Next Meeting: Historical Fiction Author, Clare Harvey

Don’t forget that on Thursday 1st November we will be welcoming Clare Harvey back to Newark. Clare is the author of three books set during the Second World War (The Night Raid, The Gunner Girl and The English Agent) and is about to release her fourth, The Escape, which weaves between the final months of the war in Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall over 40 years later.

Clare is the judge for our recent letter writing competition and will be announcing the winners. We’ll also look at the use of letters in literature (‘epistolary fiction‘, don’t-cha-know) and why they work well as way of moving the reader through a story. A quick flick through some of the classics reveals just how prevalent this device actually is: Persuasion by Jane Austen, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dracula by Bram Stoker (and the modern sort-of sequel, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova), Atonement by Ian McEwan and so on. There are even songs that turn out to be letters (my favourite being Sally Cinnamon by The Stone Roses) but probably the most appropriate one would be Paperback Writer by The Beatles: “Dear Sir or Madam will you read my book, it took me years to write, will you take a look?”

So write a note to yourself to make sure you come down to Knight’s Court, 7 – 9 pm on Thursday.