Literary Lessons

08Oct '12

Author interview: Ellie Stevenson

A few weeks ago I promised you an interview with first-time novelist Ellie Stevenson. Her new book is a ghostly tale of life on and after the Titanic.
How did you come up with the concept for Ship of Haunts?
I didn’t choose to write about Titanic, Titanic chose me, and quite a few others who’ve also [...]

31Jul '12

Coming soon: an interview with author Ellie Stevenson

A quick note about upcoming author interview with Ellie Stevenson!

15Feb '12

Plot spinning

Plot spinning can work brilliantly, or fall flat on its face.

01Jul '11

Ordinary Thunderstorms – William Boyd

I don’t usually do book reviews but I thought this one was worth mentioning. I’ve not read anything by Boyd previously and found myself sceptical of the Richard & Judy endorsement of another novel he wrote which features on the cover. The blurb read well though so I started to read on the plane from [...]

01Jul '11

For women, about women, by women

Fair or not, I really hate chick lit!

12May '11

Life on the page

In a weak attempt at frugality I started re-reading one of my older Donna Leon novels. In doing so, I realised for the first time that one of the reasons I find the books so special is the way she portrays human interactions. Not only do you get to read what people say to each [...]

09Feb '11

Guilty thoughts

Sometimes you just have to risk the boss’ glares and spare a thought for your work!

09Feb '11

Literary Lessons

Literary Lessons is my attempt to bridge the gap between fiction and reality.