Summer wishlist

There are some brilliant books coming out this summer and later this year which are already piled high on my Waterstones wishlist! Here is my pick in the best of a very strong bunch:

The Ecliptic - Benjamin Wood (out now)
I was very lucky to receive a proof of this book a couple of months back, but I am so excited now that it has been released so that I can finally talk about it with other readers! It is one of the most mind-blowing, brain-twisting books I have ever read! There are so many layers and complex characters, that I just know my book group will love dissecting this (like we did with its predecessor The Bellweather Revivals). For an intelligent beach read, look no further than this mesmerising novel.

Go Set A Watchman - Harper Lee (released 14 July)
No list would be complete without the surprise publication of a sequel to a true classic. I am ashamed to say that I have only just discovered the characters of Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch. To Kill A Mockingbird has always been on my 'to read list', but I was worried it would not live up to the much adored hype. I was wrong of course and the great thing about the publication of this sequel is that it has made thousands of readers revisit the book they read in their teens for school, or read it for the very fist time. I, like many of others are intrigued to read about an adult Scout and to find out what happened to a group of unforgettable characters.

Everything Sweet - Meringue Girls (released 30 July)
I first discovered the Meringue Girls at a food festival a few years ago when I fell in love with their beautifully coloured and uniquely flavoured meringue kisses. I have been hooked ever since! Their first book was a colourful and trendy collection of good looking and tasty recipes which I have successfully been able to produce with their easy instructions. As the hosts of my favourite instagram account, I have been so impressed with their new range of new bakes from flower lolly pops to eclairs, which I really want to recreate!

Devestation Road - Jason Hewitt (released 30 July)
I absolutely loved this author's debut The Dynamite Room and this second book is another wartime novel based on an unlikely friendship. I am expecting another compelling novel exploring the devastation of WWII as it tells the story of a man waking in an unknown country, injured and confused as he attempts to make an extraordinary journey home.  

The Taming of the Queen - Philippa Gregory (released 13 Aug)
I am huge fan of Philippa Gregory's richly written historical novels, especially her heart-stopping Cousin's War and Tudor Court novels. This new novel takes us back to the reign of Henry VIII and his affair with Kateryn Parr. I can't wait to enter the dangerous world of the Tudor Court again with its secrets and suspicions. The publication of the book will be supported with some special talks with the author including an event at the National Theatre.

Quinntessential Baking - Frances Quinn (released 27 August)
The winner of 2013's Great British Baking has been taking her time to release a gorgeous, well thought-out and beautifully designed book which I cannot wait to get my hands on! Her photos of genius bakes on social media and her website have been building up to this release and I am looking forward to see how her talents in baking and design will combine together to create a unique book.

After You - Jojo Moyes (released 24 September)
Another sequel, this time to the bestselling, tear inducing Me Before You. Written while Jojo was writing the script for the film adaptation of the first book which is currently in production, After You will revisit Lou and her family. What I loved about Me Before You (and the amazing The One Plus One) was the realness of the characters and their situation. Jojo really knows how to pull at the heartstrings as well as finding humour in relatable circumstances.

The Lost Tudor Princess - Alison Weir (released 1 October)
Another novel to document the scandal and intrigue of the Tudor court. Alison Weir is focusing on the little-known Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox. With a family tree full of monarchs, she fell in love twice with unsuitable men. Imprisoned in the Tower of London on three occasions, and being at war with two queens, this is a story that needs to be read. There are some great author events supporting this release, including one at my local library, so I am looking forward to finding out more!

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Illustrated Edition (released 6 October)
Surely all book lovers by now will have read the novels, seen the films, been on the studio tour, drank butter beer and ate some Bertie Botts every flavour jelly beans and bought tons of merchandise, but this autumn release is going to be something very special. Illustrated by Jim Kay, the pictures that have already been released evoke such a strong feeling of Hogwarts and the wizarding world as well as excellent depictions of much-loved characters, this is going to be at the top of many a Christmas list!



The Lake House - Kate Morton (released 22 October)
I am a huge fan of Kate Morton's previous releases including The House at Riverton and The Secret Keeper. With common themes of lost family secrets, grief, abandoned houses and stunning locations, her books always have me turning the pages well into the night. The Lake House is set between a Midsummer Eve party in 1933 and Cornish cottage 70 years later. The importance of correspondence and words are a recurring theme in Kate Morton's novels and with a budding author at the heart of the story, The Lake House promises to be no different.

Shadowing the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction - A Spool Of Blue Thread

Our book group was very fortunate to be selected to shadow the Bailey's Prize for Women's   Fiction and was sent a very exciting box full of copies of this beautiful book along with book plates, bunting, book marks plus a bottle of Baileys! We will be enjoying the Baileys on a Summer picnic so alcohol will in no way be affecting our views on this book! It is always a worry being included in an exercise like this. What if we hate the book? Luckily we were allocated a brilliant read!

After a couple of disappointing reads, our group was full of praise and superlatives on Anne Tyler's writing style. It is glorious and really captures the family dynamic of the Whitshanks. It follows the story of three generations of the family and succeeds in celebrating what defines a family, the stories that are passed on and how everyone rallies together and puts aside differences in a crisis. Surely everyone will see at least similarity to their own family experience while reading this book. The problem that we have had had with American novels in the past is that we have found it difficult to engage and relate to unfamiliar surroundings and situations, but A Spool of Blue Thread manages to recreate these locations and characters and be both new and familiar. 

The Whitshank family are a colourful bunch. The father Red is a stable part of the family, running his own construction company and providing for this children, offering some of them jobs as adults. Mother Abby is slightly less conventional, collecting a cast of characters to invite to dinner which are branded her 'orphans' by the rest of the family. The book opens with the worry and predictableness of the black sheep child of the family Denny. Despite going awol for several months at a time, he returns to the family when they need him and we all couldn't help but like him. Brother Stem (real name Douglas, but there is a lovely moment when we find out he reason for his adopted name) is the most Whitshank of them all, despite him not being a biological child. His struggles as revelations come to light feel real and his relationship with Denny is a complex one.

Daughters Amanda and Jeannie are always there in the background, visiting their parents with a cacophony of grandchildren and becoming involved in chores. But one of our favourite characters was Stem's wife Nora who takes on her role of moving in with her in-laws with relish - taking over the cooking and household chores and annoying Abby by calling her 'Mother Whitshank'. The main character of the piece though seems to be the family house on Bouton Road and we hear the romantic story in which it first came to be owned by a Whitshank - Red's parents Junior and Linnie Mae, who's real story is not as romantic as we are first led to believe. We go back in time to their story of how they came to live in Baltimore, which is both amusing and a little disconcerting. We soon learn that although the men have the credit, the real orchestrators of the family are the unassuming eccentric women. The colour blue is a recurring theme and the story of the blue swing on the porch is an iconic one. We also loved the description of the annual family holiday, when they are next door to the same family every single year but have never thought to speak to them, instead watching and surmising about them. This encapsulates one of the greatest human joys - people watching!  

Our box of goodies!

We agreed that this a story written by a woman for women. Matriarchs across the world will sit up with sudden recognition while reading this book and it is one that I would definitely recommend to older women. However, our young group thoroughly enjoyed it (one read it in a day!) and even the man of the group conceded that although there was not enough action for him, it was brilliantly written and engaging. This is the point of the book. It is a study of family life, one that anyone who has been part of a family can identify with. It is subtle, easy to read, full of glorious descriptions and unforgettable, 'real' characters and for us should be the winner of the Bailey's Prize for Women's Fiction!

The winner will be announced on Wed 3 June. You can join in by voting for your winner here and join in with the conversation on Twitter with #ThisBookClub and #3WordReview of your favourite book written by a woman!

Letters Live - Fri 3 April 2015

Letters Live - Freemasons Hall Fri 3 April 2015

Last night I was very lucky to be in receipt of tickets to see the latest instalment of Letters Live in the beautiful art deco surroundings of the Freemasons Hall in Holborn. These unique events are a result of the popular twitter feed @lettersofnote, which shares iconic, poignant and amusing letters and keeps the dying art form alive. Released as a best-selling book and with previous events at the Southbank and Hay Festival, Letters Live took over this beautiful venue for a week, with each night's line-up a well kept secret.

I have walked past this beautiful building many times and wandered what it was and what lay inside, so it was a treat in itself to enter the ornate doors and discover marble pillars, stone staircases, ornate ceilings and stained glass windows. The acoustics were fantastic and every seat seemed to have a great view of the cast of readers. The first half was full of excitement as we didn't know who would be appearing on stage next and each person was greeted with gasps of delight.

The headliners were Letters Live regulars Benedict Cumberbatch and Louise Brealey who were both fantastic. Cumberbatch took on a range of roles and voices, the highlight for me being when he reprised his role as Alan Turing to read a letter written to his beloved Christopher's mother after his death. Knowing his heartbreaking reason in simply asking for a photo to remember him by made this letter extremely moving and seeing an Oscar nominated performance being recreated before our eyes was a real privilege. Louise Brealey had her share of poignancy reading a letter from Charlotte Bronte after the death of her sister Emily. It was beautifully read and she was obviously moved, making a hasty exit from the stage. She also did a lovely reading of Beatrix Potter's A Tale of Peter Rabbit, which was my highlight of the first half.

Benedict Cumberbatch reading as Chris Barker

The Sherlock cast mates also read their regular series of letters from WWII sweethearts Chris Barker and Bessie Moore from the book My Dear Bessie. It is an extraordinary story as Chris serving in North Africa decided to write to old friends including an old colleague of his called Bessie. Her unexpected reply continued in a series of funny, honest and passionate letters as they fell in love via their letters. Their performances were brilliant as the whole audience was hanging on to every words and roaring with laughter at the unexpected turn of phrases - 'Digestion? How is yours?!'

Other amusing moments came from Geoffrey Palmer reading the famous Arkell v Pressdram letter sent by Private Eye, Sanjeev Bhuskar as Spike Milligan writing back to a 'fan' who was not impressed by the recent volume of his autobiography ('If you're disappointed by it, I am as I spent a whole year gathering material. I didn't know whether to make a suit or a book...') and the wonderful Samantha Bond reading Tina Fey's replies to internet trolls. But my favourite was Olivia Colman reading a letter from Elvis fans to the White House, concerned that their hero was going to have a G.I haircut. Her own unique style of reading had me in tears of laughter.

Other readers included Downton Abbey's Joanne Froggatt with an impressive American accent, Tom Sturridge as Mark Twain and Henry James who did overact a little in his readings (and was told off by Geoffrey Palmer for not turning the page!), Colin Salmon, Gemma Chan who only had one reading and Andrew O'Hagen. Tom Odell provided some beautiful renditions of songs about the art of letter writing.

This was a great evening of entertainment, as well as a thought-provoking celebration of the written word. If you get a chance to go to one of these events - do go! Each one is curated especially for each evening and the performers change each night so no two performances will be the same.

All the evening's readers taking their bows

Keep an eye on upcoming events and watch videos here

Visit The Letters of Note website to browse the letters or order the books here

  

The Joy Of Rejection by Jasper Gibson

I have recently read A Bright Moon For Fools, a dark comedy by Jasper Gibson which is perfect for fans of Hunter S. Thompson. It also reminded me of the recent box office hit The Grand Budapest Hotel with our hapless hero, an overweight alcoholic older gentleman called Harry Christmas on the run in Venezuela after committing a crime being chased across the country by a knife wielding maniac. The dark humour is interspersed with the odd flash of disturbing violence and Harry encounters some colourful characters as well as taking on some new guises. There is also some warmth as Harry reminisces about his dead wife and tries to atone for his bad ways. Harry is an articulate and gentlemanly conman with some amusing monologues on what irks him about modern life, or what he calls The Rot. You will end up feeling all sorts of emotions towards him during the course of the novel, but he is certainly a memorable character!

The author Jasper Gibson has very kindly written the feature below for my blog, which highlights the feelings of rejection when your pride and joy is not snapped up with publishers straight away...


The Joy of Rejection
Jasper Gibson

 It was only once I’d finished writing my first novel ‘A Bright Moon For Fools’ that I understood the ancient and mysterious bond between writing and sex: rejection.

Your first rejection, like your first love, is always the most painful. In my case it was doubly so because it wasn’t even from a publisher. It was from my agent.

Recently returned from Caracas, clutching my story about a man called Harry Christmas – part Ignatius P. Reilly, part Jim Royale, part Oliver Reed –crashing around rural Venezuela, unable to get over the death of his wife and getting into serious trouble, I was brimming with pride and excitement.

I’m back!’ I told the agent, ‘It’s taken me three years and now I’m done!’

‘Congratulations!’ he said. ‘Fantastic! Send it to me! Great!’

I never heard from him again.

For five months I left messages and sent emails. Finally I got through to an assistant. Let’s call him Henry. ‘Henry’ I said ‘I’m just calling to see if your boss has read my manuscript yet’ and he said ‘What was your name again?’ and then he said ‘What was the book called again?’ and then he let off a harrumph and sighed. Poor old Henry was having a rather tiresome day.

‘I think I have seen that around somewhere,’ he conceded. ‘Things have been so busy lately – probably the best thing is – why don’t you just send it in again?’

‘Henry,’ I replied ‘have you ever seen a man defecate in his own mouth? Because that’s what you’re going to be able to do once I’ve ripped your spine out! Now find my book and tell him to read it!’ Do you know what Henry said? Nothing. Because that’s not what I said to Henry.

What I said was ‘OK. Um. Right. OK…’ by which time Henry had already hung up the phone, and I was stuffing another manuscript into an jiffy bag so full of self-loathing it didn’t fit into the post box.

Eventually I got another agent and that’s when the real rejections began, the juicy ones, the ones that taste like acceptance for the first two thirds of the email before turning to ashes in your mouth with the word ‘Unfortunately…’.

But, as the saying goes, when one door closes, another one slams in your face.  You remain undeterred. In fact, you get used to rejections. Then you find you quite like them. You’ve absorbed the stories of your favourite writers who were rejected countless times before being published. ‘I knew it.’ you curse as yet another gloomy email arrives. ‘This proves it’s a great novel!’

Now you’ve been driven quite insane. You positively delight in the rejections. You are a veteran. Rejection letters are your war stories. When I finally received an email from Simon & Schuster saying they wanted to publish my book I threw myself back from my desk in horror ‘This is an outrage!’ I thundered. ‘How dare they?’

But that was it. Now revenge will surely be mine. Now I can haunt the aisles of Waterstones and WHSmith, waiting for someone to pick up a copy before I snatch it out of their hands and rubber stamp the word ‘rejected’ on their foreheads. ‘Your fundamental character isn’t likeable enough,’ I’ll say, carefully replacing the book on the shelf. ‘And you won’t appeal to teenagers. Now clear off!’

Thanks to Jasper for taking the time to write this. A Bright Moon For Fools it out now!

World War One Literature

I first discovered the power of World War I writing during the second year of my A Level in English Literature. As well as tests and coursework on William Blake, The Handmaid’s Tale and Othello, we had a whole year of reading WWI novels, letters and poetry in preparation for a three hour exam. I was not impressed and moaned in a Kevin the teenager voice ‘but war stories are for boooys!’ I just expected violence and depression about an era I knew little about. We started with reading and studying poetry together as a class beginning with Wilfred Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est. We had read this a few years previously and it was the first poem that had made me feel something. And this second time of studying it, really amplified my feelings towards it – shock, anger, revulsion and sadness. It is a powerful poem and one that really captures WWI for me. I really love Wilfred Owen’s poems, they are honest and articulate. He is quoted as saying ‘my subject is war and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity. All a poet can do is warn’. His poetry shows how he was torn between his revulsion of war against his responsibility to his men. The fact that Owen died a week before the war ended makes his poems all the more poignant.

Wilfred Owen opened up to me a whole world of war-time poets, each with common themes, but varying tones and beliefs. Rupert Brooke died in 1915 before he was even able to fight in the war. His poems are full of patriotic idealism, which is made so apparent in his poem The Soldier – ‘If I should die, think only this of me; that there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England’. Issac Rosenberg volunteered to fight despite his views towards the war.

Siegfried Sasson is perhaps the most fascinating WWI poet. His work had a sarcastic, sardonic tone, making fun of the higher ranks. He wrote perhaps the most famous piece of writing during this time – A Soldier’s Declaration – and was promptly declared insane and sent to Craiglockheart Hospital along with shellshocked soliders where he met and became friends with Wilfred Owen. More on this later... It has been announced this week that Cambridge Digital Library will be publishing all of Sassoon’s diaries for the first time to be read online.

The war was the first time that working class men were writing down their feelings through letters, diaries, accounts, poems and even art, sketching their fellow soldiers and surroundings. These were to be either sent home if they survived the censors, to while away the time, or to make sure that they would not forget their comrades. It wasn’t just men who were writing poetry though. Lamplight by May Wedderburn Cannan,about her lover’s death in battle, is one of the most emotive pieces of writing you will ever read.


Apart from the odd extract from a book or letter, we were able to do the rest of the A Level assignment independently, reading as little or as much as we wanted. I started with perhaps the most famous WWI inspired novel of all, Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. It tells the story of Stephen Wraysford, a young man fighting on the front, his affair with a French woman and years later his granddaughter researching his WWI experiences. I was blown away by the passion, claustrophobia and emotion of the novel and still remember it clearly and have regularly recommended to pretty much everyone!

I soon accumulated a pile of books from my local library and made my way through Strange Meeting, a story of friendship, death and a sense of belonging once the war is over by Susan Hill, All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, a German WWI veteran and the Regeneration series by Pat Barker – a brutal trilogy of books about soldiers suffering from shellshock at Craiglockhart Hospital including the friendship between Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, beginning with Sassoon’s famous declaration. The ‘treatments’ the patients endure such as electric shock treatment are horrific and the fact that nobody understood what they had been through in France was heartbreaking.

My love for WWI fiction has remained and I have read many books, plays, poems and
accounts since. Most recently I have enjoyed My Dear, I Wanted To Tell You by Louisa Young, which is ultimately a love story but also looks at how women’s lives changed at home and how they coped with this in different ways, plus the pioneering plastic surgery used on soldiers by with facial disfigurements. The author’s grandmother helped Dr Gilles at Sidcup Hospital, where she came across a photo of a young soldier with a terrible facial injury which inspired the book. I really recommend this book and you can read my full review here.

A couple of other books which look at women’s lives during the war are Wake by Anna Hope and Citadel by Kate Mosse. Wake revolves around the ceremony of the Unknown Soldier returning from France and three women who are each coming round to the aftershocks of WWI on their respective son, brother and lover. Their lives although seemingly separate are intertwined with tragedy. Citadel is a more brutal look at war in France about an underground cell of resistance fighters headed by brave young women. This is a shocking and violent read which builds to its climax from a light-hearted start. You can read my full review here.

I have most recently read The Lie by Helen Dunmore, which tells the story of a young soldier called Daniel who returns to Cornwall in 1920 to find his only family has died. He is unable to cope with normal life and tells a small lie which escalates towards a heart-wrenching conclusion. Helen Dunmore’s writing is stunning. My full review is here.

To commemorate the 100 year anniversary of WWI I am aiming to read Birdsong once again and also Parade’s End by For Maddox Ford which has been in my to read pile for a while! I will also be reading Sassoon’s dairies online and visiting the poppy display at the Tower of London.

Books About Town

A midweek day off and a sunny day in London provided me with the perfect opportunity to discover some of the Books About Town 'book benches'. Organised by the National Literacy Trust, the trails feature some big name authors and books along with local artists to produce beautiful designs which can be enjoyed by everyone over the summer. The benches are cleverly designed like an open book, with so much detail on each one.

Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly

We began with the Bloomsbury trail with our first discoveries being James Bond stories and Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly in a very busy Bloomsbury Square Gardens. Unfortunately both benches were in use so we were only able to get photos of the back of the benches. Next was Pride and Prejudice in Queen Square, where again the bench was in use by businessmen working on laptops. Our next visit was to the University of London - the Sherlock Holmes bench was in a square closed for a private party, the Importance of Being Earnest one was being repainted and 1984 had been removed for repair. A disappointing start with no decent photos, but undeterred we caught the train to St Paul's.

Pride and Prejudice

I love walking around this part of the City was so much history and impressive architecture. We headed to Postman's Park, a hidden gem which features beautiful plaques honouring the heroic bravery of people who have sacrificed themselves to save others. Here we had our first bench success - Brick Lane had no one sitting on it! In the shadows of St Paul's we discovered possibly my favourite bench of the day - Bridget Jones' Diary! There was so much detail with props from the book included - a Christmas jumper, necklace and bunny ears to name a few. It did make me laugh! We also got some great photos of the Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Where's My Meerkat benches with the Cathedral behind. The formal backgrounds must have an effect on everyone in the area as the benches had full respect with no one sitting on them.

Bridge Jones' Diary

Peter Pan

 We were starting to wilt in the summer heat, so we finished off by crossing the river to The Globe where we found a Shakespeare in London bench and then a brisk walk along the Thames to London Bridge to the Great Expectations and Paddington Bear benches - one had someone asleep on it(!) and the other a man working on his laptop ignoring tourists trying to get photos. We will finish the Riverside trail on another day as we had a theatre show to get to (The Woman in Black), but I'm looking forward to discovering the benches for Warhorse, Julia Donaldson and Discworld!

That's Not My Meerkat

I think this these trails are a great idea, although sometimes it can be frustrating taking the time to walk to a site and not being able to take photos as it is being blocked by people sitting (or sleeping!) on them. I would maybe recommend doing it on a rainy day so that you can almost guarantee seeing all of the artwork on each one. Trails like this one also give you the chance to discover parts of London you may have not have visited before. I came across the famous Borough Market and saw the remains of Winchester Palace while on the Riverside Trail. There are lots of events coming up at some of the benches including flashmobs such as 50 Sherlocks or Poirots all appearing in one spot, book giveaways and talks, so take a look at the Books About Town website. You can also see all of the benches there if you are unable to make it to London and event place a bid in the auctions for each bench.

For more information see www.booksabouttown.org.uk

Literary Dorset

Last week I spent a few days in a beautiful area of Dorset called Osmington. We were very lucky with beautiful weather to enjoy the stunning view, good food and local drinks. While we were there I just had to make a couple of visits to locations with very strong literary history...

The first trip was to the very pretty village of Corfe which is overlooked by the dramatic ruins of Corfe Castle, which was built by William the Conqueror. It was used by monarchs for the next six hundred years until it was sold by Elizabeth I to Sir Christopher Hatton. There is so much history in these walls and it is great fun to explore take in the atmosphere.

Corfe Castle

As well as my interest in history, I was also fascinated to learn that Enid Blyton was a regular visitor to this part of Dorset and Corfe Castle was her inspiration for the famous Kirrin Castle in her Famous Five books. To celebrate this, there is a fun shop in the village called the Ginger Pop Shop which stocks hundreds of editions of Enid Blyton titles and souvenirs as well as vintage gifts. I purchased two books, a 1990 edition of The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat and a 1965 edition of Brer Rabbit's A Rascal.

The Ginger Pop Shop in Corfe

 

Corfe is really worth a visit. You can even arrive by steam train on the Swanage Railway! There is lots to do as well as the castle from a Model Village which shows how the castle would have looked in the past, a nature walk with stunning views of the castle and many tearooms and pubs serving excellent food. Plus you can grab lashings of ginger beer from the Ginger Pop Shop!



My purchases from The Ginger Pop Shop

Our next visit was to Thomas Hardy's Cottage in the outskirts of Dorchester, which was his birthplace and childhood home. I am a big fan of Hardy's work in particular Tess of the d'Urbervilles which is one of my favourite novels! I would recommend using a satnav or printing off the directions from the National Trust website as it is rather hidden away with little signage on the roads, but it makes it even more interesting, discovering a cottage in the middle of the countryside. From the car park, it is either a 10 minute bridle walk or a 15 minute woodland walk to the house. We opted for the woodland walk which is a little steep, but so quiet and peaceful with just the sounds of birds singing. It really evoked the memory of Tess walking through the countryside to her next job!

The woodland walk to Hardy's Cottage

First glimpse of Hardy's Cottage!

There is a small kiosk selling tickets which also sells a range of Hardy books and DVDs. I bought a copy of Under The Greenwood Tree which was based at this cottage and described as Tranter Dewey's house. It is even stamped with the Thomas Hardy cottage mark once you buy it! The cottage garden is lovely, full of beautiful plants. There is a wheelbarrow in front of the house full of cuttings from the garden which you take away with you. I bought a pink lobelia which I have named Fancy Day after the flirty character in Under The Greenwood Tree!

The first room you enter is the cosy parlour, with a real fire where the Hardy family would have cooked, eaten and entertained. This room is the location for the dance party in Under The Greenwood Tree.

The parlour

Next is the office where the men of the family would go through the house accounts. There are some documents in view here and a bookcase full of editions of Hardy's work. Then it's up some steep stairs to the three bedrooms. First is the room that would have been shared by Hardy's two sisters who were both teachers. In the middle of the first floor is Hardy's parents' room which has a double bed and a cradle. Eerily in the cradle is a snake which recalls the story of Hardy's mother finding him asleep in the cradle as an infant with a snake across his body. In Greek mythology this was a symbol of wisdom. Lastly is the room of Hardy himself, with poem he wrote by hand at the age of 16 displayed on the wall.

Thomas Hardy's childhood bedroom

Back down some steep almost ladder down stairs is the kitchen which overlooks the pretty garden. After a wander around the house, we sat outside in the tranquil surroundings and I began to read my new book before the walk back to the car.

Reading Under The Greenwood Tree

There is a new visitor centre and café being built in the car park now, which is due to open in September 2014 which will be a welcome addition after a walk on a hot day, but I hope the site does not change too much as at the moment it is like walking back in time and its lovely to be able to spend a day in Hardy's rural Dorset.   Links:

Thomas Hardy's Cottage

Corfe Castle

Village of Corfe Castle

Ginger Pop Shop

World Book Night in London

Books ready to hand out!

For the first time in World Book Night's history, my day off fell on the actual day, so I was able to discover some celebrations across London. I was lucky enough to be selected as a World Book Night giver, so I set off with a rucksack full of my chosen title, After The Funeral by Agatha Christie, to hand out to unsuspecting strangers across the capital. I should at this point say a big thank you to Jon for lugging the books around the city for me!

I was aiming to hand out my books at some famous Christie landmarks in the capital. Fist stop was the Agatha Christie statue just off Leicester Square. Unfortunately this did not seem to be a good choice. A street team from LA Fitness had set-up camp right next to the statue, blasting out loud music and harassing all passers-by to sign-up to their gym. It also became clear, that most passers by were tourists with little English, so we soon decided to move on elsewhere.



At the Agatha Christie statue

While in the area, I just had to make a visit to one of my favourite London spots - the huge Waterstones in Piccadilly. I could spend hours browsing in there (and quite often do!) If I could have a supermarket sweep style moment in any store it would be this one. With so many beautiful books, stationery and unique, quirky gifts, I could spend an absolute fortune in there! Plus, there was a brilliantly quirky window display telling the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory completely with biscuits!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - in biscuits!

After a quick lunch spot and a google, we found out about a Harry Potter alliance holding an event at Paddington Station so headed there on the Bakerloo line. This also fitted in with my Christie themed day as one of my favourite Marple stories is 4.50 from Paddington. We soon came across the London based group called London Loveiosa (@londonloveiosa on Twitter) and we swapped books. I picked a free World Book Night copy of The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier and John Williams' Stoner in exchange for a charity donation. If you love Harry Potter get in touch with them to find out how to get involved and raise money for charity with their events.

After the hustle and bustle of Paddington, we decided to get some fresh air and walked up to Kensington Gardens, where we handed out most of the books. The happiest people we met and gave books to were a young lady working on one the kiosks, an elderly gentleman walking his dogs and a lovely couple who were visiting London for the day from Bedfordshire. We spent a long while admiring the Peter Pan statue and talking books and stately homes with them. We event gave copies of the murder mystery to two policeman, who seemed very amused and interested in the story! 

Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens

We decided to walk from Kensington to the World Book Night hub of the Southbank via Green Park, Buckingham Palace and Westminster, taking in all the iconic London sights. Once at the Southbank, we browsed the book fair (another one of my favourite London places) and Foyles. It was then time for the World Book Night flagship event Letters Live!

Southbank book fair

Letters Live is based on the hugely popular Letters of Note twitter feed and books. It aims to rediscover the lost art of letter writing and how important this method of communication has been over the years by sharing letters from historical figures, celebrities and ordinary everyday people. This event saw authors, musicians and stars of the stage and screen reading a wide variety of letters. My favourites were a bizarre letter from Elvis Presley to Richard Nixon requesting to be a federal agent, a touching letter from Iggy Pop to a depressed fan, an amusing letter from Bette Davis to her daughter pretty much putting her in her place, a sweet letter from a young child to Abraham Lincoln suggesting that he grow some 'whiskers' to be President and a letter from Queen Elizabeth II to President Eisenhowar with a  recipe for some scones. There were also a series of letters between two wartime sweethearts, who fell in love during their correspondence to each other. Guest readers included Matt Berry, Caitlin Moran (who also read a very self-indulgent beyond the grave letter to her daughter), David Nicholls, Kerry Fox and two surprises in Stephen Fry and Russell Brand who was hilarious in reading a letter from Mick Jagger to Andy Warhol.


At the Letters Live event

It was a really fun evening celebrating the written word and what can be accomplished from it. I really do have the urge to write some letters myself now, something which I have not done for years in the age of email and social media.

So, all in all a pretty successful World Book Night! I'm already looking forward to next years!

To find out about becoming a World Book Night Giver next year and helping to vote on the titles given away visit worldbooknight.org

World Book Night and Agatha Christie

April 23rd. A significant day of the year for me and thousands of others. St George's Day, Shakespeare's birth(and death)day and World Book Night. I love the idea of World Book Night, an annual event run by The Reading Agency when volunteers across the country hand out free copies of their favourite books to those who do not usually spend their time reading. I took part two years ago, when I handed out 20 copies of my favourite all-time book Pride and Prejudice and really enjoyed being able to share a classic novel, which although non-readers may have seen the film or television adaptations, they were now able to discover Jane Austen's wit first-hand and more importantly free of charge.

This year, I selected Agatha Christie's After The Funeral from the short-list of 20 books. I have only been a Christie fan for about a year, but I love her style of writing and the clever and sometimes shocking murder cases she has created and I am hoping to once again encourage those who may have watched the Marple or Poirot cases on television to read Christie's original work.

I had only watched a few of the ITV adaptations myself before I visited Agatha Christie's holiday home Greenway while on holiday in Devon last year. The beautiful house and spending time reading about Christie's life and character encouraged me to buy a couple of her most famous stories. The first one I read was And Then There Was None. It was so atmospheric to be reading the book near the island which she based the mystery on and I was immediately hooked on the story of ten strangers all invited to a mysterious island where they are soon stranded and must face their previous sins. One by one, each character is killed off and the end provides a shocking twist as well as making you realise the vital clues you picked up on but misinterpreted. I had to go straight back to the beginning to read again now that I knew the conclusion and it was still a stunning and terrifying piece of work. 

I have read several Christie stories since and they always amaze me. How did a young lady from Devon think of so many twisted stories, hundreds of eccentric characters, scores of ways of murdering people and thousands of red herrings? All Christie novels begin with a cast of colourful characters being introduced one by one. I always think that I will never learn who's who, but I always do and can see each character in my head so vividly. Christie mysteries conjure up the weird mixed feelings of a cosy setting with scenic English countrysides alongside the shock and horror of murder and the dark side of human nature.

I have become fascinated with Agatha Christie's life over the past 12 months, from the child with an overactive imagination, to the woman who wrote novels like a machine in order to pay for the life that she wanted. With an obvious interest in the medicines and poisons, she even volunteered as a Pharmacy Dispenser at London's University College during the second world war. There was even her own personal mystery as her car was found abandoned and a nationwide search began. Staff at a Harrogate Hotel recognised her after she had checked in with a false name and it is claimed that Christie had been concussed and was suffering from amnesia, not even recognising her own husband. She never spoke of this time of her life with the press or her friends or family.

And so to After The Funeral, the book I am giving away 18 copies of for World Book Night. It is a fantastic story of a dysfunctional family in turmoil. The patriarch of the family has passed away and at the reading of the will, his 'silly' sister Cora is heard to say 'It's all been hushed up very nicely, hasn't it...But he was murdered wasn't he?' The next day Cora is fund dead after being savagely struck with a hatchet and Hercule Poirot is hired by the family solicitor to unravel the mystery. Full of brilliant characters, plenty of clues and a jaw-dropping revelation, After The Funeral is one of Christie's very best works.

The World Book Night edition of the book features an introduction from Sophie Hannah who has been commissioned to write a new Poirot mystery which is out later this year. There is also an excerpt from Overture To Death by Ngaio Marsh, which was a favourite book of Agatha Christie's and a poem by the winner of the Foyle Young Poet Of The Year Award.

I really hope that everyone who receives this book will take the time to read it and discover Christie's art of a good old murder mystery. And maybe it will ignite a love of reading, or the urge to read more Christie novels in one or two. Thank you to everyone involved with World Book night in giving book lovers the chance to share stories with friends, colleagues and even strangers.

AgathaChristie.com is a brilliant website all about the author and her work. There is so much to read, it really is worth a visit.

You can read more about my visit to Greenway on my blog post here

You can find out more about World Book Night, events on the day and the other 19 titles being given out here You can even apply to be a Community Giver, by passing on copies of your own books to non-readers

Follow @WorldBookNight on Twitter and keep up to date with #worldbooknight or #WBN14 on the day

I will be sharing my favourite Agatha Christie quotes on my twitter feed @HillingdonBooks throughout the day and I would love to hear from other book givers!

Q & A With Jason Hewitt author of The Dynamite Room

I was very fortunate to be able to read an advance proof copy of The Dynamite Room, a beautiful and thought-provoking novel set in a Suffolk village during WWII. An 11 year old girl called Lydia is stranded in a large Edwardian house and in the night, sees a soldier enter the house warning of a German invasion. He gives her some rules to live by, but why is he there and is he telling the truth? What follows is a stunning and moving story of two unlikely co-inhabitants who each have their own heart-breaking backgrounds consumed by war. Costa Award-winning author Nathan Filer has described The Dynamite Room as 'Superb. Absorbing, suspenseful and with a beautifully poetic touch' and I couldn't agree more!

Look out for my review being posted tomorrow, but in the meantime, here is a fascinating Q and A with the author Jason Hewitt:

There has been a wide range of WWI and WWII fiction, but The Dynamite Room succeeds in being different. Which literature and real-life events motivated you to write this novel?

I have always had a fascination with alternative histories and novels that start with a ‘what if?’ question. When I first started thinking about The Dynamite Room all I knew was that I wanted to write a WWII novel with a difference, and one where I could pitch two individuals from opposing sides against each other but in an unusual way. Then, in a library, I happened to come across a book called Where the Eagle Landed by Peter Haining. The book looks into the myths surrounding 1940 and whether German troops ever did land on the East coast. In truth this is unlikely but German bodies were certainly washed up on the shore occasionally, usually from shot-down planes or torpedoed boats. The next natural question as a novelist then is: well, what if they weren’t all dead? What if at least one or more of them swam up on to the shore? What then? From that I had the start of my story.
Similarly with the other story lines I tried to unearth elements of the war that I knew very little of. My view was that if they were new and interesting to me, they might be new and interesting to other readers. The sub-plot set in Norway around the battle for Narvik is just one example, and was something I unexpectedly stumbled across when researching another story. World War II-based fiction is such a saturated market that I didn’t just want to add another book to the pile. I wanted to find a story that was different or at least told in a unique way. I’m not sure to what extent I’ve achieved that, but that was the idea.
 In terms of inspiring literature, I had read the likes of Sebastian Faulks, Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient and Ian McEwan’s Atonement in the past, all of which must have subconsciously inspired my story in some way. I read a lot of World War II fiction in the process of writing the novel, too, although I try to steer clear of anything too closely related until I have my own story well and truly fixed.

The novel is written in a beautiful and at times poetic way, with the imagery of flowers, nature and the innocence of Lydia in stark contrast to the brutality of war and Heiden's experiences. How has WWI and WWII poetry inspired you?

I’ve not deliberately taken inspiration from the war poets but Rupert Brookes’ ‘The Soldier’ has a particular resonance with me. It is the only poem I can recite by heart and I once had to perform it as an actor. It gives such hope and sadness in the same breath that if you let each line resonate in you it is almost impossible not to cry. On writing The Dynamite Room, I also read Owen Sheer’s novel, Resistance that has a similar subject matter. Sheers is well known for his poetry. In his novel every sentence is simple but exquisitely crafted. It proved to me that you can have a fast-paced story and yet still deliver it with a poetic touch.

I can see The Dynamite Room working well on stage as the claustrophobia of two unlikely inhabitants becoming dependent on each other in a short space of time. Do you have any plans to adapt it into a play?

I would love to see The Dynamite Room on the stage. I think a film or short TV series might be a better outlet though. The challenge for a theatre production would be how to portray Heiden’s backstory that encompasses a number of European locations and a couple of epic set pieces. There is also the challenge of finding an actress that can play eleven-year old Lydia in what would be quite a gruelling role. It could be done though and maybe one day I’d be up for the challenge (not unless anyone would like to offer!). I’m rather into claustrophobic settings at the moment. My first full-length play will debut at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer hopefully. It’s set in a lift and is called – wait for it – Claustrophobia. It couldn’t be more different to The Dynamite Room but there are certainly common links between the two.

I love the title. How conscious were you of the title having multiple meanings while you were writing the novel and at what stage did you decide on a name for the book?

I’m afraid I have a confession to make. It wasn’t actually my title. Throughout the writing process the working title was something else entirely. My agent didn’t like it – and rightly so in hindsight. He came up with ‘The Dynamite Room’. I wasn’t at all sure at first but now I see how perfect it is, relating not to one but two of the main storylines, and it does the job of grabbing people’s attention. (I still need to buy him a drink for that.)

In your Q & A at the end of the book, you mention that you find yourself acting out the roles of Lydia and Heiden to get into the mindset of their characters. How much do you think that being an actor helps you to bring to life two different, but authentic characters?

I think being a trained actor certainly helps create character. You can’t play a role on stage without hunting through the script for clues. You need to know everything about your character to give an accurate portrayal, and if you can’t find out what you need from the script then you at least need to be able to make intelligent guesses based on what you do know. As a writer then, I know that I need to leave these clues on the page, and that everything that happens or is said or done needs to be driven from the characters’ objectives (or what they want and need).

I find that acting out scenes as the characters makes it easier to spot the little details that my characters might do or how they might behave: when, for example, Lydia might pick at something on the floor and flop back on her bed or how she might sit in a chair. Heiden is the character I relate to most, although it was Lydia that clicked into place first. I’ve obviously never been a girl (no, honestly!) but I have been a child. With her it was more a case of trying to remember what being eleven was like, and out of the two characters she was the most fun to write.

There is a playlist featured at the end of the book, which I thought adds real depth and almost cinematic experience to the story. How did these pieces of music help you in writing The Dynamite Room? Do you always listen to music when writing? What other music do you find inspiring?

I don’t listen to music while I’m writing but I often play music while I’m setting up for the day. It creates the right atmosphere, particularly for a book like The Dynamite Room where music is such an important theme. I would listen to swing and popular radio hits of the time. In fact when I drove around Suffolk one week in the summer doing my research I only played 1940s hits in the car. Mostly, during the writing though, I listened to classical music as that’s what Heiden and Eva would have played and been inspired by themselves. Every major character had a musical theme too, that for me gave a sense of who they are. Sometimes I would play these to help me get in touch with them again. I also tend to have a film soundtrack for each novel I write that I have on continuous repeat and that gets me in the mood. For The Dynamite Room it was James Newton Howard’s soundtrack to the WWII film, Defiance. It’s not a brilliant film but Joshua Bell’s violin in it is haunting. For the novel I’m currently writing it’s the soundtrack to the film, Lore, and also The Dark Knight Rises. Don’t laugh. I know it’s an odd combination but it’s working for me at the moment.

I run a book group and will add The Dynamite Room to our reading list, as I think there is plenty to discuss. Which other books do you find yourself debating and would you recommend for future reads for us?

Adam Thorpe’s The Rules of Perspective has been my latest secret find. The novel is set in a German town now overrun by Americans in April 1945. It has two protagonists whose stories slowly intertwine – Heinrich Hoffer who, together with his colleagues, is huddled in the vaults of the town museum, and Neal Parry, an American GI on patrol in the town. It is one of the most rich and beautifully written novels I’ve read and I don’t think I’ve ever come across characters that have lifted so vividly off the page.

Jim Crace, too, is a writer that constantly intrigues me. His novel, Being Dead, is about a couple that return to a beach where they first made love, only to be murdered. It reads like a thriller and yet is much deeper than that, looking at what makes us love and what makes us human. Its intricate description of what physically happens to the body when we die is absolutely breath-taking.

Finally, I’d recommend Mountains of the Moon by I J Kay. At its very simplest, it is the tragic account of a broken life and yet, despite this, it is funny and fragile and blissfully surreal. The protagonist takes on many characters but eight-year old Lulu is a unique literary triumph.


A huge thank you to Jason for taking the time answer these questions and to Dawn Burnett at Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy of the book and setting up this Q and A.

The Dynamite Room is released at the end of March and you can pre-order a copy on the Waterstones website here

You can find out more at www.jason-hewitt.com, follow Jason on Twitter @jasonhewitt123 and on Facebook.com/TheDynamiteRoom