Early Praise for GIRL READING

Posted by Ursula Doyle in Author News, Book News

Tomorrow Virago will publish a debut novel which has already drawn some extraordinary attention. Girl Reading by Katie Ward is a novel in seven portraits – each chapter is inspired by a different image of a girl or a woman reading. In Katie’s own words:

‘It is conceived as a single piece of work, made of seven components ― and if you took one of those components away, it would be incomplete. Girl Reading has a narrative arc. It has specific, and general, threads running through it and (I hope) a page-turning quality. It is intended to be read in order.’

Actually, that sounds a bit stern, so I should add (again in Katie’s own words):

‘Having said all that, if other people think Girl Reading is a book of short stories . . . that’s fine by me.’

Hilary Mantel read the book some months ago and loved it, saying,

‘Girl Reading is a debut of rare individuality and distinction. Katie Ward inhabits each of her seven scenes, her seven eras, with a fluent and intuitive touch, and sentence by sentence, deft and mercurial, she surpasses the reader’s expectations. What is set down on the page has a rich and allusive hinterland, so that the reader’s imagination has a space to work, and what is unsaid has its own fascination. The writing is full of light and shadow, alive with fresh and startling perceptions. Ward is wise, poised and utterly original. Her eye and her words are fresh, as if she is inventing the world.’

This was a wonderful endorsement to have – and it has now been followed up with two stellar reviews. The first appeared in The Times a couple of weeks ago, where Viv Groskop said,

‘This is a real wow of a first novel. The premise is alarmingly simple and yet somehow stunning. Seven portraits, seven artists, seven girls and women reading . . . a wonderful, imaginative evocation of seven different worlds, each linked by the idea of a woman captured – in a portrait, on camera – reading. As you move through the book, the baton is handed on . . . It’s a book packed full of adventures and stories and you completely lose yourself in them as Ward races through time . . . The futuristic conclusion reminded me of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas but also had shades of Kazuo Ishiguro and Joanna Kavenna. Her talent sings off the page.’

And the second wonderful review has just appeared in this week’s Time Out, where it is featured as Book of the Week. Katie Allen, awarding it four stars, says:

‘Katie Ward’s assured debut is inspired by that mysterious and provocative subject of a thousand visual images: a woman reading. From medieval artist Simone Martini’s gold-drenched “Annunciation” to Suzanne Valadon’s bohemian nude casually leafing through pages on a rumpled bed, in each chapter Ward twists a story around real works of art. Her seven unpredictable tales serve up a lively, irreverent and even feminist journey through history.’

Katie has put together a fascinating website at http://www.katieward.co.uk, where you can read Katie’s notebook, download a reading group guide, read an extract and see the images that inspired this rich and inventive debut, as well as putting your own questions to Katie. And you can follow Katie on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/katiewardwriter) and become a fan on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/katiewardwriter), where Katie has been posting all sorts of interesting bits and pieces, including more inspiring, intriguing and thought-provoking pictures of girls and women reading.