The Adele Geras Web Site

Adele and her notice board

JULY 2008

NEWSLETTER 29

WORK IN PROGRESS

Good news on DIDO is: Alison Jay, the artist whose beautiful covers for the paperbacks of TROY and ITHAKA so enhance those books, has agreed to provide an image for the new novel, and I am greatly looking forward to seeing what she produces for this story.

I have just signed the option contract for FACING THE LIGHT with the German company, Ziegler so I hope very much to have news of a tv movie being made of my book quite soon.

The paperback of A HIDDEN LIFE has just appeared, bearing a kind cover quote from Katie Fforde.

I am thinking carefully about my next adult novel, which I hope to be starting on later in the summer.

Mary Hoffman has interviewed me for her admirable online children's books magazine, Armadillo. Go to this link and scroll a little way down till you get to 'interviews.'

EVENTS

On Saturday April 12th the St Hilda’s College Media Conference was as pleasant as I hoped it would be. Good to see so many old friends, and very strange to be staying in a room not far from my first year room, all those years ago. The conversions that have happened over the decades had to be done, I can see that, but something of the old place has gone and it looks and feels much more institutional now. The food was good….lovely breakfast and buffet lunch but I was amazed that there was no disabled access to the room in which the conference was taking place, as I understood that laws had been passed to ensure access to everyone. A wheelchair user would not have been able to attend. But it was interesting to hear what the other speakers had to say and good to see a contingent of SAS members there, too.

The speakers ranged from the world of children’s tv to that of jigsaws and religious books for the young and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

On May 17th, I paid a visit to Manchester Grammar School. It was a real treat to see so many eager and enthusiastic readers and the boys are very fortunate both to have a super bookshop in school and to have excellent Classics tuition. I was invited to talk about TROY and ITHAKA mostly, and both boys and staff made me feel most welcome. The school has been a jewel in Manchester’s crown for many years and I was delighted to visit it. Here’s a photo of me, and some readers, taken in the school bookshop.

Also in May, I went to Stratford Girls’ Grammar School as part of the first Stratford Literary Festival which is the brainchild of Annie Ashworth and Natasha Roderick-Jones. I had a really good time there, and the girls and staff were most welcoming and friendly, but I was very sorry to have to rush off without seeing Annie and without having more of a chat with Natasha.

Later in May, Sue Steele of Simply Books kindly drove me to the Wizo lunch in Prestwich, and brought along some of my books to sell. I spoke about my work to a roomful of very attentive and lively women. The food was fantastic and we had a really good time, so thank you to Marilyn and her helpers for inviting me. I think a lot of money was raised for the charity on the day.

I went to the house of my old friend Leena Prothero on May 8th to talk about FACING THE LIGHT with her book group. I love talking to book groups, whose members always have intelligent things to say. They seemed to have greatly enjoyed the book, which was lucky for me. Leena provided wonderful snacks and goodies and wine and I hope that all the others enjoyed themselves as much as I did. Thanks to Leena for inviting me.

The Lancashire Book Award 2008 was given to Tim Lott for his novel FEARLESS on Saturday 21st June. The ceremony took place in the splendour of the Lancashire County Council Chamber and as Chair of the judges, I had the pleasure of reading out his speech and accepting a dazzling crytal decanter and a cheque for £1000 on his behalf. What I mean is, I held these for a while. Tim himself will come up to the county later in the year and take proper possession of them. He was on his way back from Mauritius and somewhere in the sky above us as the prize was being awarded. On the previous evening, we (the shortlisted authors who were there, Alan Whittaker, the Chairman of Lancashire County Council, resplendent in his silver chain, some young people who’d been on the judging panel last year, Jake Hope and Jean Wolstenholme and librarians like Hazel and Sheila and Alison and others too numerous to mention) had a delicious dinner as guests of UCLAN (University of Central Lancashire) which sponsorsthe awards. A quartet played music as we ate, and Alan turned out to know as many songs from the shows, the Fifties, the Sixties and the general cabaret repertoire as I did and he was about as shy as I am (not at all!) and those around us must have wished they were at another table. I did not drink during the meal, but still there was a brief moment after the speeches when the quartet played ‘Let’s face the music and dance’ and we couldn’t resist….we gave a few short twirls round the floor, rather to the amazement of everyone else. The more serious part of the evening was about the young judges, who all spoke eloquently about the difference being on the panel had made to their lives, their reading and their general confidence in themselves.

The shortlisted authors who attended the ceremony on Saturday were Tabitha Suzuma, Jenny Downham and Malcolm Rose. It was good to see Tabitha and Malcolm, whom I know and very pleasant to meet Malcolm’s wife Barbara, and Jenny Downham. I didn’t get to speak to Joseph Delaney, but he was there too and I said goodbye to him before I left. Each author gave a short speech and presented the young judges with a copy of the winning book and a certificate. The more formal part of the day was followed by a wonderful buffet lunch. I’m already looking forward to next year, when I will be doing the same thing I did this year, all over again.

I made my way to the station carrying a goody bag full of biscuits, sticks of rock, with Reading Rocks written right through it, and the excellent and beautifully-produced booklet that details all the books and reproduces some reviews written by the children who did the reading.

Many thanks to Jean Wolstenholme and Jake Hope and all the librarians who worked so hard to make this event such a wonderful occasion. Here is a photo of me and two of the young judges. My hair is truly not white! It is just a trick of the light.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

On Thursday, July 3rd, maybe after this newsletter goes up, I’ll be helping out in Simply Books as part of Independent Booksellers’ Week. The idea is: your local author serving behind the counter in your local shop will make you want to buy lots more books. It should be good fun.

On Sunday July 6th at 4.30p.m I am appearing at the Hebden Bridge Festival along with Sophie Hannah. This is preceded by a literary lunch and regular readers of this newsletter know how much I like those.

On July 19th, I am taking part in a Waterstone’s story reading afternoon. All over the country apparently, authors will be reading to children in branches of Waterstone’s. I’m going to be at Waterstone’s in the Trafford Centre from 3 p.m.

More events on the next newsletter….exciting things like a day at White Lodge, the ballet school in Richmond Park and a Gothic Day at Highgate School for Girls with Linda Newbery and Sarah Singleton. This day will include a visit to Highgate Cemetery, which is a magical place. I’m greatly looking forward to both these events and will give more details next time.

BOOKS

The highlight of the last few months and one of the best books I’ve read in a long time is GILEAD by Marilynne Robinson. She wrote HOUSEKEEPING twenty-six years ago and I loved that book, too. But this is a true masterpiece. It’s a plain story: an elderly preacher writes to his young son at what might, because of a heart condition, be the very end of his life. The story which emerges is fascinating but it’s the way it’s written that takes your breath away. You turn the pages, entranced by the limpid, unadorned and yet completely beautiful prose and when the end comes, you come back to your own life with something of a shock, so thoroughly has the writer transported you to her landscape and the concerns of her characters. Do not miss this book on any account.

This time, as ever, I have some novels by friends of mine. Berlie Doherty gave me a copy of her new novel A BEAUTIFUL PLACE FOR A MURDER (Five Leaves) when I went to her cottage for lunch in early June. It’s a thriller set around her home in Edale and one of the best things about it is the way it brings the landscape to life. You know exactly what everything looks like in a novel by Berlie and she understands the countryside very well. The story is a thriller for young adults with a plot which is exciting enough to keep you turning the pages and yet quite believable. There’s only a certain kind of crime you can envisage taking place in this setting and with these characters and Berlie has got the tone just right.

Alan Brown’s new novel is self-published by Lulu.com and it’s a very enjoyable fantasy adventure for children of about….well, I’m against age-banding, but I’m sure anyone from about 8 years old and upwards will be excited and thrilled by this well-written story from someone who is good at suspense and a pleasant kind of scariness. Sample MICHAEL AND THE MONKEY KING at www.alanjamesbrown.com Download the e-book for £1.50 at www.lulu.com

Celia Rees is no slouch. She follows THE STONE TESTAMENT(Scholastic) with SOVAY (Bloomsbury), a rip-roaring novel about a girl who becomes a highwayman (highwayperson? highwaywench?) out of love and a desire for freedom and justice. Sovay, whose name comes from an old ballad, is a heroine to cherish: fearless, pretty, intelligent and kind. She bumps up against some really dastardly villains and meets also some very dishy young men during her non-stop adventures which take place at the time of the French Revolution. A really good read for everyone who likes a fast-moving and involving story. My one criticism of this beautifully-produced book is the extremely striking image of the girl on the cover, who seems to be to be modern rather than 18th century, but perhaps the reasoning is that this will make the book even more appealing to young people today. It’s a cracking read.

Helena Pielichaty’s ACCIDENTAL FRIENDS (OUP) is one of those books that you can’t put down. The individual stories of a group of friends is unfolded in a highly original way: by linking each young person to an artwork on display in an end of year show at college. Their stories are told to a cleaner who shares the interest of the reader in wanting to know what happens to each person. The dialogue is sharp, the characterisation very well done and it’s the kind of book you feel ought to be turned at once into a television serial. It’s funny, moving and entertaining.

I was sent THREE WISHES by Isabelle Merlin (Random House Australia) by a good friend of mine Down Under. Isabelle Merlin is a pseudonym for one of Australia’s best-loved children’s writers and I will leave readers to guess who it is, at least until next newsletter, when I might divulge the secret. This book is a terrific marriage of fairytale and internet thriller and even has its own blog, written by the heroine of the story, Rose. This is at: http://fairychild3wishes.blogspot.com The adventures come thick and fast and the characters spring to life on the page. The action moves from Australia to France and we find many ingredients of the traditional fairytales sitting very well in a modern setting. It must be possible to get Aussie books through internet channels and it’s worth seeking this one out, until a British publisher wakes up to the potential of Mlle. Merlin.

Andrew Taylor is a thriller writer whose work I love. His Roth Trilogy is brilliant and in his latest, BLEEDING HEART SQUARE (Michael Joseph) the landscape is mostly one of seedy boarding houses and dingy pubs in a London where Oswald Moseley’s Brownshirts are in evidence. There’s a murder from the past to be solved as well and horrible details abounding, such as the actual ‘bleeding hearts’: offal done up in brown paper parcels which keep mysteriously arriving. This is an atmospheric and gripping book.

I’m a fan of campus novels and Rosy Thornton has written a super one. HEARTS AND MINDS (Headline Review) is a sparkling, intelligent story about a women’s college which elects a man as its Master. The Cambridge college politics, the various narrative strands so skilfully woven in (there’s stuff about endowments, sexism, young love, juggling work and home and much more besides) all make it a very pleasurable book to read. The writer is a don herself, and her inside knowledge gives an added authenticity to the book. I loved it.

I very much liked DEAF SENTENCE by David Lodge. I’ve been a fan of his work for years, and this is both funny and moving. The best bits, which seem very autobiographical, are the ones dealing with our hero’s relationship with his father but it’s an enjoyable and enlightening read all round.

Dorothy Whipple (published by the excellent Persephone Books) is one of my favourite writers. I’ve just read THEY KNEW MR KNIGHT (which was excellent) and her short stories THE CLOSED DOOR and then re-read THEY WERE SISTERS. This book has the most horrible, cruel, vicious, unkind and thoroughly detestable villain you can imagine….what he does to his family is horrendous and the whole book is quite harrowing, but admirable in its understatement. Her style is simple and often witty in a Barbara Pym-ish way, but she understands that families can tear one another apart as well as any of the Southern Gothic American writers. Tennessee Williams would have taken his hat off to her, if he’d read this book. It’s amazing and I do recommend this writer unreservedly. I also re-read Barbara Pym’s EXCELLENT WOMEN which is one of the Virago 40th anniversary volumes, and it reminded me of what a fine writer Pym is and how very underrated, still.

John Harwood’s THE GHOST WRITER (Jonathan Cape) was a shivery treat, though I’m not a hundred percent sure I quite understood what was going on at the end. Nevertheless I liked it enough to have ordered THE SÉANCE, his second book and I look forward to seeing if I can make more sense of that.

ENGLEBY (Vintage) by Sebastian Faulks is an unusual book and well worth reading. It’s different from his other work and both intriguing and unsettling. The bullying that goes on in the public school that Engleby attends is some of the most horrific I’ve ever read about and described in unsparing detail by the bullied boy himself. This book starts as one kind of novel and ends up as something else, but it’s another you will find hard to put down.

On the shelf to be read:

STRAVAGANZA: City of Secrets, by Mary Hoffman. This is the fourth instalment of the Stravaganza series and I am really looking forward to reading it.
THE MITFORDS: LETTERS BETWEEN SIX SISTERS.
THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz (Pulitzer Prizewinner this year)
THE DIARY OF A PROVINCIAL LADY by E.M.. Delafield
BLAMING by Elizabeth Taylor (time to re-read all her books, I think)
THE VOWS OF SILENCE by Susan Hill
And more Anthony Powell…I am about to embark on volume 10 of the DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME.