The Literary Sofa
Isabel Costello
Guest Author – Isabel Rogers on Writing about Music
This week I am more than usually thrilled to welcome poet, wit and newly hatched novelist Isabel Rogers back to the Literary Sofa. Last week’s moving piece by Catherine Simpson on Writing about Mental Health was a wonderful start to the series of guest posts by authors of titles from my First Sofa Spotlight of … Continue reading
Guest Author – Catherine Simpson on Writing about Mental Health
There was a really enthusiastic response to my First Sofa Spotlight of 2019 a couple of weeks ago – many thanks to everyone who got in touch, shared it on social media and entered my one day competition on Twitter. I hope the winners and the rest of you are enjoying the books you chose! … Continue reading
The First Sofa Spotlight of 2019
Moving on from a near-exclusive focus on new releases has been great for my reading but I still love making exciting discoveries in the constant flow of new titles. My first selection of 2019 consists of six novels set between the 18th century and the present day via several decades of the twentieth, plus a … Continue reading
2019 – A new year on the Sofa
If I leave it any longer it’ll be too late to wish you a happy new year, so consider it done – I hope you had a good break over the holidays. This is just a quick note to say I’m back, at least in theory… like many, I’m not a fan of January but … Continue reading
My Year in Books 2018
It’s time to reveal my Books of 2018, a post I always relish writing, but this year it’s more complicated than usual. It’s been a strange reading year for me, frustrating in some ways and very rewarding in others. I’ve ‘only’ read 80 books, slightly down on my usual average, as was the proportion written … Continue reading
Unusual Book Gift #3 – Miss Marley by Vanessa Lafaye with Rebecca Mascull
The last in my trio of Unusual Book Gift gift suggestions is remarkable in several ways. Firstly, novella Miss Marley is a prequel to one of the best known, best loved classics, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but with a new protagonist who appears alongside the characters familiar to most of us. The book lives up … Continue reading
Unusual Book Gift #2 – Single-story pamphlets from The Guillemot Factory
Within minutes of pressing ‘publish’ on my first unusual book, The Accidental Memoir by Eve Makis and Anthony Cropper, I was receiving messages from readers saying they’d ordered it for themselves or as a present. It’s a lovely thought that this will result in life stories which might never have been told. Today I’m … Continue reading
Unusual Book Gift #1 – The Accidental Memoir by Eve Makis and Anthony Cropper
Christmas isn’t really my thing but books and writing are, so over the next couple of weeks I’m dedicating three blog posts to book gifts which are in some way out of the ordinary* – please do support your local independent bookshop, or mine, the renowned Big Green Books who are really helpful even long distance. … Continue reading
A Novel Process – the ‘Re-type Draft’
Like many novelists, I get asked a lot of tricky questions and that’s not likely to change when my next book comes out. (Yes, I’m saying ‘when’ because I have to believe that to put myself through this.) Today’s post – by popular demand! – looks at some of those questions and my experience of … Continue reading
The Word for Freedom – Stories of Women’s Suffrage
This week I am delighted to be featuring The Word for Freedom, an anthology just published to celebrate the centenary of female suffrage in the UK. Amanda Saint, founder of Retreat West, joined forces with fellow author Rose McGinty to bring together these 24 stories, all donated by the authors to raise funds for London … Continue reading
My Novel – Now out in paperback
