JUNE/JULY 2005

STOP PRESS!

I know I promised a newsletter in mid-September, but I'm afraid it's going to be a little late. This is for two reasons.

1. I'm within days of finishing Made in Heaven, and I'd like a clear run at that deadline.

2. Ithaka is published on October 6th, and there's going to be a dinner in London to celebrate. I'd like to write about this and also about some visits I'm doing around that night.

I'll be back with a full newsletter by mid-October.

Adele

NEWSLETTER 16

WORK IN PROGRESS

I’m still writing Made in Heaven and enjoying it enormously. Part of the fun is having the benefit of everyone else’s wedding experiences. The other day, for instance, I had lunch with Sue and Janet, both old friends of mine. Our daughters were at school together and after lunch out came the albums…beautiful pictures of Sarah and Claire getting married which gave me some good ideas. It was a very enjoyable occasion.

Ithaka is now in bound proof form and first readers seem to be enjoying it. If you go to the Culture Vulture website on Guardian Unlimited, there's its first ever review by Sarah Crown. It’s published on October 6th in this country and on January 1st 2006 in USA A few weeks ago, I met Rachel Armstrong from Random House, who’s in charge of publicity for Ithaka. She was up here visiting her parents (I also met her mother briefly…always good to encounter a teacher who’s read some of your books!) and we went for a coffee in Harvey Nichols, and discussed all the exciting things that are planned for publication. It was great to meet Rachel and the iced mocha I had was spectacular.

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I’m now in the final stages of writing the sequel to the picture book I did with Shelagh McNicholas, The Ballet Class. It’s going to be called Tilly on Tiptoe and Liz Johnson from Orchard Books came up to Manchester to discuss it with me over a delicious lunch. I know I mention food often in my newsletters, but that’s because almost all my meetings and events include some kind of meal. It was good to see Liz again and she told me that Davina McCall’s daughter, who’s also called Tilly, really loves The Ballet Class. I was happy to learn that.

Coming on August 4th, the Egerton Hall Trilogy (The Tower Room, Watching the Roses, Pictures of the Night) in one volume called Happy Ever After which has a really beautiful cover. I’m fond of these books and I’m very pleased that they’ll be available again.

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EVENTS

At the end of April, in perfect weather, I went up to the Lake District to spend the day with some pupils from my old school, Roedean. They were enjoying a few days at a lovely youth hostel on Derwentwater and I did some creative writing with them. It was, as usual, a great pleasure to see Ann Wilkinson and the others and the standard of the work I heard read out at the end was very high.

Kate Farmer, of South Bromley library, arranged a series of events around the 60th anniversary of VE day. I went down twice (once in May and once in June) to talk to pupils from the James Dixon School. The first time, I spoke in the Crystal Palace museum, which opened specially for us. It’s a very interesting place, with all kinds of mementoes of somewhere which has had a very dramatic history. I particularly liked the bits of charred crockery recovered from the fire that burned the Palace to the ground. I was speaking about my book A candle in the dark, about the Kindertransports) which has just been reissued by A&C Black in their Flashbacks series. The second time I visited, I went to the school and the children read out the pieces of work they’d done in the time between visits, which were very good. I was struck by the enthusiasm and good understanding they all showed of what it must be like to be separated from everything you’ve known in your life. Many thanks to Kate for arranging a terrific series of events involving several writers. The second time I was there, I met up with Linda Newbery, who’d been at another school in the area, and we travelled back to Victoria together and had a coffee and a natter before going our separate ways.

In May, my local library in Didsbury celebrated its 90th birthday. I can’t count the number of hours I’ve spent there and I’ve even written stories about it. One is called The Phantom in the Library and appears in my out-of-print collection, A Lane to the Land of the Dead. The other is in a book of Animal Stories edited by Rolf Harris and that’s called Stella. I spoke to children from local schools and we all had a really good time.

On May 15th I appeared at a Book Day organized as part of the Jewish Book Fair in Simon Marks School in Stamford Hill, London. I loved being met at Euston by a silver car and whizzed off to the venue…many thanks to Mekella for arranging everything so well. Francesca Simon (of Horrid Henry fame) was one of the other speakers and it was good to see her again. The bookshop was provided by the excellent Stoke Newington Bookshop and lots of books were signed and sold. It was a brilliant day with lots of eager children and their parents enjoying the fun. I also met the brother and niece of a fellow SAS member, Liz Kessler. I like finding family connections.

I travelled down to Oxford on Sunday May 22nd (not a journey for the faint-hearted…on Sundays you have to change to a coach at Milton Keynes and the whole thing takes ages!) I was very glad I did. Alison Ryde, who’d invited me, met me at the station. She’s an Old Roedeanian, though a great deal younger than I am and we went straight to the most beautiful house (thank you, Judy!) where I was going to be the guest at a Wizo lunch. I’ve spoken about WIZO before on this newsletter, so I won’t repeat myself, except to say that you always have a good time when you do an event for them. The food…yes, again!...was delicious and it was good to meet old friends like Moira da Costa and Fay Sinai as well as meeting new ones, like Alison and her daughter Jessica, José Patterson and Judy Silver, and Wendy, who gave me a lift to the station on the way home. José is the author of a terrific collection of Jewish folk tales (Stories of the Jewish People published by Peter Lowe) and this is a picture of her and me and the book, which she very kindly gave me as a gift. The other picture is me and the ladies of the committee. I love going back to Oxford in almost any circumstances and this was a particularly delightful event.

The Bollington Festival was the most enormous fun, too. I was asked to take part in the writing of an internet novel. We passed the narrative from writer to writer and things got madder and madder as they went along. I don’t think the end result is going to win any literary prizes but I liked writing my bit and being a part of it. On May 27th, after a very pleasant visit to Tytherington High School, where I did creative writing with some very gifted children indeed (many thanks to Maggie Earl for the hospitality and the bottle of wine!) I was picked up by Pauline Ward, and we went to the Ward’s lovely cottage in Bollington. David, (Pauline’s husband and the person who’d invited me to take part in the Festival) was waiting for us there, and we had a cup of tea and a chat before going out to speak to parents and children in a local school at about 6.30. The event went very well, and the books were provided by Simply Books of Bramhall…thanks to Andrew. We had a lovely Italian meal afterwards in a restaurant which had featured in the internet novel. Many thanks to David, Pauline and Andrew for a wonderful time. No one knows yet when the next Bollington Festival is, but I will alert you in good time. Try and catch it…they do terrific things, and the week-long festivities ended up with a performance of Verdi’s Requiem.

I spoke at Dame Alice Owen School in Potters Bar on June 13th. I’d left some of my possessions in a locker at the British Library (one of my favourite places in London) because I was meeting Nicolette Jones there after my talk. The librarian at DAO, Pat Wallace, looked after me very well and it was good to meet so many interested children, who bought books and also chatted to me at lunchtime. Nicolette’s daughter, Rebecca, had read the bound proof of Ithaka over the weekend, so she’s my very first bona-fide reader . I was relieved to hear that she liked it. Nicolette and I had coffee together before she went off to the Puffin Party looking very glamorous. I wished I could have gone too, but I was exhausted after a long day and not looking in the least partyish. My journey home took two hours…the much improved West Coast Mainline Virgin service is just that. Much improved!

On June 24th, I was at Our Lady’s RC High School in Oldham. I’ve been going there for the last ten years and there was a picture up in the library of my very first visit in 1995. I keep going back because Susan Ford is such an excellent school librarian and she and the staff are so friendly and kind that it’s a pleasure to see them each year. I’m conscious that they’ve all heard what I have to say far too many times, but everyone still enjoys the day, I think. Special thanks this time to Louise, who’d brought in a few of her own wedding photos. She looked beautiful. After my talks, I judged a cover and blurb competition. The Year 8 pupils had been asked to provide a cover for my story Beauty and the Beast and the standard was very high. Many thanks to Sue and the staff and I’m looking forward to next year.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

On June 30th, I’m in London talking at the Kerem School in Hampstead Garden Suburb. On July 1st, I’m speaking to children at a school near Sheffield, courtesy of Dinnington Library.

On July 13th, I’m in Lowdham, near Nottingham, where there’ll be a festival going on. The Lowdham Book Festival ("The world in one village") is centred round the Bookcase, in Lowdham and that’s where you need to apply for tickets. (0115 966 4143) There’s a packed programme including such luminaries as Polly Toynbee and Arabella Weir and lots of members of the SAS (Scattered Authors Society) going into schools. I’m going to a school in the morning and at 2.00 pm I’m speaking at a ‘tea and cakes’ event in the WI Hall. I’ll be speaking about Hester’s Story and Facing the Light. Cakes, eh? Someone has worked out that I’ll be keen on that! Lots of things going on for the whole week, for all tastes, including discussions, book groups, parties…you name it. I can’t wait.

On July 19/20th I’m going to Charney Manor in Oxfordshire for the SAS Summer residential meeting. This is my summer holiday. No proper going away this year as Made in Heaven needs to be finished by the end of September. August looks completely clear, so by rights it oughtn’t to be a problem. Fingers crossed.

BOOKS

Easily the best book I’ve read this year and a worthy winner of the Orange Prize is Lionel Shriver’s We need to talk about Kevin. Do not read this if you can’t take truly horrific events, brilliantly described. It’s the story of the relationship between Kevin and his mother. His birth, early childhood and the path he travels to become one of those children who perpetrate a school massacre are there in vivid detail. The fascinating thing about this novel is that by the end we feel not only for his mother, who tells the story, but also for the monstrous Kevin. Or is he such a monster? Perhaps his mother is not a reliable narrator. If you can bear the numerous kicks in the stomach this book provides, you will never forget it, I guarantee.

I loved Ian McEwan’s Saturday (even though there was one thing I couldn’t quite believe) and the best thing about it was its depiction of happiness. Everyone knows it ‘writes white’ but this book is good at making you see some of the things that it might be. Very careful descriptions of what happens during brain surgery will either tempt you or put you off. I thought they were fascinating.

David Nichols, who wrote the hilarious Starter for Ten has followed it with the very funny The Understudy about a man who has to sit in the dressing-room waiting for a very successful heart-throb of an actor to fall ill. All sorts of problems develop when he falls in love with this star’s wife. Good fun.

I’ve also been reading a lot of books for review. Jan Mark’s Riding Tycho is superb and also very impressive are Skarrs by Catherine Ford and Ambergate by Patricia Elliott. This is the sequel to her wonderful, atmospheric book, Murkmere which I mentioned in a previous newsletter.

Another sequel is Sue Limb’s Girl, nearly 16, absolute torture which is the perfect beach read for any girl who likes a laugh and a little bit more.

Justin Somper, very well-known as a PR man, has brought out a spooky pirate book called Vampirates. Exciting stuff and a holiday read that a boy might not mind showing off on the beach. It’s also the first of a series.

Jean Ure’s latest, Sugar and Spice promises, in the strap line that Collins have created for her books, ‘Comedy, Calamity and Cool Characters.’ This is no more than the truth. Her books are always fast, interesting and full of situations and people that children will immediately identify with. She’s also a very funny writer who manages to make you laugh while recounting what can be quite harrowing things. She’s also prolific, so children who start with one book and enjoy it can rest assured that there are lots more where that one came from…always reassuring to a greedy reader.

Waiting on my bookshelf to be read over the summer is a long line of books, including The People’s Act of Love by James Meek, The Laments by George Hagen, and The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. I’ve just embarked on Stella Rimington’s At Risk, which has been recommended to me and is very exciting so far. More on these and others next time.

I haven’t written before about music I’m listening to, but I bought such a fabulous CD the other day that I must mention it. Chavez Ravine by Ry Cooder and others is amazing. Try it if you liked the Buena Vista Social Club, though this is about Los Angeles and the many people who lived in this neighbourhood through the Fifties and Sixties. Quite terrific.

I have discontinued the Guest Book on my website, but you can still email me with all your thoughts on adele@adelegeras.com

The next newsletter will be published in mid-September.

Have a lovely summer!

Adèle Geras