MAY 2003

NEWSLETTER 4

The two months or so between newsletters seems to fly by. I've decided to write this before the Bank Holiday Weekend, just in case people have leisure to consult web sites over that period.

There hasn't been that much going on during this time, events wise, but two things I flagged up in Newsletter 3 have been and gone and they were both most enjoyable.

The first was the Literary Lunch organised by Joan Laprell of Roses Literary Events which was held in a lovely hotel near Preston on April 24th. I arrived early and was met by Karen Wearing and driven to the venue where I met the other writer who was to speak at the lunch with me, Eileen Ramsay. She seemed very nice from her emails and turned out to be just as pleasant in real life. Her novel is called Somewhere, Someday and I enjoyed it very much. It's about a love-affair in the past which influences what happens in the present. We had a good long chat, and discovered that we had many friends in common.

The lunch itself was wonderful...the profiteroles especially were completely delicious... and there were nearly two hundred people attending it. Joan Laprell told me that she regularly has numbers like this coming to her events which is a fantastic achievement. After lunch, Eileen and I each gave a short talk and then signed books. Quite a few were sold considering that both books were hardbacks. Altogether, it was a delightful occasion and I hope I get invited back again when the paperback of FACING THE LIGHT appears. Literary Lunches are just up my street as I'm a very talented eater!

The reading I shared with my daughter Sophie Hannah in York on May 15th was also great fun. I met her in the afternoon and we went to Betty's (of course!) and had a wonderful time going over the plot of her next novel and discussing my next novel for Orion. This still hasn't got a title. I was going to call it Sarabande but Ingmar Bergman has a film by that name coming out soon and I don't want to be copying him. I think of the book as NOV 2, which isn't very inspiring, but I'm sure something more exciting will occur to me soon.

We met up with some of the reading's organizers while browsing in Borders. I am unable to resist 3 for 2 offers, so we bought Allison Pearson's I Don't Know How She Does It, Sabine Durrant's The Great Indoors and Jonathan Kellerman's The Murder Book. I went off with the Kellerman and Sophie with the other two. Both she and her sister Jenny have nearly finished the Pearson and say it's fantastic. It'll be coming to me next.

At the City Screen, we went down to the basement, which is a much nicer basement than most as there are windows looking straight on to the river. The room had a jazz club atmosphere, which was lovely. The audience of about 40 people were very kind to us. Sophie read poems, and I read a combination of poems and prose (from FACING THE LIGHT) It was good to meet Marion Chalmers from Bootham's school, which I'm visiting in November; Liz Daly and Gillian Ewing whom I've known for a long time and to meet lots of other people. Elizabeth Sandie arranges this Riverlines series of readings and they meet every month.

After the reading we drove back to Sophie's house, where I spent the night. I travelled home the next afternoon and it was like a small holiday.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Not too many of these but I'm looking forward to going to Ottakar's in Stafford on June 19th. Erica James, Sarah Harrison, Imogen Parker and I are appearing together in the evening.

Over the weekend of July 5th/6th I am doing a creative writing workshop at Wavedon, which is the home of Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine. They open their house for a weekend of music and writing every year and it sounds as though it's going to be marvellous. I have Francesca Simon (of Horrid Henry fame) to thank for this: she recommended me. I can't wait.

On July 28th, I'm doing another creative writing workshop at the Roehampton Institute as part of a Children's Literature Summer School. Lots of other writers, like Jill Paton-Walsh and Aidan Chambers will also be there and the events organized by the Institute are always great.

PUBLICATION NEWS

FTL editions keep arriving. I love seeing what publishers in other countries put on the cover. The German, Danish, Greek and Italian covers can be seen on the site. The Greek title, I am reliably informed means ‘secrets and whispers' which is lovely. There's also an unabridged audio edition, very well read by Juanita MacMahon. It's 13 tapes long and 18 hours of listening, and is just the ticket for a very long journey indeed. The next edition to appear is, I think, the Dutch one, which has a beautiful cover which I'll put on the site nearer the publication date in September. The title in Dutch translates as THE GARDEN PARTY.

The rights have now also been sold to Croatia, so that's something else to look forward to.

I've been thrilled to bits with the reviews FTL has been getting. Today there was a five - star review in the magazine newBooksmag. If anyone hasn't seen this publication I can recommend it very highly. Every few months it brings lots of lovely things to readers' attention and gives away free books as well. It has a sister magazine for children too. Email jo@newbooksmag.com for details.

As well as good reviews, I've had feedback from friends and acquaintances which has made me feel very good indeed. People seem to like the book, which pleases me greatly.

WORK IN PROGRESS

I am writing NOV 2…there's not much else to report. It's not a very thrilling life, I'm afraid. I get up each day and work on the text. Then I answer letters, go over proofs if there are any ( there often are!) and write a lot of emails. One of my good friends, Linda Newbery, has had her excellent novel, The Shell House, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal which makes following the publicity attached to it even more exciting. It's two years since TROY was on the same shortlist and Linda's experiences bring back happy memories. Another good friend, Jean Ure, has just published Bad Alice, a terrific book which deals very sensitively and well with the difficult subject of child abuse.
I have just signed a contract to write a book for Usborne, for a series called Historical House. Linda Newbery, Ann Turnbull and I are each writing a short novel for younger readers set in the same house at different historical periods. My period is the time of the Crimean War and I'm looking forward to writing it very much...after I've finished NOV2, and polished up ITHAKA.

BOOKS READ RECENTLY

Bel Canto, which I mentioned in the last newsletter, is very good indeed, though Sally Prue (another writer with whom I correspond) and I did agree that there were quite a few 'as ifs' in the story. Unless by Carol Shields is on the Orange Prize shortlist, I'm happy to say. I'd love it to win, but that's without having read any of the other books.

My daughter Jenny gave me a copy of a new first novel by Christabel Kent for my birthday. It's called A Party in San Niccolo and it's great. Very good evocation of Florence and a gripping story. It's also well-written and has a gorgeous cover. Gone For Good by Harlan Coben is thrilling stuff, like all of his, and I read a very good (v.slim) thriller in proof recently by the creator of NYPD Blues, Steve Bochco. It's called Death By Hollywood and has the most terrific twist in the tail in the very last sentence.

I've been reviewing children's books in the Guardian recently and two books that I am sure adults will enjoy are Big Mouth, Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates and an amazing first novel by Jennifer Donnelly called A Gathering Light. It's really brilliantly written and deals with the same murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's novel, An American Tragedy. Jennifer is over here to promote the book and is appearing at the Hay Festival.

Finally, I bought Raffaela Barker's Green Grass the other day. She has a very distinctive style and I love her authorial voice. No one describes children like her and she's brilliant at bringing alive the rural life. In this book, the heroine is married to a conceptual artist and his installations/ works made me laugh out loud. This book is just the thing for summer holiday reading. Her other books are super as well.

Currently on the go: a book called The Crush by Sandra Brown, an American thriller writer. Very exciting so far.

I STILL haven't got to The Crimson Petal and The White and it keeps disappearing under a pile of other exciting things. But first things first...I'll read the Allison Pearson the moment one of my daughters is finished with it.

More at the end of July. Goodbye till then...

Adèle Geras