Sunny weekend in Fowey
Friday at 11:45 I joined Stella Duffy and Helen Taylor to discuss the perennial appeal of du Maurier's historical novels. We discussed, with a packed audience, how, in what are fairly hard times for books and publishing in general, there’s recently been a serious revival of the historical novel. It’s a fascinating subject and with two such distinguished fellow-speakers, I imagine I’ll spend more time listening to them than talking myself...
On Saturday, I talked about my new novel, The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton in the Fowey Hall Hote. It was a beautiful venue and voted one of the top ten seaside hotels in Europe; I was lucky enough to be staying there, and I can see why. But the most exciting thing, for me, was discovering that I was staying in the very building which was the original inspiration for Toad Hall, in Kenneth Grahame’s the Wind in the Willows. Now there’s a literary connection to boast about!
Fowey Manor Hotel -- the inspiration for Toad Hall
John Emmett "one of the best reads I can remember" — Richard Madeley
So all the more comforting — and flattering — to hear Richard Madeley interviewed on the BBC this afternoon talking about The Return of Captain John Emmett. — “An absolute corker”.
You can hear the full interview here (it starts around 0:53 in) or listen to the excerpt.
Richard & Judy Book Club choose John Emmett as Summer Read
This is a tremendously successful partnership with W H Smith (and Galaxy chocolate, the readers’ companion). So far, they’ve sold more than two million books. But, more importantly, it confirms what every writer hopes: that she’s struck the right note and there are indeed readers for her story. I’m thrilled. Especially as I’m in such excellent company, such as Jed Rubenfeld’s The Death Instinct and When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman, both of which I recently read and loved.
And now I’m off to Soho for my turn on The Sofa...
Kitty Easton "Beautifully written and vividly imagined"
Five years after the end of the Great War, Easton Deadall is a village of widows, children and old men . . . haunted by memories and unsolved mysteries. In 1911 five-year-old Kitty Easton, heiress to the estate, disappeared from her home never to be seen again. Her mother insists she is still aliver . . . by the end family mysteries have been solved and ancient mysteries exposed . . . it is a novel about sorrow and secrecy, beautifully written and vividly imagined . . . with the clarity of a photograph for the mind’s eye.
(Read the full review in the May edition.)
FT declares my new book Kitty Easton "Outstanding"
Architecture and archaeology provide neat metaphors for digging up past events . . . As in Bartram’s previous sleuthing, probing troubled memories invites new mysteries, with further disappearances and discoveries compounding the puzzle . . . Speller’s navigation of trauma – of old soldiers, of a community, of a shaken social class – is outstanding.
Read the full review here.
Publishers Weekly (US) on John Emmett
The full review is here.compelling . . . an elegant, engrossing read.
Dove Grey Reader on John Emmett
She recommends John Emmett to people who
Read More......are in search of a really good read, want some smooth-flowing writing and a book that looks as if it will be part of a series...
