The Literary Sofa
Historical Fiction
Writers on Location – Vanessa Lafaye on Key West, Florida
There was a really enthusiastic response to last week’s showcase of new fiction by The Prime Writers so on behalf of us all, many thanks to everyone who has shared it and shown their appreciation. An extra title out later this month has since been added, so it’s worth taking another look… Today I am … Continue reading
Guest Author – Kate Brown on Writing about Adolescence
After being acquainted on Twitter for some time, today’s guest Kate Brown and I first met last summer at the launch of our mutual friend Claire King’s novel Everything Love Is. The three of us have a lot in common, including close links with France which have led us to set novels there. Hearing film … Continue reading
Guest Author – Juliet West on Social Class in Fiction
As I mentioned in the introduction to my Summer Reads 2017, unintended patterns often appear when I am putting the selection together, even if the individual titles are completely different. This time round, there was a strong showing for adolescent characters and the coming-of-age theme, which is one of my favourites. That perspective is skilfully … Continue reading
Guest Author – Rachel Rhys on writing a community of strangers
It was back in 2011 that I first met today’s guest Rachel Rhys/Tammy Cohen, a fellow north London writer, just as she was about to branch out from journalism into fiction with her first novel The Mistress’s Revenge. Tammy got in ahead of the huge and unabating domestic noir and psychological thriller craze, setting the bar … Continue reading
Guest Author – Anna Mazzola on Writing Prisons
Today’s post by Anna Mazzola, author of The Unseeing, concludes the coverage of titles on my Summer Reads 2016 selection. My picks have been going down well – it’s great to hear that many of you are enjoying them as much as I did. Some of these books are rightly getting a lot of attention, … Continue reading
Guest Author – Patrick Gale on Writing A Place Called Winter
It is a huge pleasure to welcome prolific bestselling author Patrick Gale to the Literary Sofa today. Patrick’s long and successful literary career had an unusual beginning back in 1986 when his first two novels were published on the same day. He has since written over a dozen more as well as two short story collections … Continue reading
Book Review – Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
Six years after the release of Jane Harris’s debut novel The Observations, I still remember the voice of Irish servant girl Bessy with a clarity I wish I could summon for everything that I read. Her second novel, Gillespie and I had attracted plenty of buzz even before being long-listed for the Orange Prize 2012. … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 