This month has been a busy time for book stalls at venues ranging from churches to garden centres. One of the questions I am asked most often when meeting readers face-to-face is why can’t they find St Botolph and Old Billingsgate tube station (Smash all the Windows) on the underground map? It is, I confess,…
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Adita began her introduction by explaining to the audience that although the authors’ books might seem very different, both reach the same place as music, exploring memories, longings, identity and place. Noreen Masud was born in Pakistan, a country whose boundary had been shaped by colonialism. When Britain granted India independence, it partitioned the territory…
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Born in London to an English mother and a Jamaican father, Karen McCarthy Woolf is a poet, teaches on the MA on Creative Writing at Goldsmiths and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her ground-breaking debut collection, An Aviary of Small Birds, was shortlisted for both the Forward Best First Collection Prize and the…
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My novel, At the Stoke of Nine O’Clock, is the result of a long-held fascination with one woman. I first became aware of Ruth Ellis (pictured below) when I was a teenager. Ruth was that rarity: a female killer. ‘Six revolver shots shattered the Easter Sunday calm and a beautiful platinum blonde stood with her back…
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I see so few novels about political activism and protest that I was excited to learn about the upcoming release of Laura Katz Olson’s novel, Wrinkled Rebels (published by Vine Leaves Press, 23 July 2024). Laura is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Lehigh University. She received her bachelor’s degree from the City College of…
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The year is 1775. London is bursting at the seams. It has breached the confines of its ancient Roman blueprint to become the largest city in Europe. Though most Londoners live within walking distance of open countryside, Moorfields is one of the last remaining plots of open land in the city. It straddles the wall,…
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Based on a true story, The Bookseller’s Wife tells the story of Dorcas Turton, the great grand-daughter of the Honourable Sir John Turton, Baron of the Exchequer and Justice of the King’s Bench. Dorcas’s mother was so proud of her lineage that she kept her maiden name in the only way a woman in the…
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When her family circumstances are dramatically reduced, Dorcas Turton (the main character in The Bookseller’s Wife) finds herself completely unprepared. In the opening chapters she reflects: ‘In all the years she spent absorbing the principles of good housewifery, as every genteel daughter must, never once did she envisage putting those lessons to practical use. And…
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Today I’m delighted to welcome award-winning author Clare Flynn to Virtual Book Club, my author interview series in which authors have the opportunity to pitch their book to your book club. Clare Flynn is the author of fifteen historical novels and a collection of short stories. Her website promises historical fiction with modern themes and,…
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Today I’m delighted to welcome Christine Webber back to Virtual Book Club, my author interview series in which authors have the opportunity to pitch their book to your book club. Christine was a guest on my blog in July 2021, when she was talking about her novel, So Many Ways of Loving, which was subsequently…
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