Farrell's new novel is yet another well crafted story full of interesting characters. As with many of her novels, the story is narrated nonchronologically, by a variety of characters. Mainly set in Donegal, it also visits London, New York, India, Stockholm and Surrey. This multilayered approach is very effective as it gradually builds up into a solid picture. It's a bit like getting to know a new friend; you don't usually get their whole life history in one go. The (flawed) hero is Daniel and it is mainly his story. He is very likeable but also exasperating. His French motherin-law, Pascaline, describes him as

This author has a knack of getting into people’s heads, not only those of her characters but her readers, too. In This Must Be the Place she guides us through a marriage, mainly, between Daniel and Claudette but in doing so she also reveals the complicated inner lives of a range of people they have touched and moved and affected before and during their time together. Jumping about in time and place it was only at the end that I fully absorbed the impact and ambition of this approach – she has craftily recreated the state of flux that we are all in, all the time, as we live with our memories and the consequences of our decisions, continually negotiating our way through life and relationships. Clever and insightful as always, this novel seems, to me at least, to mark a step change in her literary aspirations and I suspect this is set to continue. With shades of Anne Tyler and Rachel Cusk’s Outline, This Must Be the Place will surely win Maggie O’Farrell a legion of new fans to join the countless already converted. Mel Mitchell

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After You’d Gone Tinder Press pbk, August 2008

The novel is predominantly about Alice, a mixed up and stroppy young woman who rails against her family, particularly her mother, who she suspects is keeping secrets. The book starts intriguingly with Alice travelling to meet with her sisters at a railway station only to barely say hello to them before jumping back on a train, in huge distress, and heading home after witnessing something 'terrible' in the ladies toilets. The book has plenty of flawed characters to hold interest, however it took me until a quarter way through to acclimatise to the jumping back and forth in time periods and the frequent changes in who was narrating. Unfortunately the 'big reveal' of what Alice originally witnessed in the first chapter turned out to not be very shocking at all so this fell very flat . . . beautifully [written] but the novel just didn't have the impact that I felt it should have done at the key moments and the ending was rather unsatisfying. Susan Olding Personal read......................★★★ Group read...........................★★★★

As a member of two reading groups, I read a lot of books of doubtful quality but once in a while letting someone else choose your book pays great dividends . . . not an ‘easy’ read in more than one sense. It requires a great deal of

concentration, especially at the start, because there is a lot of movement between timeframes which can be confusing but if you can keep going you are greatly rewarded. There is also a lot of intense raw emotion with love, betrayal, death and grief. I was reduced to tears (not something that happens very often) on more than one occasion . . . I put my life on hold for two days because I was so reluctant to put the book down. It is difficult to believe that this is a debut novel! I look forward to reading more by this author. I hope she can maintain the standard. Judith Ayles Personal read......................★★★★★ Group read...........................★★★★★

My Lover’s Lover Tinder Press pbk, January 2003

Lily meets Marcus and moves into his warehouse apartment as his flatmate within days. Despite the obvious disapproval of Aidan – who is Marcus’s best friend Lily embarks on a relationship with Marcus almost immediately, but is haunted by Marcus’ former lover, Siobhan. The story is told from different perspectives and O'Farrell moves skilfully from third to first person, from present to past and from one character to another to weave a complex narrative. In the first half, the writing is powerful; a brooding atmosphere of suspense and delusions, half-truths and misconceptions is created. I was hooked into the story, but that tension dissipated and I struggled to retain my interest; the book became less dreamlike, more conventional and, consequently, less gripping. I have read some of O’Farrell’s’ other novels and thoroughly enjoyed them. Moreover, I am sure that many would find this an absorbing read. As some of the best book group meetings are when members disagree, and this book provides much to discuss, I think this

would make a better book group read than a personal one. Ann Smout Personal read......................★★ Group read...........................★★★★

Ultimately, I have very mixed feelings about this book. It started out as rather a chick-lit offering [but] part-way through it changed into something much more engaging as the reader discovers precisely what happened to the “lover’s lover”. The style also changed between past and present tense, and with paragraphs quickly shifting focus from one character to another. It was disconcerting, but had the effect of concentrating the reader’s mind on the development of the characters. However, there were far too many points at which the reader needed to suspend disbelief in order to trust the narrative, and Part Four in particular was so clichéd that it undid all the good work in moving the novel on from chick-lit. It was an intriguing and very quick read, but I doubt I will be revisiting Maggie O’Farrell.. Vivienne Jarvis Personal read......................★★ Group read...........................★★

secrets that people keep. Lindsay Healy Personal read......................★★★★★ Group read...........................★★★★★

We've all experienced it, haven't we? That feeling that a place is familiar, even though we're sure we've never been there before. And what about those split seconds of panic when waking from troubled sleep? That we don't know what has happened to us, as though we've forgotten something really important. The memories usually return as our brain re-engages, but it's really scary if the recall isn't immediate. I was immediately engrossed in this book, puzzling over the connection between the two timelines, because there must be a connection, mustn't there? Several times I thought that I had worked it out, only to be disappointed as my latest theory was scuppered by a new piece of information. When I finally did work it out I was disappointed that I was right, because there was no more to read! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it. Alison Weardon

The Hand That First Held Mine Tinder Press pbk, April 2010

Quite simply I found this novel a pure joy to read. It is wonderful. A wonderfully written book, I couldn't wait to pick it up again and delve back into the stories. I loved Lexie and her adventures in the 1960s in her new life in London in the world of publishing, and most of all her relationship with the intriguing and vivacious Innes. Equally engrossing was the modern-day story of exhausted new mother Elina and her partner Ted. Ultimately the two stories are drawn together and the truth of the past and present is revealed. A really cracking book about the passions and cruelties of life and the

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

O’Farrell’s novel could easily have turned out as a mawkish romance, but is exquisite instead. This is ‘serious literary fiction,’ and won a Costa Best Novel award to prove it. The descriptive language is elegant and precise, with just the right number of words and images to create a mental picture of a lawn in Devon with laundry flapping on a line, or the cracked tiles of the entryway of a London row house. Most of the book is in the present tense, which lends it immediacy and reality. Moreover, the novel welcomes the reader in as a confidant and active participant by starting chapters with “Listen” or “Look” or “Here is Lexie”. This is one of my absolute favourites.. Rebecca Foster Personal read......................★★★★★ Group read...........................★★★★

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RETROSPECTIVE

The Distance Between Us

Sue Smith

Debbie Mika

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

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

Tinder Press pbk, February 2013

Ray Taylor

I’ve never read any of this author’s books previously which is a big omission on my part as this book is a delight from start to finish . . . a complicated but beautiful love story. I loved Maggie O’Farrell’s elegant prose and enjoyed her sparkling descriptions of Scotland. Her characters are vivid and memorable. There is plenty here for reading groups to discuss on themes of sisterhood, family relationships and trying to run away from past experiences. I‘ve been missing out on an excellent novelist and am looking forward to reading her other books as this was a gem.

The Vanishing Act

Tinder Press pbk, August 2013

Tinder Press pbk, February 2013

. . . an Irish family, living in London during a heatwave. (Have to confess – didn’t really understand the need for the story to be based around a heatwave.) The retired husband, obviously bored with not going to work, pops out to get the paper and doesn’t return. The children are called and return to the family home and as the story continues it become clear that all 3 children have difficulties within their lives and with each other. There was so much in the book that I could relate too - the strong Irish religious background (son married an English woman who was pregnant) and then as the story developed mum and dad weren’t married! The mother of the family ‘ruled the roost’ - made me laugh, shout out loud and sympathise with her. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, loved the stories of each of the characters that all intertwined with each other but also showed the strong family unit. Karen Barfield

This is a book about family relations and the secrets we hide from each other and the consequences when they are revealed. The entire novel takes place over three days and involves 2 main characters which are well rounded and I felt we got to know them both well and their different failings and the effect these had on the family. It was interesting to see how the sins of the parents rebounded on the lives of the children and how they are making their own very similar mistakes in their own lives.

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. . . a haunting story about 16year-old Esme who is placed in a psychiatric hospital, forgotten by her family, except for her sister Kitty, and explores asylums and the oppression of family secrets in order to present an acceptable image to the outside world. The story only comes to light when Iris Lockhart receives a letter informing her that her great-aunt is about to be released from a psychiatric unit. Although a harrowing subject to tackle and the writing is a departure from O’Farrell’s usual work, it is brilliantly handled and well controlled. However, I did find the structure of the novel a challenge and in places difficult to follow. O’Farrell’s mix of sympathy and menace is well managed as is her sparing use of prose. It is not an easy read in terms of style or structure but I found myself compelled to read on as the family tale of shocking conspiracy unfolds. The end of the book disappointed me. It ends suddenly, vague and has no resolution but still a good read .

omm c e r ded en

Maggie O’Farrell writes like an angel. She depicts her characters and situations with consummate skill, drawing the reader in as if reeling a fish on a hook. She unravels her plot in a slow and tantalising way, weaving together all its various threads so expertly that the reader’s enjoyment is equally matched by admiration for her deft control and telling phrase. The plot, as such, is actually quite slight. Two sets of families, the one centred on sisters Stella and Nina and the other focussing on Jake from Hong Kong, both coming together in Scotland. But within this framework O’Farrell covers many themes including sibling rivalry, sex, families, love, belonging, loyalty. O’Farrell adopts a structure fairly common in today’s fiction of narrating the story from several viewpoints and jumping about with the time-frame but the reader is never confused or lost. The story is compulsive, powerful, moving, engaging and gripping right to the end. I defy anyone with any soul not to love this novel. It is a five star read by any standards.

Instructions For A Heatwave

Wendy Hughes

Apologies to the many, many others who were good enough to send in reviews – use Retro: on nudge and you will find nearly 30 – full – reviews of Maggie’s books.

Settling down with a good read is one of life’s outstanding pleasures. We present these cracking reads for your delectation – and you can have four of them FREE. All we ask is you cover our p&p costs.

OUR nb/nudge BOOKS OUR COMMUNITY BOOKS OF THE YEAR These may not be available as nb Recommended Reads but they are still worth adding to your ‘to be read’ list. My first reaction on learning The New Woman by Charity Norman had received the most votes was shock and disbelief. Oh how very wrong I was . . . as the wonderful characterization brought the Livingstone family alive vividly I was hooked. It is a harrowing tale and a very emotional and controversial read. The writer obviously researched gender issues intensively and dealt with it skilfully in this gripping tale. Adeptly, the writer reveals the emotional reaction of each member of the family until the reader sympathizes unreservedly and identifies with them all. Why did it win? Because it is the tale of a loving family shattered by the most shocking of revelations when a much revered member displays extreme vulnerability and the whole image of the family is Sheila A. Grant shattered. In recent years there has been a noticeable increase in narratives that focus on mental health and James Rice’s debut fits that bill. But what sets it apart, is its compelling first-person narration and the places that it reaches. Told from the perspective of troubled teenager Greg, Rice aligns the reader with his point of view and gets them onside, but the narration is interspersed with police reports that point to an uncomfortable truth. This is not a romanticised vision of mental health but a gritty, edgy telling that explores obsession, pain and fear. It is the work of a very special writer and he manages to do something refreshing in an increasingly busy genre. Special mention too goes to the runner-up, Jade Craddock Tracer by Rob Boffard, a space thriller that has been hailed as exhilarating sci-fi.

Her second Costa Novel award for a book using a number of the same characters as her 2013 winning Life After Life is some achievement. Seen as a companion piece it focuses upon RAF pilot Teddy and his wartime experiences. Regularly described as “Dazzling” and “Thought Provoking” it was one of the few on the shortlist that I haven’t read. The reason? Atkinson is one of the elite group of authors (Ian McEwan and Sarah Waters being the others) who I just have to read in chronological order and I haven’t got to this one yet! Snapping at her heels (!) was Sara Baume’s Spill Simmer Falter Wither a one man and his dog story ... a haunting tale of love and Phil Ramage loneliness from an author we will be hopefully reading much from in the future. Written by the outspoken activist and campaigner, Caroline Criado-Perez, in this book she reveals the stories of women’s lives all around the world. Some of these are known to the wider world, but lots of others are not yet. These women are proving to the world and themselves that a single step can bring powerful changes. And to demonstrate just how diverse the Book Life range is, the runner up is Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel, and is the story of one small field in Hereford. Not particularly exciting you’d think, but with his lyrical prose and passion for this tiny patch of land and the creatures that inhabit it, he really brings it to life. Nature writing at its finest. Paul Cheney

BookChap is such a wide ranging field from which to choose a Book of the Year but Trigger Mortis has all the ingredients you would expect. James Bond is probably the best known fictional character in the world thanks to the films. The original novels, though, are much less read these days. Indeed, Susannah Perkins’ nudge review of The Spectre Trilogy was damning of Ian Fleming’s work, reeling off the un-PC inadequacies. However, employ the services of a master storyteller like Anthony Horowitz, and the whole enterprise is reinvigorated. He even manages to seamlessly include an original chapter of Fleming’s work, not seen before.

For the winner of the BookNoir book of the year see page 18.

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OF THE YEAR 2016 AND OUR 14TH READING GROUP BOOK OF THE YEAR IS . . . Once again it is my pleasure to announce our Reading Group Book of 2015 as voted for by you, our readers. And I wish there were some rhyme or reason that I could fall back on that would explain why there’s a ‘winner’ and, therefore ‘losers’. The best I can come up with is that these are ten books seriously worth getting your hands on both as personal AND group reads. Which is why we persist in listing all ten, secure in the knowledge you’ve probably read at least one or two and might well have devoured all ten (I know our readers quite well after sixteen years). For instance, it is rewarding to see All the Light We Cannot See has made a showing after being one of our Recommended Reads. And even more heartening to receive several letters of approval from readers who took the book purely on our recommendation. But how to explain Anne Tyler coming ‘last’? Perhaps the multiplicity of other coverage Ms Tyler has been accorded in 2015 meant voters eased up when making their decisions? (But then, A Spool of Blue Thread was also one of our Recommended Reads.) One observation I would make is that, unlike many other prize awards, this award is not driven by publication date. Publishers have to make the most of a short window after publication to maximize interest before turning their attention to the next big thing. We reading group members have the luxury of time to consider, to savour, to lobby before deciding. The downside is that, at

most, there are just 12 ‘slots’ per year for our discussions so books can take longer to stake their claim. Can you afford hardbacks of all the books you want to read? Good for you but my guess is that for most book club members the paperback is the point at which purchase becomes achievable (defensible, perhaps???). Elizabeth and Issy are debuts among a field of established performers so it’s even more

Which brings me to The Bees – and a confession: I haven’t read it! So when our free copies arrived I ‘acquired’ one and am looking forward to something quite obviously different from much of what’s out there. So, farewell 2015 – you were a good year. Anyone care to venture what’s likely to be in the running for 2016? Guy Pringle Over the page you can read why Laline wrote The Bees and sample the book before ordering your FREE* copy on page 51. Elizabeth is Missing Emma Healey / Penguin The Children Act Ian McEwan / Vintage The Paying Guests Sarah Waters / Virago All The Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr / Fourth Estate A Place Called Winter Patrick Gale / Tinder Press A Song for Issy Bradley Carys Bray / Windmill Books The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes Anna McPartlin / Black Swan How to be Both Ali Smith / Penguin

remarkable that they appear here. We would be the worse without them although books that address dementia and the loss of a child are always going to stir emotions and therefore discussion.

A Spool of Blue Thread Anne Tyler/ Vintage

Steph Armstrong from Carlisle is the winner of our £100 National Book Tokens prize draw. Congratulations!

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Photo: Adrian Peacock

Congratulations to Laline Paull and The Bees, winner of our vote for Reading Group Book of 2016.

Laline Paull – On writing...

in this tiny mighty creature was born as my beekeeping artist friend Angie Biltcliffe was dying – but not before passing on her love of ‘her girls’ to me. Idle reading quickly became a feverish research trail as I realised that I had already imaginatively started living behind the walls of the hive, in a society 40,000 years old, both familiar and completely alien, full of dangers within and without. Here right under my nose, in my garden, was the makings of a great story - if I could find the key. First it was going to be from a drone’s point of view – a member of the tiny sexual

brilliant Saki short story), Roald Dahl - the list goes on. I had a novel in the bottom drawer, but I’d been waiting for a better idea. The French anthropologist Claude LeviStrauss said, ‘animals are good to think.’ And bees are BRILLIANT. In terms of the process, when the book was going from hardback to paperback I had another chance to tweak things. In a year of being published I’d had opportunity to absorb a lot of reader feedback, and many things people loved, but a couple they hated – little things that jarred the imaginative world of the book. They were

The Bees

A queen, but no king. Ten thousand sterile, hardworking daughters and a handful of highly sexed layabout sons. A massive store of family wealth, regularly robbed and laboriously replenished. Only the queen may breed, but every so often, one rare female has the biological temerity to spontaneously conceive. For this her fate is death, by the jaws and claws of her own sisters. All these things are literally true of the life of the honeybee, Apis Mellifera, to use her formal name. And I do say She, because the honeybee is the matriarchy of matriarchies of the natural world. My interest

celebrity class that has no idea what’s really in store – but the laying worker, that fertility criminal, hunted and desperate to keep her eggs alive, demanded to be the protagonist. I had to write a novel set inside a hive, a world so red of tooth and claw. A honeybee protagonist. The idea was so far-fetched that I felt calm. But anthropomorphisation has been part of my psyche ever since childhood, with books like Black Beauty, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, The Wind in the Willows, The Call of the Wild, The Jungle Book, Watership Down, Sredni Vashtar (the

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right, so I did another polish and fixed them. A story has implacable inner logic that must be obeyed, or the whole book suffers. The Bees is based on biological truths so bizarre I wouldn’t have had the nerve to invent them. My research shocked me into a greater environmental awareness, and the single most frequent reader comment I get is, ‘I’ll never look at a bee the same way again.’ I feel the same way – and very honoured that so many readers have entered the hive with me.

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The Bees – Laline Paull

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he cell squeezed her and the air was hot and fetid. All the joints of her body burned from her frantic twisting against the walls, her head was pressed into her chest and her legs shot with cramp, but her struggles had worked – one wall felt weaker. She kicked out with all her strength and felt something crack and break. She forced and tore and bit until there was a jagged hole into fresher air beyond. She dragged her body through and fell out onto the floor of an alien world. Static roared through her brain, thunderous vibration shook the ground and a thousand scents dazed her. All she could do was breathe until gradually the vibration and static subsided and the scent evaporated into the air. Her rigid body unlocked and she calmed as knowledge filled her mind. This was the Arrivals Hall and she was a worker. Her kin was Flora and her number was 717. Certain of her first task, she set about cleaning out her cell. In her violent struggle to hatch she had broken the whole front wall, unlike her neater neighbours. She looked, then followed their example, piling her debris neatly by the ruins. The activity cleared her senses and she felt the vastness of the Arrivals Hall, and how the vibrations in the air changed in different areas. Row upon row of cells like hers stretched into the distance, and there the cells were quiet but resonant as if the occupants still slept. Immediately around her was great activity with many recently broken and cleared-out chambers, and many more cracking and falling as new bees arrived. The differing scents of her neighbours also came into focus, some sweeter, some sharper, all of them pleasant to absorb. With a hard erratic pulse in the ground, a young female came running down the corridor between the cells, her face frantic. ‘Halt!’ Harsh voices reverberated from both ends of the corridor and a strong astringent scent rose in the air. Every bee stopped moving but the young bee stumbled and fell across Flora’s pile of debris. Then she clawed her way into the remains of the broken cell and huddled in the corner, her little hands up.

The Bees – Laline Paull

Cloaked in a bitter scent which hid their faces and made them identical, the dark figures strode down the corridor towards Flora. Pushing her aside, they dragged out the weeping young bee. At the sight of their spiked gauntlets, a spasm of fear in Flora’s brain released more knowledge. They were police. ‘You fled inspection.’ One of them pulled at the girl’s wings, while another examined the four still-wet membranes. The edge of one was shrivelled. ‘Spare me,’ she cried. ‘I will not fly, I will serve in any other way—’ ‘Deformity is evil. Deformity is not permitted.’ Before the bee could speak the two officers pressed her head down until there was a sharp crack. She hung limp between them and they dropped her body in the corridor. ‘You.’ A peculiar rasping voice addressed Flora and she did not know which one spoke, but stared at the black hooks on the backs of their legs. ‘Hold still.’ Long black callipers slid from their gauntlets and they measured her height. ‘Excessive variation. Abnormal.’ ‘That will be all, officers.’ At the kind voice and fragrant smell, the police released Flora. They bowed to a tall and well-groomed bee with a beautiful face. ‘Sister Sage, this one is obscenely ugly.’ ‘And excessively large.’ ‘It would appear so. Thank you, officers, you may go.’ Sister Sage waited for them to leave. She smiled at Flora. ‘To fear them is good. Be still while I read your kin—’ ‘I am Flora 717.’ Sister Sage raised her antennae. ‘A sanitation worker who speaks. Most notable …’ Flora stared at her tawny and gold face with its huge dark eyes. ‘Am I to be killed?’ ‘Do not question a priestess.’ Sister Sage ran her hands down the sides of Flora’s face. ‘Open your mouth.’ She looked inside. ‘Perhaps.’ Then she inclined her head over Flora’s mouth and fed her one golden drop of honey.

The Bees – Laline Paull

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The effect was immediate and astonishing. Clarity washed Flora’s mind and her body filled with strength. She understood that Sister Sage wished her to follow in silence, and that she must do whatever she asked. As they walked down the corridor she noticed how every bee averted her eyes and busied herself, and how the dead body of the young worker was already far ahead of them, carried in the mouth of a dark hunched bee who walked in the gutter. There were many more of the same type, all moving on the edge of the corridor. Some carried bundles of soiled wax, others scrubbed at broken cells. None looked up. ‘They are your kin-sisters.’ Sister Sage followed Flora’s eyes. ‘All of them mute. Presently you will join them in Sanitation, and perform valuable service to our hive. But first, a private experiment.’ She smiled at Flora. ‘Come.’ Flora followed gladly, all memory of the killing lost in her longing to taste more honey. Ruth Ginarlis had this to say in her double 5 star review of The Bees when it first came out “This book is quite extraordinary. It is the story of Flora 717, a humble sanitation bee, the lowest in the strict hierarchy of the hive. Flora, however, is no ordinary bee, she has powers which mystify her. She can speak, which santitation bees normally cannot, and has an ability to absorb knowledge from those more highly placed than herself. The Bees by Laline The Bees is an amazing achievement. The style is simple Paull is published by Fourth Estate as but almost poetic in its descriptions of the scents which a £8.99 pbk. control the entire community, and the beauty of the hive itself. Flora has to pass through many dangers and trials in order to achieve her strange destiny. Once the reader has started the novel, it is both hypnotic and compelling. It is also a gripping read. The author addresses the problems of social restriction, pollution and vengeful emotion, as well as love and hope - all centred upon a bee. It is a beautiful work, and I can thoroughly recommend it to the general reader and reading groups alike. Brilliant.”

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ded en Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin is published by Penguin as a £7.99 pbk on 10th March.

speak without research. When people ask how my characters or plots are “inspired,” I think they are expecting an answer about the magical place where ideas come from. If I’m stuck, I know I have to get up from the computer and hang in the shadows of a place I’ve never been, or interview human beings who’ve stood in places I never want to, or tunnel to places inside myself I’d rather not go. Because the thriller writers I love most, who inspire me most, have something bigger to say. Who explored the heart of darkness better than Thomas Harris in The Silence of the Lambs? Who made me think harder about overpopulation

needle was going in. I found Rhonda Roby, worldrenowned for using mitochondrial DNA to identify old and degraded bones and peered through the windows of her lab as a skull without a name was being sawed and scraped for DNA. Watched her face as she told me she did her job for the invisible families, waiting. Imagined her as she stood at the site of 9/11 with other scientists while human ashes rained down, over the bones of a serial killer victim, with the grieving families at the mass graves of Pinochet. I wrote her story first as a journalist. Then I placed her spirit inside the fictional pages of Black Eyed Susans along with

Black-Eyed Susans I remember exactly when 16year-old Tessie started speaking to me. It was the middle of the night. I was in bed with a psychology textbook, reading about a therapist’s technique for victims of trauma called Three Wishes. I was beginning my Black Eyed Susans research. At that point, I only knew the star of my novel in the abstract. She was a girl, sitting in a psychiatrist’s office, pulled out of a grave of old bones with no memory of how she got there. She was just a pile of bones herself. “Do you really think I would fall for that technique?” she asked sharply. “How stupid do you think I am?” For me, a journalist, a lover of authenticity, the voices don’t 66

than Dan Brown in Inferno? Who has ever cut open the ugly, familiar parts of marriage as bloodily as Gillian Flynn? Who inspired new generations of forensic scientists and jurists more than Patricia Cornwell? And so, for Black Eyed Susans, about a chase for justice and elusive memories decades after a terrible crime, I researched. I read Lenore Terr’s landmark study of the 26 California children who survived after being kidnapped and buried alive in a quarry in 1976. I planted myself outside the Texas Death house in Huntsville as the revving of angry police motorcycles cheered on the execution of a cop killer who could hear the roar through the walls while the

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the philosophy of Texas death penalty attorney David Dow, who has represented more than a hundred men on Death Row. I spoke by phone to an innocent man he helped free: the remarkably forgiving Anthony Graves, trapped in prison for eighteen years for the vicious murder of a family he did not commit. He still likes to keep his shades drawn. I listened to the people of the South, who I hope simmer without stereotype in all of my books. Their cadence, humor, dreams, silences. When all else failed, I stared up at the wide-open Texas sky. Because if I have a magic place, that is it. Julia Heaberlin

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Prologue

hirty- two hours of my life are missing. My best friend, Lydia, tells me to imagine those hours like old clothes in the back of a dark closet. Shut my eyes. Open the door. Move things around. Search. The things I do remember, I’d rather not. Four freckles. Eyes that aren’t black but blue, wide open, two inches from mine. Insects gnawing into a smooth, soft cheek. The grit of the earth in my teeth. Those parts, I remember. It’s my seventeenth birthday, and the candles on my cake are burning. The little flames are waving at me to hurry up. I’m thinking about the Black-Eyed Susans, lying in freezing metal drawers. How I scrub and scrub but can’t wash away their smell no matter how many showers I take. Be happy. Make a wish. I paste on a smile, and focus. Everyone in this room loves me and wants me home. Hopeful for the same old Tessie. Never let me remember. I close my eyes and blow.

PART 1 Tessa and Tessie My mother she killed me, My father he ate me, My sister gathered together all my bones, Tied them in a silken handkerchief, Laid them beneath the juniper- tree, Kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I! – Tessie, age 10, reading aloud to her grandfather from “The Juniper Tree,” 1988

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Black-Eyed Susans –Julia Heaberlin

Tessa, present day For better or worse, I am walking the crooked path to my childhood. The house sits topsy-turvy on the crest of a hill, like a kid built it out of blocks and toilet paper rolls. The chimney tilts in a comical direction, and turrets shoot off to each side like missiles about to take off . I used to sleep inside one of them on summer nights and pretend I was rocketing through space. More than my little brother liked, I had climbed out one of the windows onto the tiled roof and inched my scrappy knees toward the widow’s peak, grabbing sharp gargoyle ears and window ledges for balance. At the top, I leaned against the curlicued railing to survey the flat, endless Texas landscape and the stars of my kingdom. I played my piccolo to the night birds. The air rustled my thin white cotton nightgown like I was a strange dove alit on the top of a castle. It sounds like a fairy tale, and it was. My grandfather made his home in this crazy storybook house in the country, but he built it for my brother, Bobby, and me. It wasn’t a huge place, but I still have no idea how he could afford it. He presented each of us with a turret, a place where we could hide out from the world whenever we wanted to sneak away. It was his grand gesture, our personal Disney World, to make up for the fact that our mother had died. Granny tried to get rid of the place shortly after Granddaddy died, but the house didn’t sell till years later, when she was lying in the ground between him and their daughter. Nobody wanted it. It was weird, people said. Cursed. Their ugly words made it so. After I was found, the house had been pasted in all the papers, all over TV. The local newspapers dubbed it Grim’s Castle. I never knew if that was a typo. Texans spell things different. For instance, we don’t always add the ly. People whispered that my grandfather must have had something to do with my disappearance, with the murder of all the Black-Eyed Susans, because of his freaky house. “Shades of Michael Jackson and his Neverland Ranch,” they muttered, even after the state sent a man to Death Row a little over a year later for the crimes. These were the same people who had driven up to the front door every Christmas so their kids could gawk at the lit-up gingerbread house and grab a candy cane from the basket on the front porch. I press the bell. It no longer plays Ride of the Valkyries. I don’t know what to expect, so I am a little surprised when the older couple that open the door look perfectly suited to living here. The plump worn-down hausfrau with the hankerchief on her head, the sharp nose, and the dust rag in her hand reminds me of the old woman in the shoe.

Black-Eyed Susans –Julia Heaberlin

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I stutter out my request. There’s an immediate glint of recognition by the woman, a slight softening of her mouth. She locates the small crescent- moon scar under my eye. The woman’s eyes say poor little girl, even though it’s been eighteen years, and I now have a girl of my own. “I’m Bessie Wermuth,” she says. “And this is my husband, Herb. Come in, dear.” Herb is scowling and leaning on his cane. Suspicious, I can tell. I don’t blame him. I am a stranger, even though he knows exactly who I am. Everyone in a five-hundred-mile radius does. I am the Cartwright girl, dumped once upon a time with a strangled college student and a stack of human bones out past Highway 10, in an abandoned patch of field near the Jenkins property. I am the star of screaming tabloid headlines and campfire ghost stories. I am one of the four Black-Eyed Susans. The lucky one. It will only take a few minutes, I promise. Mr. Wermuth frowns, but Mrs. Wermuth says, Yes, of course. It is clear that she makes the decisions about all of the important things, like the height of the grass and what to do with a redheaded, kissed-by-evil waif on their doorstep, asking to be let in. “We won’t be able to go down there with you,” the man grumbles as he opens the door wider. “Neither of us have been down there too much since we moved in,” Mrs. Wermuth says hurriedly. “Maybe once a year. It’s damp. And there’s a broken step. A busted hip could do either of us in. Break one little thing at this age, and you’re at the Pearly Gates in thirty days or less. If you don’t want to die, don’t step foot inside a hospital after you turn sixty-five.” As she makes this grim pronouncement, I am frozen in the great room, flooded with memories, searching for things no longer there. The totem pole that Bobby and I sawed and carved one summer, completely unsupervised, with only one trip to the emergency room. Granddaddy’s painting of a tiny mouse riding a handkerchief sailboat in a wicked, boiling ocean. Now a Thomas Kinkade hangs in its place. The room is home to two flowered couches and a dizzying display of knickknacks, crowded on shelves and tucked in shadow boxes. German beer steins and candlesticks, a Little Women doll set, crystal butterflies and frogs, at least fifty delicately etched English teacups, a porcelain clown with a single black tear rolling down. All of them, I suspect, wondering how in the hell they ended up in the same neighborhood.

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Why I wrote...

I have always been fascinated by the question of what happens next. When I finish a novel that has captured my imagination I find myself spending days wondering what became of the characters after the author typed ‘The End’. It is the same with the news stories that stay with me long after the newspaper has found its way to the recycling bin – the stories of ordinary people being thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Whether it’s a family’s comfortable life shattered by a teenage daughter’s mysterious disappearance, a massive lottery win or the unmasking of a bigamist father with three

next year, in ten years’ time? Will their experiences drive them closer together or pull them apart? These are the questions that sneak up on me in the quiet of the night and imagining their answers is what inspired me to write my first novel. The Daughter’s Secret is the story of what happens next. Rosalind Simm was a ‘normal’ woman with a husband and two children until her fifteen-yearold daughter’s shocking disappearance with teacher Nathan Temperley propelled the family into the public eye. Six years later, Rosalind discovers that Temperley is about to be

The Daughter’s Secret

The Daughter’s Secret by Eva Holland is published by Orion as a £7.99 pbk on 7th April.

unsuspecting wives, these people’s lives will never, ever be the same again. They will be on the front page of our newspapers for a day, maybe two, then – if they are lucky – they will fade from view. We’ll forget them, we’ll move on to the next story, the next day’s news. But they won’t forget. How can they? The lives of these mothers, daughters, fathers and brothers have been changed forever. I hope they find peace. I hope they find happiness. But I can’t help wondering what happens next. How will these families go back to anything approaching normal life? What will happen to them tomorrow, next week,

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released from prison. As she grapples with the shadow his early release casts over her family and the fear of what it could mean for her daughter, Rosalind must face the way the events of the past have shaped their lives and the extent to which she blames herself and others for what happened. She is forced to remember the moment in time in which their lives were changed irrevocably and to ask herself the question I imagine those who have been at the heart of shocking events must ask themselves and each other: can we ever be ‘normal’ again? Eva Holland

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ELEVEN DAYS

was forty-two years old when I stopped worrying. I don’t know why it happened then. Maybe it was the quietness of the almost-empty house or the way that one day melted into the next without Freddy to feed and argue with. Or maybe I had worried so much for so long that my neural pathways had been ground to dust and my brain could no longer make the leaps required to see the catastrophes waiting behind the acts of everyday life. I noticed the change when I started to linger in sleep. Instead of waking before dawn, my eyes springing open to lock sights on the threats of the day, I would breach consciousness only with Dan’s alarm. Sometimes I went back to sleep, slipping into that limbo state in which dreams link arms with reality and the sound of Dan in the shower became the lash of rain or the thrum of an aeroplane cabin. I started to be late for morning classes ; I was no longer the woman outside the lecture theatre five minutes before it opened, a black coffee clenched in a tense claw. I was the one who slid into the back of the room at ten past nine with a smile and a nod, the woman I had always envied. Like the tuning in of the picture on an old television set, another way of living came into view. It grew in clarity every day. I once read an interview with an obese woman who had spent decades trying to lose weight. Her greatest wish, she said, was to live for a day in the body of a thin woman. I was like that woman but my wish had come true : I was living in the skin of a normal person, seeing the world through eyes untainted by panic. At the same time that my anxiety dwindled, things around me started to settle. It was as if some mighty cosmic force had whispered shhhh and the fretting and striving that drove motion and action had diminished then ceased. The cogs of life continued to whirr : sleep was slept, food was eaten, walks were taken, books were read, but nothing significant – nothing that could be classed as a happening, an event – took place. Other people didn’t seem to have noticed. I asked some : Dan, Beatrice, Cam. I even asked Stephanie when she rang one evening, but she said she didn’t understand what I meant. Now, of course, I wonder whether she knew that things were slowing down to gather strength for what was to come. I should have known it couldn’t last.

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The Daughter’s Secret– Eva Holland

It was at three o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday the twentieth of November when the beeping ring of the phone happened. I heard it as I shook off my coat and pushed the front door closed behind me, the smell of Cam still caught in the weave of my scarf. I knew it was Tanya before she had finished forming the first syllable of my name. Her voice had once been so welcome but on that afternoon, after years of silence – her silence – it was as unwanted as orange juice after toothpaste. It was the sound of the past, of things I had tried to forget. ‘Ros, I wanted to call you as soon as I heard,’ she said. She had never been one for small talk, which had seemed surprising in a police Family Liaison Officer. I remember waiting for her to come to the door the first time. I imagined cardigans, platitudes and coffee breath. I thought she would hold my cold, trembling hands with cold, trembling hands of her own. But that wasn’t what she did at all. Sometimes she reminded me to get dressed in the mornings. Sometimes she made Freddy’s sandwiches and took him to school. Sometimes she stood outside our door and snarled at the press pack until the clump of reporters and photographers retreated to the café at the end of the road, at least for a while. Was it any wonder that I had clung to her so tightly ? ‘What is it ?’ I said. ‘He’s getting out early. At the beginning of next month.’ ‘Which month ?’ Of course I knew what she meant but I couldn’t think of anything else to say. ‘December, Rosalind. Eleven days from now.’ Her voice was calm and solid ; I could have leant on it if I had let myself. I could picture her at her desk, her dark hair pulled back from her face, the pale scar that runs from her left ear to the corner of her mouth flexing as she spoke. ‘But they said seven years. At least seven years,’ I said. ‘It’s only been five and a half.’ ‘He’s been a good boy and the prisons are bursting at the seams. There’s nothing we can do about it, no right of appeal.’ She sounded flat, resigned. Where had her anger gone ? Her omnipotent bitterness ? ‘Do you think Stephanie knows ?’ ‘No. I can’t see how she would.’ ‘She doesn’t see him, then ? There’s no contact at all ? Letters ? Visits ? Phone calls ?’ ‘No, of course not. She got over it all. She moved on.’ ‘I hope so, but you remember what she said back then, Ros. Where’s she living now ?’

‘London. North, though. Near Finsbury Park.’ My ear was filled with the hiss of Tanya’s exhaled breath. ‘How far from the prison is that ? Ten miles ? Fifteen ?’ Ten point three miles. I didn’t say anything. ‘Does she have a boyfriend ?’ ‘I don’t think she’d tell us if she did. That’s what they’re like, aren’t they ? Too grown up to share everything with their parents. She’s in her final year now and she’s on track for a First.’ I was trying to make the conversation normal, a catch-up between long-separated acquaintances, but Tanya wouldn’t let me. ‘Do you want me to tell her ? I’ll ring her if you give me her number. There’s still support available to her. She might benefit from counselling to help her get used to the idea. I’ve got better resources now than when I was with the police.’ Tanya had left her old job to become Head of Victim Support for Hertfordshire. I glimpsed her on the local news from time to time. I always made myself change the channel. ‘I’ll tell her. It will be better coming from me. I’ll go up to London and take her out to lunch.’ I hadn’t done that for a while, hadn’t seen my daughter for nearly two months, I realised. She seldom came home, and since I had started letting the days and weeks flow over and around me instead of carefully measuring them out hour by hour, I had slipped out of the habit of going there. I had tried to arrange a family dinner for her twenty-first birthday earlier in the month but she had fobbed me off, telling me she was too busy and didn’t want to celebrate until the end of term. I hadn’t pushed it, had just sent a card and slipped an extra couple of hundred pounds into her bank account. ‘It will be …’ Was I really going to say that it would be nice ? Of course it wouldn’t be nice. ‘It will be better for her,’ I said instead. ‘Well do it soon. The press will get hold of this and she shouldn’t have to find out like that.’ ‘Will they still care ? Surely everyone’s forgotten by now, what with the war and the riots and the floods and everything.’ But how could they forget it ? It was unforgettable.

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OUR INTREPID REPORTER

Louis de Bernie ̀res (c) Ivon Bartholomew

ESSEX FESTIVAL – behind the scenes The Essex Book Festival is now a major series of events across the county, so we asked Festival Director, Ros Green, “What on earth possessed you to take on the role?”

Grayson Perry

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different things at once, the rest of the time like a six-year-old waiting for Christmas. The 'lows' are definitely when something goes wrong often beyond my control such as, an author cancelling at the last minute due to sickness or personal circumstances. Lots of our events take place in tiny libraries across Essex. Our audiences are very loyal and so

Vince Cable

Ros Green

though is that I get to work with wonderful people and to hear and see an enormous range of writers, artists, playwrights, and filmmakers talk about their work. I have been involved in festivals since the 1980s, working I love books and I love festivals: on various international festiit's as simple as that! vals extending from The Edinburgh Fringe through to It has been an enormous Melbourne Comedy Festival challenge. Possibly a much and Wellington International greater one than I imagined at Festival on the other side of the the outset. The Festival takes world: sometimes in an adminplace right across Essex: 60+ istrative role/management events in 40 different venues. capacity, other times as a proIt's a very complicated matrix ducer. In more recent years I bearing in mind all the 100+ was the Director of the Gypsy participating writers and artists, Arts Festival (2006-2012: Sufdifferent partners, venues, folk, Kent, Edinburgh) and the agents, booksellers who are inPolish Arts Festival (2008volved in the festival, and given 2014:). that we are a tiny team of organWe start thinking about the isers. The flip side of all of that programme in June. This is when we start putting out feelers to publishers and agents. To be honest the real countdown begins in December when the brochure goes to the printer and everything and everyone is suddenly set in stone. But in terms of how I feel right now? Half of the time I feel like a headless chicken running around trying to do 100

they're really disappointed if the annual Essex Book Festival event doesn't take place on their patch. The 'highs' are when people (authors or audience members) come up to me after an event and say "that was a wonderful event". It's got very little to do with me but it always makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

We have been using most of our venues for many years now so we have a fairly good idea of what will go down well there. Last year we put on a lot more events in Southend than in previous years - that was a bit of a shot in the dark - but it has opened up a whole new audience for the Festival. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith. We are very committed to supporting new and emerging writers, along with programming better known ones. Obviously it is always easier to persuade someone at the start of their career to travel to a tiny library in deepest Essex which can only hold 40 people, than it is a 'celebrity' writer. Having said that though, we are delighted to be welcoming some of the UK's leading writers to Essex in March, including Helen Dunmore, Vince Cable, AN Wilson and Louis de Bernieres. I think the fact that we are a very friendly, welcoming, community-based festival makes a lot of difference in terms of garnering support.

Recent coverage of author payment for events is complicated. Every book/literary festival is different, so I can only speak for the Essex Book Festival. In an ideal world it would be wonderful to pay everyone participating in the Festival that includes the writers, event chairs, and volunteers. We always pay our writers to run workshops and for participating in certain special events. We also always offer to pay authors travel and hotel expenses, which can be expensive depending on

Eva Dolan

where the authors are coming from and the location of the venue. For example, one of our author's this year is coming from Colchester, another from Glasgow, and another from Geneva... travel is a major expense for the Festival. Up until now we haven't been in a position to pay all of the authors participating in the Festival. We have 100+ participants (excluding event chairs) and many of our venues are very small. Given that our tickets are more affordable than most other book festivals (our aver-

age ticket price is £6); the fact that most of our events take place in libraries spread out across the county; and our deliberately strong focus on new and emerging authors, we would cease to be a viable operation very quickly if we paid everyone fees, plus accommodation and travel expenses, using our current festival format. However, in the light of the current debate we're now in the process of reviewing this for 2017. This may mean reducing the number of events and venues for 2017, perhaps focusing more on the larger venues in the big towns, and programming more 'safe bets', i.e. established writers. As I said, it's complicated. My only fear is that it will be the new and emerging writers and those living in the more remote places in the county who stand to lose out. Potentially, it may come down to a profit share between the Festival and the participants. Whatever happens we will try and find the fairest, most sustainable solution that suits everyone.

essexbookfestival.org.uk/events

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OUR INTREPID REPORTER

Words by the Water Festival Linda Hepworth takes her seat . . . answers revealing how they bring together so many interesting people to share thoughts and ideas with enthusiastic audiences.

In their usual resilient way the people of Cumbria worked hard to recover from the devastating floods of late 2015. And the Words by the Water festival is a cultural highlight for the area with something of interest for everyone. As always, I have treated myself to festival passes for all ten days so am looking forward to being immersed in words and ideas, and meeting like-minded people. For the fourteen years I have been attending - since it started in 2001 - I have been content to just sit back and enjoy the experience. But now I am one of Our Intrepid Reporters™ I was able to put some questions to Festival Directors, Kay Dunbar and Stephen Bristow, their

When did the planning start and how do you choose speakers? Probably about a year ago, some events earlier, some later. Sometimes we approach publishers and/or authors, and sometimes they approach us - all methods! Mainly we are looking for people who will bring in an audience – for everyone’s sake. And themes? Some themes are followed – but in the Studio theatre rather than the Main House. Audiences [there] seem to prefer non-fiction. We aim to be eclectic but as we rely on ticket sales to finance the festival everything needs to contribute. And getting speakers in the right place, at the right time? The logistics of organising over a 100 writers are huge but we need to be efficient. Members of staff help! The nearest railway station to Keswick is over fifteen miles away but we have volunteer drivers [when needed]. We use the same hotel each year for our speakers [but] the weekends can be a problem

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[because] each year the percentage of writers staying depends on where they live. And how do you choose chairpersons for each talk? We have a group of volunteer chairs who have particular interests and experiences and we send them the programme to select events. One of our staff provides advance reading and more detailed briefing where needed. Plus our festival book shop is run by a local independent book store; the owners, and their staff, work non-stop throughout the festival! Your home-base is Devon – this is Keswick . . . ? We visit several times during the year. The festival requires six people working for a year to cover all the points above. Logistics play a large part, as well as general alertness to ideas/books/magazines and the rest of the media to keep informed. And pre-festival publicity? If only it was possible to say what is most effective! Linda’s festival reports will appear on nudge and if you fancy being one of Our Intrepid Reporters then email info@newbooksmag.com

Although we are only sixteen years into the new century we thought it was a good time to take stock. You will find full reviews of previous nominations (above) on nudge. Use BB21C to find them all.

Brick Lane

Night Waking

Monica Ali

Sarah Moss world’s problems with Lego and an aristocratic, ornithologist husband employed to count puffins on the remote island owned by his * A mystery to keep the readers family, where they’re all guessing and turning the pages spending the summer. If she gets any time to herself she is to discover answers. trying to stay awake long * A fair sprinkling of humour to enough to write a book. On the fictitious Scottish make the readers smile and island, which is based on St endear the characters. Kilda, Anna tries to divide her * New facts to teach the readers time between childcare and research for her book, which in things they did not already reality becomes spells of know. domestic drudgery interspersed * A hint of controversy to make with attempts to find solitude in order to work or catch up on them think and ask questions. some sleep. Two more things happen - a * Intelligent prose which can second family comes to holiday both entertain but also on the island showing another challenge the reader. example of middle class motherhood and Anna makes a Mix them all together and the book you have is Night Waking discovery in her garden, which changes everything. by Sarah Moss. I will tell you no more but It is narrated by Anna Bennett, urge you to discover the work of Sarah Moss, Night Waking a historian but also a twenty will make you want to read first-century mother with a Bodies of Light which in turn lively two-year-old who loves will lead you to Signs for Lost his stories and cries plaintively “Mummy read a Gruffalo!” Children. Anna also has an older son who Sarah Akhtar is endeavouring to solve the

If I had to compile a recipe for the perfect novel of the twenty first century what would it include? Published by Granta. 2012

Sarah Akhtar considers the ingredients required in a contemporary novel and presents the perfect result – Mary Berry eat your heart out!

Granta pbk July 2015

Granta pbk Jan 2015

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Published by Black Swan, Oct 2007 Also a recommended read in nb21

”I found it felt as fresh as it did when I first read it in 2003”

July 2012

May 2010

May 2007

When reflecting on books which have made a lasting impression on me in the past fifteen years, Monica Ali’s first novel very quickly sprang to mind. Her fresh new voice provided a vividly evocative portrait of a Bangladeshi community in London’s East End. She explored, with great sensitivity, and at times considerable humour, many of the conflicts immigrants face as they attempt to retain cultural and religious integrity whilst endeavouring to fit into their host community. The main character in this engaging story is Nanzeen who, aged eighteen and still living in a small village in Bangladesh, is sent to England by her father who has arranged her marriage. Her husband to be is Chanu, twenty years her senior. [We are taken] on Nanzeen’s journey as she gradually develops from a shy, naïve, passive girl who speaks no English, to a strong, confident woman who, through her struggles finally feels able to take control of her own destiny. This process includes a passionate affair with Karim, a radical young Muslim who is facing his own struggles about his beliefs and loyalties. All the characters are vividly

portrayed, each having a clear voice which demands to be heard. Chanu, who could so easily have been portrayed just as a figure of fun, with his huge belly, his worthless certificates and his troublesome corns, is sympathetically shown to have his own dreams and disappointments. For me none of the characters was superfluous; each added to a richly multi-layered depiction of a community in flux. This is a novel, which captured my imagination from beginning to end. The issues surrounding what it feels like tobe an immigrant, to feel not fully at home in either culture, to live in a community which views you with suspicion, feel as relevant today as they did when the book was written – maybe especially so for British Muslims. The author’s deceptively light tone and comic touch never detract from the serious elements she explores throughout the story and I found it felt as fresh as it did when I first read it in 2003. For this reason, if for no other, I think Brick Lane should be regarded as one of the best books of the 21st century. Linda Hepworth

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Histories Greatest Deceptions, and the People who Planned Them

Cutting for Stone

Eric Caline

Abraham Verghese

Our first BookChap addition to our collection

Published by The History Press, 2010

It has never ceased to amaze me, the sheer incredulity of people, how gullible they can be over virtually anything. This book sets out to explain why scams and hoaxes, frauds and charlatans, can easily dupe the unwary amongst us. I love this type of book, each chapter is a different story told with authority and relevant detail. The Wooden Horse of Troy, Piltdown Man, Crop Circles and the Roswell Incident are just a few examples. What I liked about this book is the way

Our Souls at Night

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Reg Seward Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

Kent Haruf

inhabitants of a small American town called Holt. Abbie Moore calls on her neighbour one day and invites him to share her bed. She makes it clear she is after companionship and conversation only. She has the idea that the arrangement will help stave off the loneliness and silence of her Published by Picador, 2015 long sleepless hours. This lovely, quiet, gentle little In the next few chapters, in clear tale was written towards the end simple prose, we learn of their of the author's life; he died in developing friendship and we 2014 and I read somewhere that hear their stories. The writing is he knew he was dying when he deceptively spare and concise wrote it. but the picture painted is It concerns two elderly evocative and powerful with a 80

that the people behind these frauds are explained away, and the reasoning behind them. We all know that financial institutions are quite corrupt, [Ed: allegedly, Reg?] but, without the complicity of the duped, we just rub along, oblivious of the cost and damage. This book may open your eyes to just how easily unsuspecting people can be dragged into the maelstrom.

wonderful sense of place and season. I have never been to America but I feel I know exactly what Holt looks and feels like. As with his trilogy Plainsong, Eventide and Benediction you become very fond of the characters and really care what happens to them. It is a very simple little story about very simple, ordinary people but told with such care and love that you read it almost in one sitting and then turn back to the beginning to read it again. Jackie Gethin

Published by Vintage, Dec 2009

“An amazing family saga set in Africa and America. Cutting for Stone takes the reader on a remarkable journey through life and death and the wonder of medicine.”

This story of orphaned twin brothers takes us from a small mission hospital in Ethiopia on to India and America. Marion and Shiva Stone were born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. As the boys come of age and share a passion for medicine, it is the passion for a woman that will drive them apart. Marion flees to America where he finds refuge in his work in an overcrowded New York City hospital. When his past catches up to him, Marion must entrust his life to the two men he trusts least—the brother who betrayed him and the father who abandoned him. There is something for everyone in this novel: the often unique relationship between twins, the incredible love of adoptive parents, the struggles of doing medicine in remote places, the challenges of immigration to a new country, and the pain of losing someone that you love. Beautifully written, the novel is elegant and the characters are unforgettable. In the book, Marion observes

that in Ethiopia, patients assume that all illnesses are fatal and that death is expected, but in America, news of having a fatal illness “always seemed to come as a surprise, as if we took for granted that we were immortal”. The title is more than a play on words about a surgeon called Stone. It comes from the Hippocratic Oath “I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art”. Verghese, a physician himself, has said that this line comes from ancient times when stone cutters would go digging for bladder stones and the patient would usually die of infection. Medical stuff has always intrigued me, but I love the part when Thomas Stone asks “What treatment in an emergency is administered by ear?” The answer is memorable, but I won’t spoil it for you. You’ll have to find out for yourself ! Joanne Booy

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UKRAINE

that deals in introspection or psychology, so the character nlike some of the himself always remains countries on this literary somewhat distanced. Similarly, globetrot that I’m barely despite the trajectories of the able to spell let alone am plot, there’s no real edge-offamiliar with, Ukraine is a your-seat, by-the-knuckle country that is now, as a result action here, rather it’s an of recent problematic events, accumulation of a life’s on everyone’s map. experiences, but it’s still I heard about a novel only just fascinating stuff. The novel is published in English, Laurus, very strong on style and the by Eugene Vodolazkin, which author throws in some won prestigious awards in both medieval spelling, as if Russia and Ukraine and is set in peppering the pages, at various fifteenth century Russia points. There are also some following the life of the titular anachronistically modern character. idioms that do feel somewhat The novel is split into four asynchronous, however this parts, each concerning a playing around with time is different stage of Arseny’s life, intrinsic to the very fabric and beginning with his formative essence of the author’s years where he learns his motivation, and the fact as he vocation – or calling – as a has described it that ‘time does healer and suffers the tragedy not exist’. Indeed, the lovers in which is to define the rest of his the novel are physically life. This first part was together for the shortest of incredibly absorbing and time and yet love abounds interesting, setting up a strong across the entirety of the novel, voice and style that seemed and beyond. very individual. For me, For me the measure of a great unfortunately, the narrative book is that it exists both within drifted somewhat in part two, and beyond its national setting – which follows Arseny as he that is, it conjures its setting but becomes a holy fool - I is not confined by, or to, it, and struggled with the text and its speaks universally. Laurus does context. It simply didn’t pack this with ease but also manages the same emotional and an additional transcendentalism, narrative punch. Parts three in doing the same with history and four however picked it and time. A well-written and back up and the ending brings intriguing novel, this one was a the whole full circle in a neat pleasure to read. and meaningful resolution. Although Arseny goes through Personal read ............★★★★★ much it isn’t the sort of book Group read .....................★★★★

Around the World in 80 Books Seasoned ‘traveller’ Jade Craddock risks Russian airspace to bring you her choices from Ukraine and Uzbekistan. You can find all her world reviews to date by searching nudge using “ATW80”

Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin. Published by Oneworld.

Did you know? So a little about Uzbekistan, for the geographically naïve like me. First things first, it’s a central Asian nation, sharing borders with five other countries: the aforementioned Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. (Bonus points for remembering those!) It is one of only two countries (the other being Liechtenstein) that is doublylandlocked – that is, it is landlocked by other landlocked countries (take a minute over that!). And whilst it might not be a literary goldmine, it does have an enviable supply of actual gold, as well as an enviable history, including one of the oldest cities in the world, Samarkand, founded in the 7th century BC, some 2700 years ago. Indeed, Uzbekistan is famed for its ancient cities. Unsurprisingly, given this history, the literature of Uzbekistan has quite formidable roots, dating back to the 9th century, with a strong epic and folkloric tradition. For Jade’s book choice from Uzbekistan see over the page.

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UZBEKISTAN

hat encouraged me to read The Underground was the appeal of a child narrator and the concept of the underground system that binds the narrative together. And I wasn’t disappointed. Admittedly, the use of the underground wasn’t quite what I imagined, more of a mechanism to link the narrator’s memories and life events rather than a location or a setting. But it’s a wonderful conceit and one that highlights the author’s ingenuity and creativity. The style and vision are just superb, and everything about the book feels incredibly authentic and equally intriguing. The novel also works on various levels, allegorical, mythical, realist and absurdist, yet in these elements there’s also plenty of material for group discussion. On a literal level, the story follows the struggles of Kirill – otherwise known as Mbobo or Pushkin – a boy born of a tryst between a Siberian mother and an African father – in the first tumultuous years of his life and death. Yes, we are told at the beginning very matter-of-factly that Kirill is dead and so too his mother, this is not a melodrama but simply a reality, and although some may think this is a bit off-putting even upsetting, the novel largely maintains an emotional 84

distance and narrative frankness that pertinently speaks of the inevitability of Kirill’s predicament and sadly the inconsequence placed on his life. Indeed, this is very much a story of a boy failed by his nation, his community and his family. And the casualness with which Kirill views his own life and death speaks of the effects of his upbringing and touches a chord with the reader. The most affecting moments come when Kirill’s vulnerability, his childish innocence and a young boy’s devotion and love for his mother (in spite of her questionable behaviour) emerge and in those brief glimpses we are reminded that this is just a young boy who wants to be loved and protected. There is a lot in the novel that centres on race – indeed the very fact of his parentage defines Kirill’s story. And prejudice is rife in Kirill’s life, such is the landscape that the novel occupies, and reading it can feel unpleasant and unsettling. Sometimes the narrative does become a bit bizarre and the ending was in equal parts strange and surprising, but this book is one of my favourite reads on the journey so far. The sort of book that should be read on a world setting and that should feature

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in an international reading list. Whether it is, as one commentator claimed, one of the ten best Russian novels of the 21st century, I couldn’t say but it certainly deserves its acclaim and attention. Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

The Underground by Hamid Ismailov. Published by Restless Books

Where next Jade? MOLDOVA The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov

directory The reviewers have their say

For reasons of space some reviews have been edited but you will find them in full on nudge. Tip: simply use dir88 as your search.

reviews

LIAR LIAR MJ Aldridge Penguin Sept 2015 pbk ISBN - 9781405919210

This is the fourth in a series, but perfectly readable on its own. It is a crime novel set in Southampton featuring DI Helen Grace, a feisty character who won't stop until the case is solved. A series of arson attacks has the whole city living in fear and the whole emergency services network know they have to act fast. The book is written in very short snappy chapters which keeps the momentum going. I really enjoyed this book, maybe not quite as much as the first three, but there were plenty of red herrings and clues at the same time. I felt the characters were all believable, if not likeable and it was thought provoking especially towards the end as we near the 'reveal'. The descriptions of each of the fires were dramatic and obviously well researched and made me hold my breath seeing who would escape and who wouldn't. Overall a very enjoyable fast paced thriller. Fiona Atley Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

reviews

ALIVE, ALIVE OH! AND OTHER THINGS THAT MATTER Diana Athill Granta Nov 2015 hbk ISBN - 9781783782543

A farewell collection of essays from the beloved 97year-old memoirist. Apart from Dead Right, however, this essay collection is not primarily concerned with imminent death. Indeed, while reading these sparkly and astute pieces, it is hard to imagine that this intelligent voice might soon be extinguished. In this final book Athill is still grateful to be alive, marvelling at a lifetime of good luck and health and taking joy in gardening, clothing, books, memories and friendships. The collection highlight is the title piece, about a miscarriage Athill suffered in her forties. She had an unconventional personal life, considering this was the 1960s – she never married but was with her partner, a black man, for some four decades. After he divorced his wife they formed an unusual household with his new lover and her family – and [though they] had never particularly longed for children, [they] welcomed an unexpected pregnancy. Yet when she miscarried, a life-threatening event she narrates with remarkable clarity given it happened

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more than half a century ago, she did not experience a grave sense of loss. Instead, she felt lucky to still be alive at all. When first published in Granta, this was written in the third person; I’m so glad Athill put it back in its properly intimate firstperson voice for inclusion in this collection. I’ve now read all of Athill’s work, even her rather obscure novel and short story collection. This doesn’t live up to her few best memoirs, but it’s an essential read for a devoted fan, and a sort of consolation prize for the fact that she will likely not publish anything else (though you never know). For readers new to her work, I’d recommend starting with Somewhere Towards the End, followed by Stet, which is about her work as a literary editor. As for this book, it is no memento mori; it’s a celebration of life. Rebecca Foster Personal read ................★★★★ A much longer review appears on nudge.

FERGUSON’S GANG Polly Bagnall National Trust Books/Pavilion Nov 2015 hbk ISBN - 9781909881716

The front cover looks like a novel, yet, I was intrigued by the National Trust oak-leaf logo lurking in the top left-

hand corner of the cover. Another front cover detail informs us that this is the remarkable story of the National Trust gangsters. Enough for me to want to know more? Too right it was. I loved this book, so easy to read, so interesting, and well paced and ultimately inspiring. It tells us mainly about the lives of several women and a few men, who in the late 1920s formed themselves into a gang, a bit like a Famous Five or a Ripping Yarns club, all jolly hockey sticks and muffins. They did so because they were angry at the creeping, octopus like manner the Britain they all loved and cherished was being eroded by the onslaught of unchecked urban development. They conspired to raise monies to help conserve various enterprises under the banner of the National Trust, delivering these sums in delightfully unique and strange ways. They more or less retained anonymity right up to their deaths, by using a form of estuary English in the written word and various odd pseudonyms for the members. Several photographs accompany the pages to let us know of their appearance plus, a few drawings and entries into the log, known as the ‘boo’ (book). They garnered all sorts of press coverage and were taken to heart by the British public. An excellent book to please anyone mildly interested in conservation and history of the British eccentric. The rather Bohemian lifestyle of these ladies is a treasure to read about to my mind. Reg Seward Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

JUNE Gerbrand Bakker Vintage June 2016 pbk ISBN - 9781846555459

Bakker’s latest novel to be translated into English is bookended by the appearance of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands on a tour of some small Dutch towns and we are privy to her thoughts and feelings as she carries out her duties. For me these episodes were the highlights of the book and it was all downhill after this amusing opening. The narrative takes up again 35 years later at a farmhouse in one of the towns she visited. We gradually meet the members of the family, all of whom have been deeply affected by an event that occurred the very day of the Queen’s visit. It’s a slow, and to my mind, unnecessarily oblique introduction to the family and it took me a while to work out just who was who and what their relationship to one another was. It’s obvious there has been some sort of tragedy, but the narrative meanders from character to character with so little sense of direction that by the time the full story emerges, I’d long given up caring. Bakker’s style is laconic and dreamy and had a soporific effect on me. Atmospheric, certainly, but there’s so little narrative drive that it’s easy

to be lulled into a sort of stupor. The pivotal event is a dramatic one, but again the style is so affectless that it’s almost possible to miss it. The consequences of that event are dramatic and farreaching but I never felt any real involvement with the characters or their trauma. It’s a quiet book, a still book, and I can indeed see its appeal, but I became impatient with it and felt that it had more style than substance. A disappointment. Mandy Jenkinson Personal read........................★★ Group read .....................★★★★

BLACKHEATH Adam Baron Myriad Editions Feb 2016 pbk ISBN - 9781908434906

Blackheath describes the fall of James and Alice, an academic on sabbatical and a poet, in their 30s with two small children. They have a smugness about them; they are clever and ambitious in intellectual pursuits and scorn the older and richer parents they come across at the local state primary. They tell themselves they’ll never behave like them when they are already on the same road, having attended church despite being non-believers to procure a place for their child in the school. It is refreshing to have a school gate novel written from the male perspective.

Baron is particularly good on how even in an age of increasing equality the father at the school gate is still the oddity – either the “zeta” male or the object of lust. But many of the male responses to being a child’s primary carer that Baron espouses are not peculiarly male. Everyone hates toddlers’ music and dance groups – unless strong medication is involved. Baron is also very good on the ‘having it all ‘ generation as both James and Alice strive to parent and work. There is the inevitable time juggling, ball dropping and subsequent resentment, either overt or simmering. Blackheath is funny but very much in the ‘kerpow’ tradition of stand up. It sometimes lacks the more nuanced humour of observational fiction. The cover blurb has Fay Weldon claiming that Baron “understands women better than they understand themselves” which I would take issue with. Baron may well understand some women but by no means all and I would worry about those he has studied. [Similarly] Baron has an unstintingly bleak view of the middle classes, which he portrays as uncaring, selfabsorbed and self-indulgent. [However,] the writing is spare, lean and clean and suffused throughout with this sense of unease, so that the climax of the story seems inevitable in its aftermath. Baron’s male perspective in Blackheath brings little new to the table in terms of observational fiction, but it is an enjoyable addition to the genre. Amelia Ashton Personal read ....................★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

KILLING EVA Alex Blackmore No Exit Press Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 9781843446576

Killing Eva is a fast paced thriller (very fast paced) - I could hardly keep up with it and I'm not sure if I ever really understood what was going on. This is not a fault of the writing, which is good. It was obviously intended and really drives the story on. I'm just more used to the comparatively gentler pace of crime novels. Also it might have made more sense if I'd read the first one in the series Lethal Profit as there are continual references to the events and people who appeared in it. All that said, it was an entertaining read. Eva is young, intelligent and very reckless. She is also being used by a group using genetic modification for (obviously) nefarious purposes. Nearly every page had a plot twist or had Eva running headlong into danger. There is not much characterisation but Eva is likeable enough. The other main characters are often ambiguous so you are never sure who can be trusted (neither is Eva). The genetic modification idea is interesting but not completely believable. Maddy Broome Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.............................★★

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reviews

reviews the end of the book the tale has come full circle. The stories look at identity and what’s going on beneath the surface. Despite my desire to know what happened next, the stories are certainly worth a read. Boyne is an accomplished writer who draws you in quickly. Eleanor King

BENEATH THE EARTH John Boyne

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

Doubleday Aug 2015 hbk ISBN - 9780857523402

John Boyne, author of the devastating The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and A History of Loneliness, has prolifically produced novels for the last 15 years. In a change of form, Beneath the Earth is his first collection of short stories. Whilst the stories are compelling insights into human nature, supposedly going beneath the surface, they often feel incomplete. Several of them felt as though they could be prologues to long-form prose, a style the author is clearly comfortable in. The collection starts off with the striking Boy, 19. This is a thought-provoking tale to open the book with – a young man whose life has been desperately sad, facing abuse and abandonment from the people who should have loved him but who does not feel self pity but pragmatic acceptance of the prostitution he resorts to. The tale ends with a twist when the least expected of clients presents themselves to him. The country you called home starts with a brick crashing through a family's window and is my favourite in the collection. A small boy watches the resistance to his father going to war and by

THE ROAD TO LITTLE DRIBBLING: MORE NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND Bill Bryson Doubleday Oct 2015 hbk ISBN - 9780857522344

Notes from a Small Island was first published 20, yes 20 years ago. In that book he visited places new and revisited old haunts from when he first came to the UK in the seventies. His point of view as an outsider was refreshing, fairly blunt and quite frequently very funny. This book came about after his publisher remarked that it might be worth having another look at the country now he was actually a citizen. Bryson did consider doing a journey between what most people think of as the two furthest points, Land's End and John O’Groats. But [this time] a couple of coincidences mean that he starts in Bognor Regis of all

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places, with the intention of aiming to end at Cape Wrath. He follows a very erratic journey round the country visiting new towns and passing through some of the places he visited in the first book. He unearths a variety of factual nuggets and anecdotes on each place, reminds us of how it once was and is often pretty blunt with his opinions on some of the changes that have taken place. Being older now he is a little more of a curmudgeon too, but it does make for some hilarious encounters with surly and unhelpful staff in hotels, restaurants and the attractions that he visits. This is a country, though, that he loves with a passion; he is not afraid to point out the dumb things we do as a country, and he is particularly scathing of mediocrity, be it celebrity and political leaders. He has even compiled a list of just how long it would take to visit each historic site. But even though he has lived here for years now, this country still has the ability to perplex, madden and more importantly gladden him. Paul Cheney Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

To order any of our FREE* Recommended Reads see p.51

up with next as all of his books are different. Nicola Smith Personal read ....................★★★ Group read .....................★★★★ See Big Interview on p34

THE EX Alafair Burke Faber Feb 2016 pbk ISBN - 9780571328154

This was a very fast paced exciting thriller. The Ex of the title is Jack Harris who has been arrested for murder. His fiancee from twenty years ago, Olivia Randall is a defense lawyer and takes on his case. Jack tries to convince Olivia he has been set up but as the story progresses she wonders if in fact it is her that's being set up. I loved the characters, Jack at first seems like a charming, if slightly damaged man. Olivia is feisty and takes no nonsense. By the end of the book our opinions of them both have changed and we're not sure who to believe. I read the last third in one sitting as I couldn't wait to find out what happened in the end. There were plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing. The plot was intricate and quite complicated, but actually not hard to follow. I think this would be a good choice for book groups with plenty to discuss. I particularly liked the idea of meeting someone you knew very well twenty years ago and seeing if you could still predict what they were going to do. Highly recommended. Fiona Atley Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read .................★★★★★

EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN Chris Cleave Sceptre Apr 2016 hbk ISBN - 9781473618695

Having been a big fan of Chris Cleave's previous work, particularly the wonderfully moving Incendiary, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book, his new one set during WWII. It tells the story of a young woman named Mary North who is desperate to do her bit during the war. She finds herself dropped into the world of teaching which wasn't quite what she was expecting but she does meet Tom Shaw, who decides that fighting isn't for him and also Tom's friend, Alistair who decides the opposite and joins up straight away. The book got off to a slow start for me and had many ups and downs in terms of its appeal. It's billed as a sweeping epic and it does fit the bill but it was a bit dry in places and over-worded and I didn't feel as much for the characters as I would have liked. However, there are some brilliant sections and the quality of the writing is still fantastic. Whilst I liked parts of this book, I didn't enjoy it overall as much as any of his other books, despite a wartime setting which always appeals and interests me. I look forward to seeing what Cleave comes

you need to know to fill in the gaps. All reminiscent of a number of police partnerships but this is different in that it deals with emotive subjects incorporating them into an excellent crime story. The book has nearly four hundred pages but consists of short chapters which twist between the different characters and keep you on your toes. Excellent and highly recommended. Dorothy Flaxman

AFTER YOU DIE Eva Dolan

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

Harvill Secker Jan 2016 hbk ISBN - 9781910701010

Dawn Prentice was already known to the Peterborough Hate Crimes Unit. The previous summer she had logged a number of calls detailing the harassment she and her severely disabled teenage daughter were undergoing. Now she is dead - stabbed to death whilst Holly Prentice has been left to starve upstairs. I read lots of different genres but I have to say a good crime story is my favourite and this one is definitely a good one. It is fast-paced and almost all of the characters could be guilty of the murder. There are a lot of issues covered in the book including caring for a severely disabled person and the strains that puts on a relationship. The two detectives DI Zigic and DS Ferreira have a history working together. This is the third book in the series but can be read as a standalone book as you can grasp what went on beforehand as the author makes sure you know what

THE SECRET BY THE LAKE Louise Douglas Black Swan Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 055277927X

This, her sixth novel, puts Louise Douglas’ finely honed skill at crafting a great romantic thriller to effective use by combining it with a new genre - the ghost story. Our heroine is Amy, who, having escaped an unhappy childhood (her mother walked out when she was a girl; her father barely communicates with her), now works as a nanny for a glamorous Anglo-French family: Alain and Julia and their charming daughter, Viviane. The four of them lead an idyllic Parisian life until tragedy strikes; the Laurents subsequently lose

their money and are forced to return - Amy along with them - to Julia's ancestral home. Unfortunately, said ancestral home is a meagre, dreary cottage sitting on the banks of an English reservoir. It's the mid-1960s, but the cultural revolution of that era hasn't quite reached the insular village of Blackwater, which seems to belong to an earlier decade. As Julia sinks into depression, Amy digs into Reservoir Cottage's history and finds Julia's older sister, Caroline, died there when she was just seventeen years old. Here's where the ghost story element really kicks in: things get distinctly creepy. This book has something for every reader. The spooky parts are handled brilliantly, with the mist-shrouded, inkblack lake serving as a suitably chilling backdrop, and inexplicable happenings in and around the cottage growing more frequent as the chapters fly by. And it wouldn't be a Louise Douglas book without a romantic storyline; here, Amy gains some respite from her desolate days at Reservoir Cottage when she meets handsome farmer's son Daniel. All in all, The Secret by the Lake makes perfect winter reading, and Douglas always has one eye on the classics of the Gothic genre in order to tell Caroline's tragic story. The result is a page-turning mystery with more than enough intrigue to keep you reading until the early hours of the morning. It might just be the author's best book yet. Blair Rose Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

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reviews

THE SEA DETECTIVE Mark Douglas-Home Penguin Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 9781405923569

The Sea Detective is Cal McGill, an oceanographer who can track sea currents, winds and various other things to solve mysteries. The blurb talks about how two feet from the same body can wash up in different places but that's only a very small part of what this book is about. Cal also tries to work out what happened to his grandfather during WWII and helps a young girl to find out what happened to her friend. This book is billed as a crime novel but it's more of an investigative story and it's a bit different from most of the books out there. I really enjoyed the fact that Cal solved mysteries of the sea and it's a very well-written story. There are several subplots running through it and I thought they all came together well. The only thing that grated slightly was the author's portrayal of an overweight female detective which seemed to me to be how a man would see it but I still liked her character so it didn't spoil anything for me. I'm excited about reading the second in the series featuring Cal McGill now. Nicola Smith Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

reviews

A BROKEN WORLD Sebastian Faulks with Hope Wolf Vintage Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 9780099597797

I found this collection of diaries, letters and memories almost unbearably moving at times. Many of the contributions are from well known authors – D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Siegfried Sassoon, Ford Maddox Ford – but in many ways the reflections and recollections which felt most poignant were those from “ordinary” people, whose contributions came from all over the world. These contributions, some very brief, some written at great length, gave a very intimate insight into the preoccupations of each individual, and many reflected wider social and political attitudes of the time. Although I found them all very interesting, there were moments when I felt rather uncomfortable about intruding into people’s innermost thoughts, fears and secrets – a bit like reading a diary which was never meant for publication. There were so many accounts of truly outstanding bravery, some of which would be regarded as incredible if written as fiction, and yet these were described with such modesty, as though there

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was nothing notable about what one person would be prepared to do to help a comrade. These accounts do not glorify war: at times they made me angry about what influences lead to the carnage which war brings, but they do glorify the wonderful resilience of human beings in times of crisis and, by the end of this rather harrowing book, I felt that it had been a privilege to read it. I would love this book to be essential reading for everyone, but particularly for it to be included in the national curriculum. Linda Hepworth Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read .................★★★★★

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE Neil Gaiman Headline Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 9781472228420

There are books that fit into many categories, and The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is one of them. It is an adult book, with many of the attributes of a children’s book. It is magic realism, but is based in real life. There is escapism, good and evil, families of all types, allusions to worlds and science and knowledge outside of our own. It concerns a loner, going home after forty years for his

Father’s funeral, and it is here that he remembers the events that happened when he was seven. Starting with a birthday party which no-one goes to, it soon gets worse. A lodger commits suicide in his father’s car, and from this event, monsters are invited into his life, taking on the forms of a new, alluring housekeeper, who seduces his father, and changes his father’s behaviour towards his children, and sets in motion a series of events that would destroy him, if it wasn’t for the women at Hemstock Farm. Lettie, her Mother and her Grandmother remember the earth before the moon, and have dominion in this world, and many others, power and control over time, but there are monsters that even their powers cannot stop. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is at once both elegiac for times during the 1970s of the boys childhood, and the effect that it has on his life as an adult. The Hemstocks may have power over time, and can change and alter it at will, but the results are inevitably the same, and there will always be a monster in the heart. In this case, it is real, but it is also metaphorical for all of us, for the world and our childhoods always shape us into the adults we become. Neil Gaiman’s writing ratchets up the tension, using narrative structure and characterisation to cast a spell, and keep the reader hooked. If you are unfamiliar with his writing, this book is as good as any to make a start. Ben Macnair Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

The disbelief, the anger, the search for a reason. Yuki is alienating herself from life as she attempts to get closer to the supernatural. All of these things make this a very interesting book, which has its own slightly surreal charm. Eleanor King

YUKI CHAN IN BRONTË COUNTRY Mick Jackson

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

Faber & Faber Jan 2016 hbk ISBN - 0571329799

Yuki Chan - wannabe inventor, fashion designer and psychic detective – is on a mission to discover more about the events leading to her mother’s death ten years before. Yuki follows in her mother’s footsteps from Japan to Yorkshire, where she visited Haworth and the Brontë Parsonage Museum. This is a bittersweet tale of discovery, friendship and the hold that grief can take on us. The pervasive sense of melancholy that soaks the whole novel makes this a moving read. The introduction of local teenager, Denny, brings a hint of joy to a novel that would otherwise be unremittingly depressing. Denny helps Yuki progress in her quest but also offers her friendship and is an earthly anchor to Yuki’s spectral search. Yuki’s loss has affected every element of her life. Everything she does is aimed at being closer to her mother, trying to understand her loss. She stays where her mother stayed, walks where her mother walked and even wears what her mother wore. Yuki’s grief has become obsession and this gives a profound insight into loss.

NICOTINE Gregor Hens Fitzcarraldo Editions Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 9781910695074

Can there be a smoker in the western world of the 21st century who has not given up or is not thinking about giving up smoking? I am of the same generation as Gregor Hens and, like him, grew up around cigarettes. I started smoking as soon as I left school and, 40 years on, have yet to give up, not that I don’t believe that I will sooner or later. This book appealed to me on all sorts of levels, not least (as Will Self says in his introduction) because it is so rare to be able to talk about or read about what it is like to smoke - the compulsion and the pleasure. Since smoking is nowadays only just tolerated socially, it has become a much more solitary activity. We smokers all have memories of

particular cigarettes, when the act of smoking one is inextricably linked with an event, a view, an encounter, an emotion. Hens’ examples from his own life are fascinating and somehow familiar, described with a wry wit and sensitivity. He feels like a kindred spirit and I’d love to share a pack with him on a cafe terrace on a warm, balmy evening - but he has already given up. I was particularly interested in his discussion of why anyone would want to celebrate or ritualise ‘the last cigarette’. If you have come to the decision that you no longer want to smoke, then why would you enjoy that last one? [Surely this could] mean they don’t feel they have ever given up for good. I found his ideas absorbing, superbly well articulated and personally relevant, but I very much doubt whether someone who has never smoked would enjoy the book or even see the point of it. Sue Broome Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read ................................★

the security services and, as this is 1981, he listens in to recorded tapes, usually of phone conversations. Mostly these are of ancient communists and would-be revolutionaries but one day he is asked to cover the case of someone who may be a traitor within the organisation. As he listens he becomes entranced by the voice of the target's wife, Helen, and falls in love with her. So, although there is the spying element as background, it is a story about obsession, about a man drifting in to a dream world and becoming embroiled in danger. The writing is excellent, full of literary allusions but light and lyrical and the evocation of 1980s London is spot on. I did find it rather sad and kept wanting to tell Stephen to snap out of it and not be so stupid. It is also a great page turner in spite of the inevitability of the ending. Francesca Kay is a terrific writer and I thought her first novel, An Equal Stillness, was outstanding. I didn't enjoy this one quite as much though the quality of the prose is just as good. She is a writer who deserves to be much better known I'm not sure that this will be her breakthrough novel but there will be one. Berwyn Peet Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

THE LONG ROOM Francesca Kay Faber Jan 2016 hbk ISBN - 9780571322503

This is a novel about spying but forget about James Bond - this couldn't be more different. Stephen works for

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reviews YA

THIS RAGING LIGHT Estelle Laure Orchard Jan 2016 hbk ISBN - 1408340267

This Raging Light, the debut YA novel by Estelle Laure is a full-on, intense exploration of one teen’s life, love and friendship that does not shirk on drama. I loved the literary reference of the title, which the characters themselves allude to, from the last line of Dylan Thomas’s ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’: ‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light’, a call in that instance to defy death and fight to survive, and which resonates dually in this novel in both the central character Lucille’s fight to survive after both her father and mother’s absence, and her best friend Eden’s own fight for survival in the latter part of the novel. I really liked the central plotline which revolves around Lucille’s absent parents and her determination and responsibility of having to play Mom and Dad to her younger sister, Wren. However, for me, it all got a bit lost along the way. Firstly, there are two other significant plotlines, one with Lucille’s best friend Eden, and another the romance between Eden’s twin brother Digby and Lucille. Of themselves there’s nothing particularly wrong

reviews with either of these, but I felt they took the focus off the uniquely interesting concept of the main plotline and steered the novel into much more ordinary and obvious territory, although with a few twists. And for me all of the plotlines suffered variously as a result of being shoehorned into this framework. I hate to be so pernickety about these things and I’m sure other readers will enjoy the narrative and range of plots, and teen reading groups in particular may find the book a good discussion tool. And of course I’m no longer a young adult myself so am possibly not best placed to judge the merits of this novel for its audience. Jade Craddock Personal read........................★★ Group read.........................★★★

COFFIN ROAD Peter May Quercus Jan 2016 hbk ISBN - 9781784293123

A cliché it may be, but I genuinely begrudged putting this down when I had to go and do other things. As is often the case with Peter May’s novels, there are two strands to this story and the narrative switches back and forth between them. Firstly, there is Neal McLean who washes up on a beach on the Isle of Harris in the

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Outer Hebrides, unable to remember who he is or how he got there but with a nagging sense that something terrible has happened. He quickly learns that he is a novelist who has been living on the island for 18 months while writing a book about an old mystery connected to one of the nearby islands, and that he is having an affair with a married woman, Sally Harrison, who lives in one of the cottages near his own. As he tries to piece together his past and re-learn who he is, it becomes clear to him that, whoever he is and whatever his reason for being on Harris, he has been lying about it to those around him. This does nothing to alleviate his sense of unease. Seventeen year old Karen is haunted by the suicide of her scientist father and wracked with guilt for her own behaviour before it. When she learns that her father might not be dead after all, she sets out to find him, unaware of the danger she is putting herself and others in. Slowly the two stories come together, with a very ‘edge of the seat’ climax. The narrative switches between first person, present tense for those chapters involving the main character, Neal McLean to third person, past tense for the other chapters. This is [probably] not to everybody’s taste but I didn’t find it particularly noticeable after a while. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the plot also deals with the subject of declining bee population, bee colony collapse and the use of neonicotinoids. This aspect of the story is well researched and quite

interesting in its own right. I really can’t recommend this one enough. Mary Moore See also Dorothy Flaxman’s double 5 star review on nudge.

THE HIDDEN LEGACY GJ Minett Bonnier Twenty7 Mar 2016 pbk ISBN - 9781785770142

There is a shocking beginning to this book where we learn how, in 1966, two fourteen year old girls are set on fire in their school playground by twelve year old John Michael Adams. This is a dreadful, horrifying crime. One of the girls dies in the attack, the other is scarred for life. There is a media frenzy. The public are crying out for blood. Why did this young boy commit such a horrific crime? While this book begins with an appallingly violent crime this is not a violent novel and is more mystery than thriller where the author takes us on a gripping journey of intrigue and emotion. With alternating viewpoints from the boy, his father and Ellen we switch between the past and the present, where divorced mother of two Ellen Sutherland discovers through a firm of solicitors that she has inherited an

idyllic cottage in the Cotswolds. The only problem is that Ellen has never heard of her mysterious benefactor Eudora Nash. This was a fascinating book, and Minett has written an outstanding debut novel in The Hidden Legacy. Maybe some readers will say it is too far fetched, but what is fiction for if not to lose ourselves in alternative lives, albeit with the help of a little artistic license here and there. I know I loved reading this book, the depth of the characters really came across and at times I really felt emotionally involved with all that they were going through, and fascinated by the lengths that people will go to in order to hide their darkest secrets from those they love most. I look forward to reading Graham Minett's next book, and I'm sure that reading groups will find plenty to discuss in this intriguing first novel. Teresa O’Halloran Personal read ............★★★★★ Group read .................★★★★★ See also I’m a Writer...on nudge.

BETWEEN ENEMIES Andrea Molesini Atlantic Books Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 9780857897954

Between Enemies is a partially true story of an

aristocratic family in occupied Italy during the First World War. In the original Italian it has won considerable acclaim, and a number of prizes for Italian literature. In summary, the Spada family find their estate requisitioned by the enemy when Austrian forces advance into northern Italy in 1917. Following a cruel act of violence against a group of girls from the village, the family sets out to seek revenge. Focusing on a single family in their small acts of resistance behind enemy lines is enough to make for interesting reading, with the author's humour being an added bonus. The story is straightforward and well told, suggesting the translators have also done a good job of rendering Andrea Molesini's book into reasonably natural English. This, however, [while] fine as far as it goes, leaves me with reservations: the family's various acts of resistance seem to be reduced to some minor espionage, and signalling to aircraft. Similarly, although the family naturally disagree over how safe or effective this really is, the tensions and disagreements within the family seem relatively minor. Similarly, the family seems too eclectic a collection of characters to be taken seriously. An aristocratic lady with a passion for mathematics must have been unusual enough in 1917, to combine this with her husband purportedly writing a novel on a typewriter named Beelzebub, while harbouring an admiration for the Buddha, stretches the bounds of probability slightly. That said, "truth is

sometimes stranger than fiction"! So, an interesting and perfectly readable novel, but one which I believe is ultimately disappointing. The plot is perfectly straightforward, but the family is a little too eccentric and, ironically under the circumstances, too united. Nicholas Cutler Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.........................★★★

A RECENT NB RECOMMENDED READ

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SOPHIE STARK Anna North W&N Dec 2015 pbk ISBN - 9781474601252

Who is Sophie Stark? She’s a New York City-based indie filmmaker who has made four documentary-style movies that are “almost more like life than life itself,” her recurring critic contends; they are “stuffed with the sad fumbling of human love, the way well-meaning people hurt as often as they help.” Bisexual and with certain traits of high-functioning autism, Sophie is easily misunderstood. She’s a rebel who doesn’t conform to social niceties. She’s been bullied and persecuted throughout her life, yet remains dedicated to unearthing – and then

perhaps exploiting – other people’s key stories of joy and trauma. The book is told through five first-person reminiscences from the people closest to Sophie. My favourite sections, though, are the reviews of each of Sophie’s films, all by the same critic; these are interspersed with the narrative chapters and offer an incisive, objective view of her life’s work. The novel’s format recalls Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal, in which readers get a composite picture of a slightly shadowy main character through accounts from characters whose lives intersected with hers. However, in tone I was reminded most of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum: in all three there is a seemingly doomed protagonist who struggles for society’s acceptance. Sophie is an archetypal tortured genius. Because we only ever see Sophie from others’ perspectives, we never quite know what to think of her. Behind the scenes – and this is no spoiler given the novel’s title – Sophie is stagemanaging her own posthumous legacy. This is a wonderful rendering of a perplexing yet wholly sympathetic character. If you like literary fiction that keeps you second-guessing, you need to get your hands on this one. Rebecca Foster Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

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reviews

THE MAKER OF SWANS Paraic O'Donnell W&N Feb 2016 hbk ISBN - 9781474600361

The buzz about this book sees comparisons to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (which I loved) and Night Circus (which I didn’t). It has elements of Susanna Clarke’s superb work in its other-worldliness and hints of magic existing alongside the real world. It has elements of Night Circus in that I didn’t always know (or care) what was going on. It is set mainly in a time I put around 1960 (the only reference is some sixty years after the Boer Wars) in a fading mansion house. This is run by a butler, Eustace, who keeps an eye on the strange Mr Crowe, his singer girlfriend and Clara, the mute girl of indeterminate age who lives an elemental existence and has developing powers which she is trying out on swans. Eustace has to cover up a killing at the property starting off a chain of events which leads to, well, I’m not sure where actually. Two strong characters, Eustace and Clara, dominate proceedings and this debut novel is written with a real flair for language. I’m not totally convinced by this balance of fantasy and literary fiction. The first third builds up beautifully

reviews but with too many unanswered questions I felt it ultimately a bit of a letdown. It didn’t quite pull off the richness and depth that I think a book of this type demands. Without that there is a danger of things becoming whimsical which I doubt was the author’s intention. I think this may divide reading groups but there would be valuable discussions along the way. Phil Ramage Personal read ....................★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

THE EMPIRE OF THE NIGHT Robert Olen Butler No Exit Press Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 9781843445715

This is the third outing for Butler’s “Kit” Cobb, after The Hot Country and The Star of Istanbul and he’s now fully into his stride. It’s in the London theatre land of 1915, amidst the early Zeppelin bombing raids, that Kit discovers that he must now team up with his mother, a doyen of the theatre, in order to infiltrate a gang of Nazi sympathisers. This allows Butler to really explore the relationship between mother and son, which until now has been a bit of an enigma. Working together, for the US intelligence service, they must put aside past differences and discover

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what plans the Kaiser has in store. Whilst on the surface and for his cover, Cobb is a journalist, he now displays a natural talent for the espionage that has become a major part of his life. The action moves from London to the south coast retreat of Sir Albert Stockman, where Kit discovers his mother’s feelings for Sir Albert may complicate their task somewhat! We get an inkling of Sir Albert’s treachery, before the action moves to Berlin. In the previous two books, the travelling was dealt with in greater detail and Butler had the knack of taking you on the journey with his characters. Here, however, the dash across Europe is covered in a couple of pages, but this is no bad thing as it lets the plot move on at a pace. The tension mounts as Kit gets closer to discovering exactly what Sir Albert is capable of, all the while having to try and ensure that his mother doesn’t let her feelings interfere with their duty to the US intelligence service. I have enjoyed this book in the series the most, as Butler now seems very comfortable creating this “Cobb Universe”. Philip Burrell

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THE OTHER MRS WALKER Mary Paulson Ellis Mantle Mar 2016 hbk ISBN - 9781447293903

2011 - A 47 year old woman called Margaret leaves London and returns to her mother's small cramped flat in Edinburgh, leaving behind an ex-lover, a lost job and a repossessed flat. 1929 - A four year old girl called Clementine sits at the bottom of the stairs in a house in London, waiting for her father to return from work, while upstairs her mother is giving birth to twins. Two stories told side by side, criss-crossing each other, backwards and forwards in time. This is a literary device which has become very popular. If it is done well, as it is here, it can be very effective. However the lives portrayed in these stories are rather grim ones. Babies and children die, are abandoned or lost. No-one is quite who they seem. Odd objects - a coronation coin, a china doll, an apostle spoon reappear at intervals throughout the novel. The characters, although well drawn, are not very sympathetic. Margaret finds herself tasked with finding the identity of an elderly woman who has been found dead in her Edinburgh tenement. In the alternative narrative, the reader is told Clementine's

story and is therefore always one step ahead of Margaret. This is an impressive debut by Mary Paulson Ellis. She has won prizes for her short stories and non fiction and has made an assured move into novel writing. However I hope her next one is a bit more hopeful. Reading groups would find quite a lot to discuss with this book. They could compare it to other novels which use a similar format such as Kate Atkinson's Life after Life. There is also the theme of family secrets and memories which play a big part in the story. Maddy Broome Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.........................★★★ See also Fiona Atley’s double 5 star review on nudge.

THE MAN WHO MADE THINGS OUT OF TREES Robert Penn Particular Books Oct 2015 hbk ISBN - 1846148421

The ash tree is under threat now from a microscopic fungus – a tree people have relied on for centuries. Penn sets about a challenge of making, or having made, as many objects as possible from a single ash tree. But first he had to find his tree. The properties of ash make it the perfect material for tool handles; it is tough, strong and flexible, not too

heavy and the very act of handling the wood adds a patina to it making it nicer to handle. One of the last tool manufacturers in the UK offers to turn some of his planks into axe handles, and he pays them a visit. In no time at all they are cut to shape, and sanded to the ideal shape. His first objects from that tree. More wood is taken to a wheelwright where he sees flat wood turned into a perfect wheel, that if looked after will long outlive the original tree. [There follow] bowls, a toboggan, a baseball bat and a Hurley [each created in their home countries]. He commissions a desk, and ends up with chopping boards, tent pegs, spoons, bookmarks, paddles, arrow, dominoes and even a catapult. In total he had seen 45 different objects created and had a total of 126 items. All from one tree. The sawdust and shaving kept him warm too, as nothing was wasted. More importantly as this tree was coppiced properly, when he returned to the stump it was growing again and will produce again. This is a lovely book to read. Not only does his boundless enthusiasm come across on every page, but he is reminding us of the timeless quality of wood as a material. We learn that these crafts are not completely gone, but there are still a few talented individuals out there with the necessary skills to create practical and beautiful things. It is also a call to everyone to see what the benefits of having properly managed woods can bring. Paul Cheney Personal read ................★★★★ Group read.........................★★★

TRADING FUTURES Jim Powell Macmillan Mar 2016 hbk ISBN - 9781509806423

Matthew Oxenhay is a baby boomer reviewing his life having reached the age of 60. And it's not a happy experience as we listen in to his internal monologue - all those aspirations to change the world, back when he was 20, have come to naught. It's not that he's not been successful within conventional mores - career in the City so financially he's extremely well-breached, v. nice house in Barnet (somebody has to), wife that loves him and looks after him, successful kids. All to no avail; although he claims not to fall for self-pity (he does, actually, a couple of times) he is bitter and twisted. It's dangerous to assume that the author is being autobiographical but the intro to the proof says "Jim Powell was born in London in 1949 and was educated at Cambridge. His first career was in advertising, becoming Managing Director of a major London agency. He then started a pottery . . . He was previously active in politics, contesting the 1987 election and collaborating with former Foreign Secretary Francis Pym on his book . . . He lives in Northamptonshire."

(Somebody has to.) Let's just say it sounds like Jim is well positioned to write about Matthew? The intriguing cover reminded me of my childhood when we grew new carrots from the tops of old ones by suspending them over water, close enough to encourage new roots. I wonder if they still do that? Anyway, having engineered a scorched earth strategy on his own career, Matthew has even more leisure in which to ponder his achievements. If you're going to have a ‘coincidence’ then it's best to set it somewhere aspirational and Matthew is in Tate Modern when he bumps into 'the girl that got away' when he was 19. Better still, she's happy to allow him to engage her in conversation and even better - at least for the moment - doesn't appear to remember Matthew. You'll have gathered already that I have certain sympathies with Matthew and it is easy to follow his train of thought as he gently slides towards selfdestruction. What I didn't see coming was the end - and given this is a very readable book of only 170 pages I really should - there were some clues I managed to miss. No matter it is the journey that counts and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Matthew and would be very pleased to meet Anna if he were good enough to pass on her address. Guy Pringle Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

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reviews

TALKING TO TERRORISTS Jonathan Powell Vintage Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 9780099575863

In Talking to Terrorists, Jonathan Powell puts forward a number of convincing reasons for opening communication channels with terrorists, with the end goal of talking to them. Having been a key mediator between the British government and the IRA obviously adds weight and [here] he gives in-depth accounts of various governments' attempts to talk to groups such as ETA, the PLO, Tamil Tigers and FARC, and he details why some resulted in peace whilst others ended in failure. There are some really interesting insights into different people, from Nelson Mandela to Gerry Adams, and some fascinating insights into how even some minute details can make the difference between talks being a success or a failure. The last chapter of the book discusses ISIL, and once again his argument is sensible, compelling and worthy of a greater audience. There are plenty of discussion points for book groups and it is an insightful and interesting read - highly recommended! Judith Griffith Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

reviews

BLOOD AXE Leigh Russell No Exit Press Nov 2015 pbk ISBN - 9781843445432

York is being terrorised by a brutal killer who seems to be from the city’s distant past. As the series of axe murders becomes more frequent, DI Ian Peterson must neglect his personal life and negotiate office politics to ensure that the perpetrator is caught as quickly as possible. I have read and enjoyed several of Leigh Russell’s past novels so was looking forward to this, increasing my anticipation by not starting it for a few days - a treat for the weekend. When I began I was gripped and read it in a couple of long sessions. As ever with her books I found the characters realistic and well-drawn, even those who aren’t around for long. This helps the reader feel much more attached to murder victims [Ed: Really?] and see the book as much more than just a whodunit puzzle. The main recurring characters are also depicted in detail which makes me feel like I know them and could get involved in their lives. Peterson, while sympathetic isn’t always the most emotionally literate person in the world so can be frustrating at times, particularly to female

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readers. He’s definitely likeable, but sometimes overthinks things when a gut response would be better. The York setting is as interesting here as it was in the previous book in the series, with a shift of focus to the city’s Viking past and the river running through its centre. The plot is satisfying and though I had some inkling of who the killer was it didn’t at all spoil my experience of the novel. All in all I found this an engrossing, well-executed book that I greatly enjoyed. Would definitely recommend to lovers of British crime novels. If you haven’t read any Leigh Russell yet you have a treat in store. Susan Berwick Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .................★★★★★ See also Lainy Swanson’s 4/5 review on nudge.

THE BRITISH LION Tony Schumacher William Morrow Dec 2015 hbk ISBN - 9780062394590

I was really gripped by Schumacher’s debut, an alternate history thriller The Darkest Hour (2014). The Nazis have successfully invaded Britain and have installed Oswald Moseley as Prime Minister. ExPoliceman Rossett, nicknamed “The British

Lion” because of his heroic war-time exploits, is a main character with much potential. This follow-up is not as successful as Schumacher has moved away from some of the elements that made its predecessor work so well. The intensity of the actionpacked debut set in a wintry London which feels like it is looming in on the main characters all driven on by a chilling moral issue has been diffused. Schumacher has opened this all up and here we have a couple of kidnappings with the factions – the Germans, the British Resistance, the Americans and the Royalists all battling against one another with Rossett stranded in the middle. The setting has lost its power as Rossett spends much of the novel on the road to Cambridge and, although there is another moral issue at the core, this time it does not seem as immediate or as comprehensible to the main protagonists. Schumacher has also used a lot of speech between characters which has the tendency to slow things down, losing the pace of the original. Having said all this it is still a good read and kept me involved. This is the second time recently a follow-up alternate history novel has fallen short of its strong debut, as Justin Richards’ Never War series which throws aliens into the World War II mix also felt a letdown. I’m hoping that the third book from both of these authors sees them regaining their potential. Phil Ramage Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.............................★★

THE GOOD LIAR Nicholas Searle Penguin/Vintage Jan 2016 hbk ISBN - 9780241206935

Secrets and lies provide the main focus of this impressive debut novel. When octogenarians Roy and Betty meet in a local pub for a date arranged over the internet they both choose to adopt false names until they get to know one another better the first of many lies. As their relationship blossoms with Roy moving in to Betty’s the story moves backwards in time and the reader begins to feel anxious as incidents in Roy’s past and his intentions towards Betty become clearer. Roy has woven a web of lies in his lifetime and he sees his plan for Betty as being his final caper. The shifting back of the story is a clever device and is done particularly well here as it trips up the reader regularly. This does affect the flow but it is intentional as the reader needs to keep their wits about them so as not to be hoodwinked by Roy and his unreliable past. There were times when I was puzzled and times when I was bamboozled by events, making it all in all a gripping read and cranking up the tension well. I found it refreshingly unpredictable until, perhaps, the ending which, whilst probably inevitable, felt something of

an anti-climax from what had gone before. Debut author Nicholas Searle has his own secrets. An ex-high level civil servant he is, according to the autobiographical blurb, unable to reveal any more information about his prewriting career. A little mystique perhaps to add to the layers of lies and secrets that permeate this work? Phil Ramage Personal read ................★★★★ Group read .....................★★★★

DRAGONFISH Vu Tran No Exit Press Feb 2016 pbk ISBN - 9781843448266 A Real Reader review

Vu Tran is an author to be watched. In Dragonfish, he has taken a fairly simple plot, and given it simple twists to maintain suspense and to keep the readers turning pages. I did. The highlight of the book for me was the prose, especially in the italicised chapters when Suzy wrote to Mai. I loved the writing, and I equally loved the philosophies that he uses to summarise parts of what he is about to write. I found the idea that "There are things that people do poorly for lack of talent, and things they do poorly for lack of desire" a wonderful, clever piece of writing, and there is a lot more of it, largely, and masterfully

restricted to the introspective thoughts of Suzy in her letters to Mai. The author skilfully weaves the very real issue of forced migration into the story, and shows that no matter how the system of dealing with migrants, the ways and beliefs of an adopted land, in this case the United States, doesn’t always sit well with the ways of the land from which the migrants came. The story is simple, two men searching for, and competing for a reluctant wife and lover. I found the underlying meaning of the search for the distracted and troubled Suzy quite intriguing. The many twists and turns that the story takes, shows the depth of the author’s understanding of human nature, and of the emotions of being a migrant in a strange land. The characters are interesting and believable, from the rather un-heroic main character Robert, who is never in control of situations, to the bad guy of the piece, Sonny, who dictates events by his bad behaviour. Whilst the author tries subtly to make Suzy, the lost wife and lover, appear to be a victim of her circumstances, she emerges as a self-centred, headstrong prima donna who deserted her child, an equally disturbed character who spends her early life chasing ghosts. Suzy deserves pretty much all that is dished out to her. The author cleverly builds the competition between Robert and Sonny, and equally cleverly uses Junior, the real strong man in the story, to take control. The unpredictable behaviour of Junior is handled by the author. The book is well worth reading. It is very well

written, and I will be eagerly awaiting more from Vu Tran. Trevor Snyman

THE DEVIL’S DETECTIVE Simon Kurt Unsworth Del Rey Feb 2016 pbk ISBN - 9780091956516

Simon Kurt Unsworth's picture of Hell is disturbing and graphic. Believe it or not this is his first novel and it is a resounding success. Taken from limbo, souls are reborn into a Hell and a life where demons rule, the only hope is to be chosen for elevation and release of your soul to heaven, but until that time there is just hell. Thomas Fool one of Hell's Infomation Men is tasked with investigating a number of strange deaths. Thomas finds a white feather, is it just a perfect object? Or does it have any significance? Who is the Man and what does he know about the deaths? A stimulating and thought provoking read which will certainly provide discussion material for book groups. Phil Ramage Personal read ....................★★★ Group read.............................★★

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In nb89 – due out early July 2016

WHAT WE ARE THINKING

DO YOU RECOGNISE YOURSELF HERE?

Reader Petra Bryce knows she does it – and wonders if you do too?

have a confession to make: I’m a hopeless bookaholic – despite the fact that I have literally dozens of new and crisp books (or second-hand copies in good condition) unread on my book shelves, I still can’t resist the temptation of picking up the odd title from a charity shop or a high street bookshop. This prompted a discussion with my husband, when, just after Christmas, we went to a well-known high street book retailer and I had picked out not one, but two new books in the space of about 5 minutes, in spite of having been presented with two titles on Christmas Day. So how do I choose what to buy? I noticed that I buy very differently depending on whether I’m browsing physical copies or shopping online. While I certainly get ideas for new books from internet sources (e.g. publishers’ and high street retailers’ newsletters, ‘helpful’ Amazon suggestions, Librarything’s automatic recommendations or Nudge’s selection of available titles to review), when I enter a physical shop I never know whether I will actually come out of it with a purchase or not; this very much depends on what’s on offer in the store and what I remember having noted as being of potential interest. Additionally, there is much pleasure to be gained just browsing along the shelves and tables in a bookshop, picking

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up the odd copy where perhaps the front cover – with a combination of image and font – has caught my eye; and because I can easily spend 15 or 20 minutes just browsing in what I consider pleasant surroundings, I don’t mind paying a little more than if I had bought that book online. In contrast, when I shop for books online, I almost always already know what I want, and only use the site’s search engine to find a particular book. The time I spend online is minimal: it’s usually just a case of logging in, putting what I want into my shopping trolley and completing the purchase. As such I feel there is room for both physical book/charity shops and online retailers in my life: one where I enjoy the whole process of browsing and the thought that I might buy something, and a process that’s almost entirely functional when I shop for a title online. Now if only I had more time to actually read the books that are on my shelves!

Here are just two of next issue’s RECOMMENDED READS

then there’s our SUMMER READING

and our TRAVEL WRITING ROUND UP

Petra Bryce

Want to get something off your chest? You can rant all you want for our What We Are Thinking – we’ll print what we can but the whole piece will go on nudge where you will find previous rants!! Email: info@newbooksmag.com

Photo: tiramisustudio at Freedigitalphotos.net

not forgetting . . .