The Literary Sofa
Isabel Costello
Paris Before and After
One morning last week I found myself on the Eurostar to Paris with a strong cup of coffee, reading a book about Baudelaire, one of my literary heroes (‘influences’ sounds a bit pretentious). Rain pelted the windows, the sky low and heavy as he painted it in his poem Spleen but that didn’t matter to me. I … Continue reading
Guest Author – Claire Fuller on Giving your Characters a Hard Time
As I prefer to open a book knowing the bare minimum about it (yes, that is weird coming from someone who constantly recommends books but at least I don’t do spoilers), I am very influenced by titles and a beautiful and intriguing one like Claire Fuller’s Our Endless Numbered Days is guaranteed to attract my attention. (It’s actually … Continue reading
Guest Author – Alex Christofi on Writing the Shard
Since starting the Literary Sofa blog in 2011, I read far more new fiction than I used to. And despite the endless stream of fantastic novels which find their way to me, I often get the feeling there are established notions of ‘what works’ in fiction or ‘what the reader wants/expects’ – notions I personally like … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Oscar de Muriel on Victorian Edinburgh
It’s not every day that you bump into a violin-playing Mexican chemist who’s written a historical crime novel set in Scotland, in English! I met today’s guest Oscar de Muriel at a book party in the early days of the Literary Sofa and although our paths have yet to cross again in real life I have … Continue reading
Dark Days Back Home
I am touched to know that it only takes a week or so of unexplained online silence to get people wondering what’s up with me and I am very thankful to have so many supportive friends. I’ve spent most of the past ten days in my home town of Salisbury in Wiltshire following the horrible … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Peter Nichols on Mallorca
I launched the Writers on Location series almost a year ago to showcase novels which have interesting settings and a particularly strong sense of place. It’s become very popular and has featured some fascinating pieces by authors who’ve set their books in locations that were sometimes new to them, sometimes familiar and in some cases, their home town. If … Continue reading
Guest Author – Shelley Harris on Writing a hero from the inside
I am really thrilled to welcome Shelley Harris to the Literary Sofa following the recent release of her second novel Vigilante. Her first novel Jubilee (2012) was a critically acclaimed bestseller and her path to publication has been a genuine inspiration to me. I’ve also had the pleasure of getting to know Shelley in person and … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Philip Teir on Helsinki
Over the next few months I’ll be featuring some of the titles from my Hot Picks 2015 selection on the Literary Sofa, starting with a Writers on Location post about Helsinki by Finnish author Philip Teir, dubbed #Scanzen by his UK publishers Serpent’s Tail. I’m often sceptical about such tags but with his debut novel … Continue reading
Malaysia – Two Weeks in the Tropics
Travelling is a passion I share with my family. My husband and I started planning a big trip almost as soon as we met. Our sons, 16 and 12, have seen a lot of the world with us. Our horizons have broadened along with our awareness of how fortunate we are in so many ways. We decided to … Continue reading
Fiction Hot Picks 2015
This is my seventh Literary Sofa selection of new/forthcoming releases and I am as excited as ever to share my choices with you. I can’t recommend a novel I haven’t read, so to arrive at the final 13 I considered dozens, enjoying many from cover to cover. These made the cut because I think they’re all highly compelling, well-written … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 