Virago Press News & Blog

The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton author Elizabeth Speller talks about writing her debut novel

Carleen Peters — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:20:45 +0000

Earlier this month author Elizabeth Speller revealed how her interest in the darker side of mazes informed the mystery at the heart of her second novel, The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton.

In this video, Speller talks about the inspirations behind her debut novel, The Return of Captain John Emmett, in which we meet Kitty Easton protagonist Laurence Bertram for the first time.

The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton and The Return of Captain John Emmett are both available to buy from all good bookshops. Don’t forget you can still enter our competition to win a copy of The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton now.

What I Love about The Paris Wife

Hollie Cruickshank — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:28:49 +0000

To round up our Virago Book Club discussion on the mesmerising The Paris Wife, Paula McLain’s editor Ursula Doyle tells us how she came across the book and what it was about the novel that captivated her.

I was a few pages into reading the manuscript of The Paris Wife when I came across this:

‘This isn’t a detective story – not hardly. I don’t want to say, Keep watch for the girl who will come along and ruin everything, but she’s coming anyway, set on her course in a gorgeous chipmunk coat and fine shoes, her sleek brown hair bobbed so close to her well-made head she’ll seem like a pretty otter in my kitchen.’

There was something about this passage that made me feel as though Hadley were talking directly to me, telling me her story. And the voice was so charming, wry and rueful, I knew that I would listen to whatever she had to say.

The Paris Wife has two of the ingredients that can make a terrific novel: an atmospheric setting (Paris in the 1920s), and a great romance (between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson). Paula McLain did an enormous amount of research before she started writing, immersing herself in letters and diaries and biographies and history in order to feel her way into the time and the place. But knowing the facts of what happened when, who is alleged to have said what to whom, and who was in love with someone else’s wife or husband – this kind of knowledge won’t make a novel work. It is Paula’s rendering of Hadley’s voice that makes The Paris Wife so special. I don’t know how she did it – it’s a kind of alchemy which resists analysis – but Hadley leaps off the page and into our hearts: smart, funny, truthful and full of integrity. Even when I felt as though I wanted Hadley to behave in a different way, when I wanted her to fight harder, or get more angry when people treated her atrociously, I never felt as though she was being pathetic or giving in too easily; I just felt that I was watching someone behaving a lot better than I would have done in the same situation. This is what I love about The Paris Wife; it turns around the received wisdom about Hadley and Hemingway, and proposes the idea that Hadley’s response to her husband’s infidelity was not passive acceptance of her fate but a principled stand for what she believed in – she seems to be one of the rare people who tried to live up to the words read so often at weddings: ‘Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ The tragedy is that Hemingway realized this only when it was too late: ‘I wish I had died before I loved anyone but her’, he wrote towards the end of his life. As well he might.

Charlotte Rogan on writing The Lifeboat

Victoria Pepe — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:24:45 +0000

I was in my mid-thirties when I began to write. I had taken a leave of absence from my job for health reasons, and it seemed an opportune time to try something new. What I hadn’t anticipated was what a challenge it would be to produce the kind of paragraphs that seemed to flow so effortlessly from the pens of other writers. But what a thrill it was when I got a sentence right! The novel was a kind of Holy Grail, and I was determined to write one.

In 1987, I was lucky enough to take a creative writing course with Harold Brodkey, a moody genius whose stories were filled with words used in surprising ways and moments that were as deep and stratified as archaeological excavations. He warned the class that people who wanted to be liked couldn’t be writers and terrified us with examples of how the system was stacked against success of any kind. Furthermore, the merest hint of success could stop a writer in his tracks.

Soon after the birth of our triplets, my husband and I moved to Dallas, where I knew no one. School and a social network were still a few years off, but our house had a funny room off the garage where I could put my computer. When I hired a babysitter, it was so I could disappear into that room and write. I would drive out the front driveway past my cheerfully waving children, then circle the block, park in the alley, and creep through a back gate to work in what I called the studio until the sitter’s allotted time was up.

In twenty-five years I wrote five novels, which I put in plastic file tubs along with any research and notes I had accumulated along the way. With each one I tried to teach myself about another aspect of the novel: dialogue came first, mainly because my characters introduce themselves to me as voices in my head. Plot and suspense are the hardest for me, and I am still grappling with those.

I never sold anything—no worries about the pitfalls of success! Now and then I made vague attempts to find a publisher, but I didn’t like doing it, and I had no contacts or any real idea of how contacts were made. If I were a person who made contacts, I reasoned, I wouldn’t be writing; I would be in marketing or sales.

When my children were seniors in high school, I received a telephone call from a writer who wanted to interview them about the challenges for multiples of applying to college. In the course of things, she and I became friends, and I asked her to read my latest manuscript. It was gratifying to have an audience and even more gratifying when her agent agreed to represent me.

I think being a writer is more something you discover about yourself than something you set out to be. There are obviously quicker paths than the one I took, but I don’t regret taking the scenic route. It allowed me to be a stay-at-home mom, and I got to follow my instincts and learn at my own pace. But the point of writing is communication, after all, so I am tremendously grateful and excited that I am no longer only writing for myself.

The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton: Elizabeth Speller reveals her fascination with mazes

Victoria Pepe — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:51:26 +0000

Today sees the publication of the paperback edition of post-First World War mystery The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton. Here, author Elizabeth Speller, reveals her fascination with the darker side of mazes, and how they informed the mystery at the heart of the novel.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Picardy, in northern France, doing research for the book I’m currently writing, which Virago will publish in Spring next year. I’d never been to Amiens cathedral before and to my delight I found it had a fine labyrinth at its heart. I was particularly interested in it because at the heart of The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton is a maze. (Technically, a maze has false trails and a labyrinth has just one path through it, but the two terms are most often used interchangeably.)

I’ve been fascinated by labyrinths and mazes since I was a child and terrified in the famous hedge maze at Hampton Court, despite it being open to the sky above and full of other people. Later, I saw the remains of the subterranean labyrinth at Knossos on Crete and realised how stories grew of an imprisoned monster and the sacrifice of young men and women, because mazes and labyrinths can be pretty pathways or a game, or they can be very sinister indeed; a trick and a trap.

Nobody really knows why human beings have been driven to create these geometric structures throughout history, yet they occur in stone, wood, hedges and turf, carved on pavements, and patterns on floors or walls, or in one case, across a roof. There are even maize mazes. The Mappa Mundi, the map of the known and imagined world dating from c1300, and a treasure of Hereford Cathedral, has a huge maze shown near at its centre. There are several in French churches: Chartres probably has the most famous one, but there is a fourth-century one in a church in Algeria, and a very old one at Lucca in Italy. There, a Latin inscription says ‘This is the labyrinth of King Daedalus of Crete. All who entered it were lost’.

Not surprisingly some clerics had mazes and their unsettling ambiguities removed, as happened in the eighteenth century at Reims cathedral, because labyrinths and mazes seem to link the pagan and Christian worlds. There is something maze-like about ancient circles of standing stones as at Stonehenge. In Britain, where there a very few church labyrinths, hedge mazes are historically well known and several have survived neglect, fashion and superstition. Again, who knows why they were built, and what it meant, and may still mean, to enter a maze?

For a novel of mystery, a maze is, of course, a wonderful starting point; an architectural conundrum but also a metaphor for secrets and an unknown outcome.

Elizabeth Speller is also the author of The Return of Captain John Emmett, a bestselling Richard & Judy Summer Book Club pick.

To celebrate publication we also have 5 copies of The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton to give away. Fill in the form below for your chance to win. Don’t forget to read the full terms and conditions and our privacy policy before you enter!

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Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby: A Friendship

Victoria Pepe — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:37:51 +0000

Virago has recently reissued A Testament of Friendship by Vera Brittain, a moving account of her close bond with the writer (and fellow Virago author, of Virago Modern Classics such as South Riding), Winifred Holtby.

In the Telegraph, Brittain's biographer Mark Bostridge throws light on the story of their friendship.

Click here to read more.

Win signed copies of The Lifeboat!

Stephen Dumughn — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:06:26 +0000

To celebrate the publication of The Lifeboat, we have FIVE signed hardback copies of Charlotte Rogan's brilliant debut novel to give away.

For a chance to win one of these beautiful objects (featuring coloured edges and ribbon marker!), just answer the following question correctly:

In which city was RMS Titanic built?

The closing date for entries is Tuesday 10th April, send your answers to virago.press@littlebrown.co.uk. Good luck!

For terms and conditions see here.

Update: Due to a technical glitch, the address to send your answers to didn't appear at first, so some people have answered in the comments section. Obviously we won't show those comments, but all those entries have been included in the draw.

Marilynne Robinson – When I Was a Child I Read Books

Stephen Dumughn — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:07:21 +0000

Recently we published the essays of the very great writer, Marilynne Robinson. When I Was a Child I Read Books was reviewed recently in the New Statesman, finishing with some observations that beautifully capture why this essayist and novelist matters so much:

‘Her chief love and guiding question is humanity. . . The question is what are we, after all, we human beings? The reason she can go on and on answering this quesion, and the reason it is worth reading her every word, is that the answer remains elusive. This "great mystery of being" is, for her, a source of child like wonder. And no other writer in English can write wonder like she can.’

In addition, here's what other reviewers thought:

‘ (the stories) rewards should be for anyone, of any faith, who cares to dive deeply into a distant world’ Financial Times

‘Robinson flexes her considerable academic muscle as she tackles all the big themes: wondering what we are, how we came to be here and what it all means. Robinson is most inspiring on the nature of her own writing . . . (she) is to be celebrated’ Sunday Times Culture

‘ . . . so thoughtful a writer’ Metro

‘No other writer in English can write wonder like she can’ New Statesman

Marilynne Robinson will be visiting the UK in May. Please check our events page for details.

The Lifeboat – exclusive preview of the first chapter

Stephen Dumughn — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:00:51 +0000

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan is published today, a book you will have already heard a lot about, from us as well as from others. A page-turning story of moral dilemmas, with one of the most intriguing and complicated heroines you will encounter, it tells the story of the aftermath of an explosion aboard a luxury transatlantic liner, just two years after the tragedy of the Titanic.

This is the first chapter:

The Lifeboat – Prologue

Today I shocked the lawyers, and it surprised me, the effect I could have on them. A thunderstorm arose as we were leaving the court for lunch. They dashed for cover under the awning of a nearby shop to save their suits from getting wet, while I stood in the street and opened my mouth to it, transported back and seeing again that other rain as it came at us in gray sheets.

I had lived through that downpour, but the moment in the street was my first notion that I could live it again, that I could be immersed in it, that it could again be the tenth day in the lifeboat, when it began to rain.

The rain had been cold, but we welcomed it. At first it had been no more than a teasing mist, but as the day progressed, it began to come down in earnest. We held our faces up to it, mouths open, drenching our swollen tongues. Mary Ann could not or would not part her lips, either to drink or to speak. She was a woman of my age. Hannah, who was only a little older, slapped her hard and said, ‘Open your mouth, or I’ll open it for you!’ Then she grabbed Mary Ann and pinched her nostrils until she was forced to gasp for air. The two of them sat for a long time in a sort of violent embrace while Hannah held Mary Ann’s jaws open, allowing the gray and saving rain to enter her, drop by drop.

‘Come, come!’ said Mr Reichmann, who is the head of the little band of lawyers hired by my mother-in-law, not because she cares one jot about what happens to me, but because she thinks it will reflect badly on the family if I am convicted. Mr Reichmann and his associates were calling to me from the sidewalk, but I pretended not to hear them. It made them very angry not to be heard or, rather, not to be heeded, which is a different and far more insulting thing, I imagine, to those used to speaking from podiums, to those who regularly have the attention of judges and juries and people sworn to truth or silence and whose freedom hangs on the particular truths they choose to tell. When I finally wrenched myself away and joined them, shivering and drenched to the bone but smiling to myself, glad to have rediscovered the small freedom of my imagination, they asked, ‘What kind of trick was that? Whatever were you doing, Grace? Have you gone mad?’

Mr Glover, who is the nicest of the three, put his coat around my dripping shoulders, but soon the fine silk lining was soaked through and probably ruined, and while I was touched Mr Glover had offered his coat, I would much rather it had been the coat of the handsome, heavy-set William Reichmann that had been ruined in the rain.

‘I was thirsty,’ I said, and I was thirsty still.

‘But the restaurant is just there. It’s less than a block away. You can have any sort of drink you like in a minute or two,’ said Mr Glover while the others pointed and made encouraging noises. But I was thirsty for rain and salt water, for the whole boundless ocean of it.

‘That’s very funny,’ I said, laughing to think that I was free to choose my drink, when a drink of any sort wasn’t something I wanted. I had spent the previous two weeks in prison, and I was only free pending the outcome of a proceeding that was now in progress. Unable to restrain my laughter, which kept lapping at my insides and bursting out of me like gigantic waves, I was not allowed to accompany the lawyers into the dining room, but had to have my meal brought to me in the cloakroom, where a wary clerk perched vigilantly on a stool in the corner as I pecked at my sandwich. We sat there like two birds, and I giggled to myself until my sides ached and I thought I might be sick.

‘Well,’ said Mr Reichmann when the lawyers rejoined me after the meal, ‘we’ve been discussing this thing, and an insanity defense doesn’t seem so far-fetched after all.’ The idea that I had a mental disorder filled them with happy optimism. Where before lunch they had been nervous and pessimistic, now they lit cigarettes and congratulated one another on cases I knew nothing about. They had apparently put their heads together, considered my mental state and found it lacking on some score, and, now that the initial shock of my behavior had worn off and they had discovered that it could perhaps be explained scientifically and might even be exploited in the conduct of our case, they took turns patting me on the arm and saying, ‘Don’t you worry, my dear girl. After all, you’ve been through quite enough. Leave it to us, we’ve done this sort of thing a thousand times before.’ They talked about a Dr Cole and said, ‘I’m sure you will find him very sympathetic,’ then rattled off a list of credentials that meant less than nothing to me.

I don’t know who had the idea, whether it was Glover or Reichmann or even that mousy Ligget, that I should try to recreate the events of those twenty-one days and that the resulting ‘diary’ might be entered as some kind of exonerating exhibit.

‘In that case, we’d better present her as sane, or the whole thing will be discounted,’ said Mr Ligget tentatively, as if he were speaking out of turn.

‘I suppose you’re right,’ agreed Mr Reichmann, stroking his long chin. ‘Let’s see what she comes up with before we decide.’ They laughed and poked the air with their cigarettes and talked about me as if I weren’t there as we walked back to the courthouse where, along with two other women named Hannah West and Ursula Grant, I was to stand trial for my life. I was twenty-two years old. I had been married for ten weeks and a widow for over six.

A Different Perspective on Mother’s Day

Carleen Peters — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:00:31 +0000

Next month we publish the paperback edition of The Long Goodbye, Meghan O’Rourke’s beautifully written and deeply touching memoir of the loss of her mother.

In this article, first published in Slate magazine, the author talks about Mother’s Day – the ‘fake holiday dreamed up by Hallmark to commodify deep sentiments that couldn't be expressed with a card’ her mother hated in life, and how the significance of the day has changed since her mother’s untimely death.

Written with anger, insight, wisdom and grace, The Long Goodbye has received huge critical acclaim, boasting Richard Ford and Joyce Carol Oates amongst its celebrity author fans. It will be available in paperback from April and is available to pre-order now.

Unmothered on Mother’s Day
Remembering my mother on the holiday she hated.
By Meghan O'Rourke

My mother never liked Mother's Day. She thought it was a fake holiday dreamed up by Hallmark to commodify deep sentiments that couldn't be expressed with a card. So we never observed it when I was growing up. She would much rather have had our company for the first Saturday in May—she loved horse racing, and Derby Day most of all—than at an obligatory brunch at an overcrowded restaurant eight days later. When she was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 things changed a little, for me at least. Suddenly Mother's Day had some meaning. It became an inscribed moment to try to hold on to what was slipping away before my eyes: namely, having a mother.

This Mother's Day is the second since she died, on Christmas Day, 2008 (I wrote about her death and my grief in Slate), but last year I was too dazed to notice much. Now, for the first time, the endless mentions of the holiday everywhere ("Make your Mother's Day reservations now!") have forced me to take stock, whether I want to or not. Where will I be on Sunday? Where am I now? I wonder. Mainly, I feel that while my grief has lessened—dramatically—my sense of being motherless has intensified. I hadn't anticipated this. The first grips of grief were so terrible that I couldn't wait to get beyond them, to a state I hoped might be "better." But as each new day arrives I find myself, though suffering less acutely, more unmothered. Strange. And: not part of the contract!

Read the full article on Slate.com.

The Paris Wife: Virago Book Club joins forces with the Society of Young Publishers

Victoria Pepe — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:29:34 +0000

This month Virago joined forces with the Society of Young Publishers for our Book Club. On 5 March we all piled up to the 5^th View Bar at Waterstones Piccadilly and were delighted to see lots of SYP members, all there to discuss The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.

Everyone loved the book but we were very much split down the middle in terms of how we responded to Ernest. Is he a ‘bad’ man and do we judge him for what he puts Hadley through? Alex Higson, who organises the book club, felt that she couldn’t forgive Ernest. He had gone through some terrible things during the First World War, and she felt that he was so much more experience than Hadley that it wasn’t a fair match. Book Clubber Rosy agreed, but added that perhaps it was Hadley’s very innocence that he was attracted to. While Gemma thought that Ernest was probably suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – something that wasn’t recognised in the 1920s, and which may, in part, explain some of his behaviour.

The conversation then moved on to Hadley. Some people felt she was quite passive while others felt that she did what she could in the circumstances – an American woman in Paris with a young son and no job prospects would have found it difficult to manage alone. Virago Marketing Manager Stephen Dumughn said that author Paula McLain felt that Hadley was a product of her time, and it wouldn’t be fair to put modern day judgements on her. All agreed that the last third of the book was heart-breaking, and the behaviour of the ‘other woman’ was psychologically fascinating – and very disturbing!

SYP members were also pleased to be shown the bound proof that we brought along. Some of you may remember it – we printed before the publication of the hardback in early 2011. It included two gorgeous postcards of Hadley, Ernest and the ‘other woman’. We won’t give away who that is . . .

Thanks to everyone at the SYP for coming along to discuss the book and for making it such a lively conversation!

The Lifeboat launches in two weeks

Stephen Dumughn — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:20:34 +0000

The countdown starts now for the release of a novel we are all hugely excited about – The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan. Set in the aftermath of the sinking of a transatlantic liner in 1914, this unsettling and extraordinary debut has been attracting rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, including this piece by Robert McCrum in The Observer last weekend:

'Perhaps only fiction can tackle the moral dilemmas braided into the survivor’s tale. A compelling and disquieting first novel, The Lifeboat, by Charlotte Rogan (Virago), addresses this question with a rich, enthralling subtlety.'

Not to mention advance quotes such as these:

'What a splendid book. It rivets the reader's attention, and at the same time it seethes with layered ambiguity. It's beautifully controlled and totally believable' Hilary Mantel

'The Lifeboat traps the reader in a story that is exciting at the literal level and brutally moving at the existential: I read it in one go ' Emma Donoghue

'Charlotte Rogan uses a deceptively simply narrative of shipwreck and survival to explore our all-too-human capacity for self-deception' J M Coetzee

And in a couple of weeks, you can find out why we love it so much too!

A song inspired by Paula McLain's The Paris Wife

Victoria Pepe — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:49:12 +0000

Last year, at an event at the excellent independent book shop Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, The Paris Wife author Paula McLain was treated to a wonderful live redition of a song inspired by the book and written by The Book Shop Band.

To mark the launch of the latest Virago Book Club, during which we'll be discussing The Paris Wife , we are reposting it here for your listening delight. Hope you enjoy!

The Paris Wife by The Bookshop Band from The Bookshop Band on Vimeo.

Happy International Women’s Day

Carleen Peters — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 07:00:56 +0000

As you can imagine International Women’s Day is a cause very close to our hearts here at Virago. Celebrated on the 8 of March every year it is a chance for people across the world to come together and tackle the issues uniquely affecting women in the social, political and professional arenas. It’s also a great opportunity to celebrate women on a global scale, particularly those who have made a real contribution in their fields or in the fight for female equity.
This year we are particularly excited about the Women of the World festival at the Southbank Centre. Kicking off tomorrow and running until Sunday 10 March, the WOW festival features some provocative talks, interactive activities and lots of fun performances, plus lots of great ideas to get teens and young women excited about feminism.

We are incredibly proud to have five Virago authors (and an author from our sister imprint, Sphere) appearing at the event:

• Sandi Toksvig (Valentine Grey, September 2012, Virago)
• Frances Osborne (Park Lane, June 2012, Virago)
• Natasha Walter (Living Dolls, Virago)
• Diana Quick (A Tug On the Thread, Virago)
• Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues and Vagina Warriors, Virago)
• Oonagh O'Hagan (I Love You with Custard on Top and I Lick My Cheese, Sphere)

So if you are looking for a way to show your support to fabulous females the world over (and of course to hear talks from some fantastic speakers, including our very own Virago and Sphere authors) why not join us there!

For more information on the WOW festival visit the website. You can also find out more about International Women’s Day at http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

I love Paris in the spring time…

Hollie Cruickshank — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:24:05 +0000

The weather is warming-up (slightly), the evenings are getting a little lighter (if you look closely) and it feels like spring might just be around the corner . . .

Where more appropriate then, than to spend the next few weeks in Paris, and in particular the 1920s Jazz-age Paris of the popular imagination, made famous by literary greats such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein et al?

Yes, our next title for discussion in the Virago Book Club is The Paris Wife by Paula McLain – a heart-wrenching novel of ambition and betrayal that captures a remarkable period of time and a love-affair between two unforgettable people – Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley.

We’ll begin discussing the book from Monday 12th March for the next three weeks, so make sure you’ve got your copy so you can join in the discussion.

To get you started – our early First Look reviewers have been reading already, and here’s a taster of what some of them had to say:

'A truly beautifully written book, you really get inside their relationship'
Lucy Hall

'You find yourself sucked into Paris much like Hadley and Ernest were themselves. Her description of the Paris that the Hemingways knew and loved and hated in equal measure is so striking that you almost feel you are standing there yourself, observing it from Hadley’s side'
Emma Venables

'As a novel about relationships, it is both extremely romantic and heartbreakingly sad'
Brenda Croskery Longlands

'As the unfamiliar was mixed with the personal it all felt very true and had me wanting to know more of the people depicted' Hilary White

Now its your turn…happy reading!

The Virago Team

Sarah Waters celebrates Sylvia Townsend Warner

Hollie Cruickshank — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:38:57 +0000

On 1 March 2012 we reissued two of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s best-known novels with lovely new jackets. Townsend Warner has many admirers, including some notable writers, and we are delighted to have new introductions by Man Booker-shortlisted authors Sarah Waters – to Lolly Willowes; and Philip Hensher – to The Corner that Held Them. And just before publication date, there was great excitement when we were sent some buried treasure – four ‘lost’ short stories, unearthed in the New York Public Library by members of the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society, which we’ve made available as an ebook exclusive entitled The Doll’s House and Other Stories.

Sarah Waters’ piece and one of the short stories, ‘Flowers,’ were featured in the Guardian Review on Saturday 3 March 2012. Our thanks to Sarah Waters, Philip Hensher and the good people at the Guardian for their appreciation of a wonderful writer!

Winners: Girl Reading Competition

Carleen Peters — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:46:17 +0000

Ahead of its appearance on the Specsavers TV Book Club this Sunday (More4, 7.20pm), we offered five of you the chance to win a copy of Katie Ward’s exceptional debut novel, Girl Reading.

It was a tough decision (and we got massive reading space envy in the process), but we managed to whittle it down to five. Many congratulations to our winners:

Katie Williams

Favourite place to read: Curled up round a well-thumbed paperback in a window, with crisp late afternoon sunlight streaming through. My feet are propped on the wall above my head, my elbows resting on the floor holding the book in the perfect position for reading.

L Jameson

Favourite place to read: Any place I get an opportunity to read is a favourite place. In the bath, in the kitchen preparing dinner, and snuggled up in bed with my bear last thing at night.

Rikka Borston

Favourite place to read: The tree house I used to run away to read in when I was a child.

Anthea Holloway

Favourite place to read: I sit in the car and read while waiting for my grandson to come out of school – I get there very early in order to get a good parking space and to give me plenty of reading time! Usually it is nearly an hour.

Sophia Blackwell

Favourite place to read: Always, forever, in bed.

We hope you enjoy your prizes, and more importantly if you do, we really want you to tell us about it! Join the plethora of famous fans by sharing your thoughts on Girl Reading using the comments section below, the Virago Twitter feed or our Facebook fanpage.

If you weren't lucky enough to win this time, Girl Reading is of course available to buy in paperback, eBook and as an audio download now. You can also still read a pdf text extract or listen to an audio sample online now. And for those of you on Twitter, do look out for more of our favourite entries which we will be sharing via the Virago Twitter feed tomorrow.

To find out more about Katie Ward visit her website, her Facebook Fanpage, or follow her on Twitter@katiewardwriter. Don't forget to tune in to More4 this Sunday evening, to hear what the TV Book Club crew have to say about the book.

Competition Closed: Win a Copy of the fabulous Girl Reading by Katie Ward

Carleen Peters — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:02:29 +0000

'A real wow of a first novel'
Viv Groskop, The Times

‘A debut of rare individuality and distinction’
Man Booker Prize Winner, Hilary Mantel

‘Katie Ward’s assured debut is inspired . . . Her seven unpredictable tales serve up a lively, irreverent and even feminist journey through history’
Katie Allen, Time Out

‘Clever . . . ambitious and accomplished. Girl Reading reads as though its author is five books down’
Joanna Briscoe, Guardian

Just a handful of the fantastic endorsements we’ve received for Katie Ward’s exceptional debut novel, Girl Reading.

You’ve heard what we have to say about it, you’ve heard what some of the most influential female readers (and writers) in the country think too (not to mention the fantastic review from Oprah Winfrey’s website Oprah.com). Now we want to know what you, our loyal fans and followers think of the book!

Ahead of its appearance on the Specsavers TV Book Club next Sunday (More4, 7.20pm) we have five copies of the book to give away to get you reading and talking.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one is tell us about your favourite place to read, using the entry form below.

Please remember to read our full terms and conditions and privacy policy before entering.

You can find out more about Katie Ward on her website, on her Facebook Fanpage, or by following her on Twitter @katiewardwriter. You can also read a pdf text extract or listen to an audio sample online now.

Girl Reading is available to buy as in paperback, eBook and as an audio download.

ENTRY FORM

Name:

Email address:

Twitter ID (optional):

Tell us about your favourite place to read
(max 250 characters):

Girl Reading is an Oprah Book of the Week

Victoria Pepe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:06:35 +0000

Women everywhere are talking about Girl Reading; the critically acclaimed début novel by Katie Ward, including, it seems, the legendary Oprah Winfrey! The US edition of Girl Reading has been picked as a Book of the Week by the lovely people at O and Oprah.com, who were 'transfixed by the stories of seven women', calling it a 'luminously vulnerable début novel'.

You can read the full Book of the Week entry on Oprah.com.

On this side of the pond, Girl Reading is a TV Book Club pick. Tune into More4 at 19.20 on 4 March to see the TV Book Club crew talking about the book. And stay tuned to the Virago website over the next few days for some great Girl Reading bonus materials and your chance to win a copy of the book!

Girl Reading is available in paperback and as an audio download now.

Author Post: Frances Greenslade reveals her inspiration for SHELTER

Victoria Pepe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:13:26 +0000

On 2 February, Virago published a wonderful debut novel, Shelter, about two young sisters from Northern Canada who are left to fend for themselves when first their father dies, and then their mother leaves them.

Here, Frances Greenslade gives us an exclusive insight into her inspiration for this spellbinding novel.

The iconic Canadian writer Margaret Laurence’s novel The Diviners has the quality that I value more than anything else when I’m reading: each detail pulls me deeper into the world of the story. At some point, I forget I’m reading a book and instead I’m there with Vanessa in the imposing old brick house in a lonely prairie town. One of the backbones of Margaret Laurence’s writing was her view that our lives are governed by the myths of our culture and our ancestors. Sometimes we’re conscious of the myths and at other times we live by them without even knowing they exist. In Shelter, I wanted to explore the myths that can guide us, but also those that can trap us. And some of the oldest and most profoundly affecting myths are about our mothers.

I first wrote Shelter after my own mother died. I was twenty-four and shocked by her absence and the gap that it left in my life. I was really adrift in the years following her illness and death. I remember a friend commenting that I looked different. It was true that I’d been so shaken by the loss of her, I had trouble dressing myself. What did I used to want to look like? What did I used to care about? I think now that it wasn’t only the fact of her death that shook me. It was also that I was on the cusp of adulthood and I felt a deep sense of guilt that, through her illness, I’d been unable to focus on anything other than what I was losing. I hadn’t been able to see her as someone other than my mother, a woman with desires and dreams that had nothing to do with me.

When I wrote the first draft of Shelter, Maggie’s perspective as a bereft daughter dominated the story. Something was missing; maybe I didn’t have the distance from my own loss to be able to write about Maggie’s. Years later, I was drawn to the story again. I’d become a mother myself and understood something about the myths that mothers have to labour under, the burden of our culture’s idea of what makes a “good mother.” I started writing again from scratch. Maggie and Jenny, the sisters who’d caught my imagination years earlier, were still there. Their loneliness, probably the most primal kind of loneliness, still interested me. But Maggie also begins to feel something else: compassion for her mother, Irene, and a growing understanding of her, separate from her dutiful role as mother.

'Rebecca' gets a new Hollywood makeover

Hollie Cruickshank — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:43:24 +0000

Dreamworks is going to remake Daphne DuMaurier's classic novel Rebecca. This timeless story, of a young bride whose marriage is shadowed by her husband's late wife, is a World Book Night title and will be available as a Virago Modern Classic hardback.

The film will be scripted by Stephen Knight of 'Eastern Promises' and 'Dirty Pretty Things' fame, who says he will go back to the novel instead of focusing on the Hitchcock version.

We personally can't wait!

To read more about it click here

Podcast: Joanna Hodgkin talks about Amateurs in Eden

Victoria Pepe — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:11:06 +0000

On the eve of the centenary of Lawrence Durrell's birth, the Guardian talk to Joanna Hodgkin about her new book Amateurs in Eden, our newly published biography about Joanna's mother Nancy, Durrell's first wife.

To listen to the fascinating Guardian podcast click here.

Dovegreyreader Takes Over Virago Twitter

Victoria Pepe — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:46:33 +0000

We are very excited to announce that blogger extraordinaire Dovegreyreader will become an honourary member of the Virago Book Club next week, taking over our Twitter page for an hour on Tuesday, 14 February, to discuss with you the Virago Book Club choice this month, Josephine Hart's stunning debut novel Damage.

To talk to Dovegreyreader, ask her questions and discuss your favourite parts of the novel with her, log on to Twitter during your lunch break at 2.30pm on Tuesday 14 February and direct your questions, observations and ideas to @ViragoBooks along with this hashtag : #vbc

For a taster of what Dovegreyreader thought of Damage, here is her blog piece about the novel:

Dovegreyreader on Damage by Josephine Hart

So if you haven’t already, there is still time to read the most chilling exploration of physical passion and dark, obsessive love ever written.

The Virago Book Club Team

Trailer: 'Damage' one of this month's Virago Book Club choices

Hollie Cruickshank — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:49:53 +0000

See below for the trailer of the 1992 film version of Josephine Hart's Damage, starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. A raw, seductive insight into physical passion and dark, obsessive love.

Trailer: Shelter by Frances Greenslade

Victoria Pepe — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:23:05 +0000

Click below for the chilling trailer for Shelter, Frances Greenslade's novel which has been picked for the Waterstones 11. It was beautifully shot by Clancy Dennehy, a photographer and filmmaker from Vancouver.

Virago’s oldest debut fiction author dies at age 101

Lennie Goodings — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:16:42 +0000

Dorothea Tanning was an artist known for her surrealist paintings and expressive sculpture. Her work is in the collections of many galleries around the world including the Tate and MoMA in New York, and influenced artists including Yayoi Kusama and Louise Bourgeois. She was considered by many to be the “last living member of the surrealist movement.” Dorothea Tanning published her first writings later in life and her first novel, Chasm: A Weekend (also surrealist) was published by Virago when Tanning was 93 years old. Virago notes a curious twist of fate: the artist Max Ernst, Dorothea’s husband had also been married twice before to Virago authors: Leonora Carrington (The Hearing Trumpet, House of Fear, and Seventh Horse & Other Tales) and Peggy Guggenheim (Mary Dearborn.)

Please see the two links below for obituaries from The Guardian and The New York Times

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/02/dorothea-tanning-obituary

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/arts/design/dorothea-tanning-surrealist-painter-dies-at-101.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

Gillian Slovo Kindle Blog Exclusive

Carleen Peters — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:22:10 +0000

This time last month we published An Honourable Man, the latest novel from Orange Prize shortlisted author Gillian Slovo.

Since then, the novel has received some rather rapturous reviews in the press, including high praise from the Guardian, the Metro, the Mail, the Telegraph, the Express and the FT. Now Gillian talks exclusively on the Kindle Blog about the inspirations behind the novel capturing the imaginations of critics across the board and we have an exclusive excerpt for you here.

Finding an Idea:
Virago’s Gillian Slovo on the irascible Victorian hero who inspired her latest novel.

Where do ideas come from? Well, to paraphrase both Arthur Miller and Leonard Cohen: if I knew that, I’d go there more often. Certainly, they don’t come easy to me. Try as I do to short-cut the process I always end up having to live inside the discomfort of not-knowing until an idea occurs and then sticks.

It’s not my favourite time in a novel’s genesis. I’m a writer and I am happiest (and unhappiest, but that’s a whole other story) writing. So while I struggle to drum up an idea, I rail against the unknowingness of it all. But I am a writer and therefore a voracious reader and so part of what I do in this phase is read – wildly, widely in the hope that instinct will eventually push me onto an interesting enough path.

To read the full article visit the Kindle Blog now.

If you haven’t got your copy already, you can still read or listen to an extract from An Honourable Man now.

We also announced the winners of last month’s giveaway on the website today, so if you haven't already, why not head on over to the winners announcement to find out if you are one of our lucky eight!

Win: Tickets to the Josephine Hart Poetry Hour with Virago Book Club

Victoria Pepe — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:50:12 +0000

We've got two tickets to the June performance of the Josephine Hart Poetry Hour, called 'Poets in the Garden' (readers to be confirmed). This is the wonderful British Library event that has continued even after the sad death last year of Josephine herself.

To be in with a chance of winning them, we want your best review or comment on Damage by Josephine Hart, our Virago Book Club pick for this month (along with Sin although only Damage is part of this competition).

You can enter one of two ways, either tweet us at @ViragoBooks using the hashtag #vbc or comment below this post. But remember – it's one tweet, so you can only use up to 140 characters. A challenge, but one we think you're up to! Please also remember to read our full terms and conditions and privacy policy before entering.

Good luck! The entries will be judged by the Virago Book Club team, and announced on Friday.

Winners An Honourable Man Giveaway

Carleen Peters — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:56:32 +0000

To celebrate the publication of An Honourable Man, the ‘beautifully drawn… wonderfully readable’ new novel from Gillian Slovo, we offered eight lucky Virago readers the chance to win a limited edition bound proof copy of the book.

Almost 3000 of you entered. Many congratulations to our eight winners:

John Sandoz
Christopher Millward
Jyoti Khalsa
Jane Callan
Maggie Lloyd
Anne Irwin
John Holroyd-Doveton
Marion Stephen

We hope you enjoy your prize!

If you weren't lucky enough to win this time An Honourable Man is available to buy in hardback, large paperback , ebook and audio download from bookshops and online retailers nationwide. You can also read or listen to an extract from An Honourable Man online now.

Josephine Hart Poetry Hour continues at the British Library

Hollie Cruickshank — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:46:53 +0000

The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour, founded by the late Virago novelist and poetry anthologist Josephine Hart, has presented brilliant poetry read by fantastic actors for the past seven years at the British Library.

This wonderful evening is set to continue with the next poetry reading taking place on Wednesday 29th February at the British Library Conference Centre with actors Dominic West and Rupert Evans reading the works of Oscar Wilde.

If you aren't able to make this one do look out for the June reading at the Library, entitled 'Poets in the Garden' – more details to follow closer to the time.

Josephine Hart is the author of the current Virago Book Club titles Damage and Sin. If you would like to read more, follow us on facebook, twitter and our forum.

Josephine Hart on 'Damage' and 'Sin'

Hollie Cruickshank — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:01:51 +0000

If you've been following our discussions recently you will be aware that this month's Virago Book Club titles are Josephine Hart's sensational and controversial novels Damage and Sin.

Josephine wrote an introduction for each of her novels. You can read what she had to say here:

Damage

Sin

If you would like to learn more about these brilliant books, follow our discussions on facebook, twitter and our forum.

The Paris Wife is a Mumsnet Book of the Month!

Victoria Pepe — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:51:47 +0000

We're delighted to let you know that Mumsnet have picked Paula McLain's The Paris Wife as their Book of the Month! It's a wonderful novel about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley.

For more information visit their website, and to join in the discussion you can post on their forum.

Even more exciting is that Paula McLain will be joining the Mumsnet forum for a live webchat. She'll be there between 9pm and 10pm on Tuesday 28 February. Keep an eye on the Mumsnet website for more details.

Author Paula McLain

Some favourite quotes from Damage, our Virago Book Club choice

Victoria Pepe — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:50:28 +0000

If you follow @ViragoBooks on Twitter, you may have seen us tweeting some of our favourite quotes from our Virago Book Club choice Damage. We're discussing it on our forum, on facebook and on Twitter alongside Sin. Both are by Josephine Hart and both are being republished as Virago Modern Classics for the first time.

Damage tells the chilling story of a man who starts an affair with his son's fiancée.

‘I did not die in my fiftieth year. There are few who know me now who do not regard that as a tragedy.’

‘Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.’

‘I remembered an old Chinese proverb, “Call no man happy until he’s dead.”’

‘I have sometimes looked at old photographs of the smiling faces of victims, and searched them desperately for some sign that they knew . . . Nothing. They look out serenely, a terrible warning to us all.’

‘A concealed truth, that’s all a lie is. Either by omission or commission we never do more than obscure. The truth stays in the undergrowth, waiting to be discovered.’

Have you read Damage and do you have a favourite quote, or something to say? We'd love to hear from you! Comment below or visit our Virago Book Club forum.

These Books Will Shock You…

Hollie Cruickshank — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:49:59 +0000

Our first Virago Book Club selection for 2012 is, in fact, two titles – Josephine Hart's unforgettable short novels of obsession, Damage and Sin, both recently published into the Virago Modern Classics list for the first time.

Damage – her first novel – remains one of the most chilling explorations of physical passion and dark obsessive love ever written. Memorably filmed in 1992 starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche, the Sunday Times described it as 'genuinely frightening in its ruthless intensity'.

Her second novel, Sin, is a no less devastating portrait of a woman posessed by an obsessive envy who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

We'll be discussing both books for the next three weeks on the Virago Forum, as well as on Facebook and Twitter, and we'll be putting up some extra related content to aid discussion as things progress.

To kick things off Lennie Goodings, who was Josephine Hart's editor, talks about her friendship with the author, and her thoughts about both books:

Lennie Goodings & Josephine Hart

We've also been earnestly talking about both novels. Find out what Virago's first reactions were by clicking here

And don't just take our word for it, read what some of our First Look reviewers have to say:

"The paucity of language is what makes this story (Sin), one of jealous obsession, and incredible, all consuming hatred, so persuasive and shocking. Each word is loaded with meaning."

- Brenda Croskery

"(Sin) was a very small, but powerful book. I am glad I have discovered Josephine Hart. There are more of her books for me to explore."

- Marjorie Lacy

You can start right now and get a taster for both novels by reading the opening chapters for Sin and Damage.

Happy reading!

The Virago team

TWO VIRAGO DEBUTS make the WATERSTONES 11

Lennie Goodings — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:39:15 +0000

Announced at Waterstones Piccadilly last night, Waterstones 11 is the debut fiction promotion for 2012, and Virago have two novels on the list.

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan which we publish in March is an absolutely gripping story about survival. The chair of the Waterstones 11, Janine Cook said ‘it makes you feel you are a fellow passenger, battling along with the central character Grace, in unthinkable circumstances’.

Shelter by Frances Greenslade is our other winner, which we publish in February. Interestingly, this is also a novel about survival, this time set in Northern Canada. It’s about two sisters who are searching for their mother.

Last year’s Waterstones 11 included The Tiger’s Wife which went on to win the Orange, and Stephen Kelman’s novel Pigeon English which made the Man Booker shortlist…

We’re the only publisher with two on the list so that’s kinda nice too…

No related posts.

A Desk with a View: Doing Work Experience at Virago

Victoria Pepe — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:20:47 +0000

We get applications all the time from people wanting to do work experience at Virago. We try and let as many of you as possible in and actually have someone here every week! But what do they get up to when they're here?

Ella was in the office last week, and here gives you the low-down:

Like many third year students at university, I have suddenly found myself living in the shadow of looming graduation. Faced with the all-too-soon prospect of casting off into the life of a real grown up, I have felt the rising panic about the question that I’m sure many other students are currently struggling with: What am I going to do with my life??

Feelers have been put out, emails have been sent, and I now find myself in the offices of Little, Brown Book Group – but more specifically Virago. Well, where better for an anticipated BA in English Literature and History? The open-plan floor hums with meetings, visiting authors, the tapping of keyboards and the excited exclamations of proud editors seeing the finished products.

What I have really enjoyed in my short time at Virago is how contented people seem working here. I have heard no growls of frustration, no hushed angry tones. But what has really caught my eye here . . . is the books. Shelf upon shelf of them! I must confess on more than one occasion I have found myself mesmerised, staring like one would at a fish-tank, their bright covers surrounding me.

Being a temporary fixture in the office, I did not expect to be given any jobs of my own, but to simply help by doing the menial and tedious jobs of others whilst they got on with important things. I was pleasantly surprised. I have been trusted with writing website pieces, researching stories and articles, and I even attended a Book Club meeting. Watching their fevered discussion and debate, I felt like I was sitting in a seminar room back at university, with thoughts and observations tumbling out, annotating notes with notes, and creating a plan for their website companion to their chosen book. (Obviously, being a trusted work-experience girl I could not possibly tell you the title, but I would definitely recommend it!) I felt inspired with the thought that perhaps one day I will have a career in something that I am truly passionate about, much like those who work for Little, Brown Book Group.

And so now, halfway through my final year, the scary milestone that is graduation doesn’t seem half as scary anymore. In fact, I am feeling surprisingly optimistic about my future, and I have those at Virago who allowed me to visit for a week to thank.

Girl Reading is a TV Book Club Pick!

Victoria Pepe — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:37:02 +0000

Some more great news – Girl Reading by Katie Ward (who you can follow on Twitter @katiewardwriter) has been picked for the TV Book Club. The book will be discussed on the episode airing first on More4 on 4 March. It will be repeated on Channel 4 soon after. For more information, visit their website here.

Girl Reading got rave reviews when it was first published last year. Hilary Mantel, author of the Man Booker Winner Wolf Hall, said that Katie Ward was 'wise, poised, and utterly original. Her eye and her words are fresh, as if she is inventing the world'.

Associate Publisher Ursula Doyle shares her feelings on the book.

Katie Ward's Girl Reading is one of the most original and thought-provoking debut novels I have ever read. Each of her seven 'portraits' of girls and women reading takes you into a completely new and beautifully imagined world. Whether we are in Renaissance Italy, an English country house during the First World War or a Shoreditch bar in 2008, Katie Ward puts us right there in the room and tells us a new and utterly involving story. And then, in the final chapter, Katie tips the board with such sleight of hand that you barely notice the pieces of the jigsaw flying up in the air and rearranging themselves in an entirely new pattern. Girl Reading is a tour de force of storytelling, both playful and serious, and makes you look at words – and pictures – through fresh eyes.

Author Katie Ward

The Paris Wife is a Richard & Judy pick!

Victoria Pepe — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:35:51 +0000

We are delighted to announce some great news – The Paris Wife by Paula McLain has been picked for the WHSmith/Richard & Judy Spring Book Club. For more information and to see what other books are on the list, click here.

Associate Publisher Ursula Doyle, shares her feelings on the book.

From the moment I read the first few pages of The Paris Wife in manuscript, I was a goner – I completely fell in love with Hadley's voice as she told the story of her all-consuming love affair with the young, charismatic and passionate Hemingway, who was so much more vulnerable and troubled than anyone except Hadley knew. Their marriage, their life amid the glamour and the squalor of 1920s Paris and the unspeakable sadness of the betrayal that led to their parting are vividly and sympathetically imagined by Paula McLain, who makes you feel as though you are there alongside them, reliving those exhilarating times when anything seemed possible.

Author Paula McLain reading at an event in Bath

An Honourable Start to 2012

Carleen Peters — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:32:53 +0000

Today Virago publishes An Honourable Man, the brand new novel from critically acclaimed novelist, playwright, memoirist and President of English Pen, Gillian Slovo.

Fresh from writing the astonishing Tricycle Theatre play, The Riots, which received rapturous reviews across the board and is currently showing at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham, An Honourable Man sees Slovo moving back in time to the streets of Victorian London and the war torn deserts of 1884 Sudan, where her new novel is set.

Touching upon themes of war and empire, honour and responsibility, jihad, foreign policy and what happens to those war leaves behind, An Honourable Man is a powerful novel which is as relevant now as ever. To celebrate its release we have eight limited edition proof copies of the book to giveaway. To be in with a chance of winning one, simply fill in your details in the form below.

And, if you didn't get to see The Riots at The Tricycle Theatre in December, don’t miss your chance to see it now. The play will be performed at Tottenham's Bernie Grant Arts Centre from the 4th until the 14th of January 2012. Tickets are available to buy now.

An Honourable Man is available in hardback, large paperback , ebook and audio download today. You can also read or listen to an extract from the first chapter online now.

Entry Form

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Name:

Email address:

Happy Christmas from Virago

Felice Howden — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:49:09 +0000

To all our authors, readers, booksellers, librarians and friends – best wishes for a lovely break with LOTS of books and reading.

The last word of 2011 from us comes from some of Virago’s much missed authors:

“Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.”
- Angela Carter

“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She will not want new fashions nor regret the loss of expensive diversions or variety of company if she can be amused with an author in her closet.”
- Lady Montagu

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading.”
- Elizabeth Hardwick

AND, finally, some good advice from PJ O’Rourke:

“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.”

Happy Virago Reading Week!

Elisabeth Russell Taylor launches her new website

Victoria Pepe — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:19:52 +0000

Elisabeth Russell Taylor, author of the wonderful Virago Modern Classics Pillion Riders and Mother Country and many other works of fiction and non-fiction, has launched her website, which you can visit here:

www.elisabethrusselltaylor.wordpress.com

Gillian Slovo's play 'The Riots' moves to Tottenham

Victoria Pepe — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:53:11 +0000

After a sell-out run at The Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, Gillian Slovo's play 'The Riots' is moving to Tottenham – the area the London riots began.

The play will be performed at Tottenham's Bernie Grant Arts Centre between 4 and 14 January 2012.

If you didn't get to see it in Kilburn, don't delay in getting your tickets. They can be bought from the website here.

Margaret Atwood – the Dancing Elf!

Victoria Pepe — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:38:25 +0000

Margaret Atwood - poet, novelist, critic, inventor, environmental activist and now . . . Dancing Elf. That's right, you heard me properly.

Ever-game Margaret Atwood has let House of Anansi, her Canadian Publishers, turn her into a Dancing Elf for Christmas. This may well be the funniest thing you see all day – you have been warned.

Happy Christmas!

Margaret Atwood, the Dancing Elf

Natasha Walter responds to Hamley's decision to abandon colour coded shopping for girls and boys

Victoria Pepe — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:35:37 +0000

Blue for boys, and pink for girls…but not any more.

Today we heard the great news that Hamleys Toy Shop has removed the signs dividing the blue section for boys from the pink one for girls. This has happened after blogger Laura Nelson lauched a campaign outlining her concerns that the layout restricted choices and contributes to society's gender inequalities.

Natasha Walter talked about this problem in her book Living Dolls – here's what she had to say in light of today's news:

In my book Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism is a description of going through Hamleys toy store and being struck by the absolute division between the pink girls' world and the blue boys' world. It was a trip to Hamleys when my daughter was young that really woke me up to the way that we are currently so keen to see girls and boys as necessarily requiring different toys and different ways of playing. As I considered what was going on, I realised that these attitudes are very much tied up with the resurgence of biological determinism and the belief that any differences we see between men and women are produced by biological rather than cultural influences. When I was researching my book I heard from many people, from toy companies to scientists to parents, who said that this would never change, but I also heard from many people who were eager to see change happen. Since the book was published I've been really astounded by the passionate positive responses I've had, and I'm so glad that waves have been created that have encouraged Hamleys to make this recent shift. I do admire the activism of Laura Nelson and the way that she has made this toy company recognise that an awful lot of parents and girls aren't buying the narrative any more that says girls are just living dolls.

A good day for feminism!

Beta blockers, method acting and flaccid ham sandwiches – Polly Samson bares all at the Virago Book Club

Hollie Cruickshank — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:09:58 +0000

Virago Book Club members were treated last week to an evening of lively discussion with Polly Samson, author of Perfect Lives. From high-strength beta blockers to flaccid ham sandwiches, no stone was left unturned as Polly discussed the creativity of her collection of short stories with her editor Lennie Goodings.

Starting by addressing the linked story style in Perfect Lives, Polly spoke about the origins of the collection. Initially she hadn’t intended to revisit any of her characters. It wasn't until one or two began to ‘jump’ into other stories that it became a theme. We all spoke of our delight with that 'eureka' moment of realising a character we're reading about is someone we met – however briefly – earlier in the book.

Polly confessed that her reason to base the location of Perfect Lives in the seaside town of Brighton (although Brighton is never specifically refereed to) was due to her imminent move there. She descibed the city as a “bad tempered thing” within her work – a character in its own right, though having lived there for a while she now finds it "heaven". She employed a kind of method acting approach to her work, walking constantly, finding the streets where her characters would live and thinking about what shops they might use, where they would walk, thus creating their lives from the place they live in. Food also was important in the book – taking on the personalities of the characters - flaccid ham sandwiches for quiet, meek Richard; Ginger snaps for brittle Celia.

Many of the central themes of the collection were taken from moments in Polly’s own life. Music weaves its way through the stories - in real life Polly was becoming a self-confessed ‘piano swot’ (using the power of beta blockers to steady hands through exams). Family life and relationships mirrored stories from people she knew or her own children’s experiences. They were also an observation on the melancholy of life which “can be sad but has its bright moments too".

Polly’s love of the short story was obvious . Virago Book Club members were invited to talk about their favourite collections which included stories by Mavis Gallant, Alice Munroe Roald Dahl and Daphne du Maurier. Polly listed Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge among her favourites.

The Virago team will be following up with more on the short story as we look at Polly’s other work and some more from Virago authors. But in the meantime we would like to thank everyone for coming and for making it such a wonderful evening. And if you missed out this time – hopefully we'll see you at the next event!

December Inspiration: Josephine Hart on Mary McCarthy

Donna Coonan — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:30:32 +0000

Josephine Hart, who sadly died earlier this year, becomes a VMC author this month, when her novels Damage and Sin are published on the VMC list. This is her recommendation for Mary McCarthy's first novel, The Company She Keeps, also published this month in the Virago Modern Classics.

The foreword is provocative. What follows is a shocking delight. Mary McCarthy with this, her first book, achieved a succès de scandale. Almost 70 years later its power to disturb remains undiminished.

The Company She Keeps is a warning-bell of a novel. It teaches us that intelligence – however finely honed – is not the same as wisdom, and that the getting of wisdom is hard. It is a Jamesian lesson delivered in McCarthy’s justly celebrated spare and elegant prose in which she is, as one critic noted, ‘both psychologist and executioner.’ And therein lies much of the subversive pleasure of this novel.

Nothing is missed by the heroine Margaret Sargent, ‘whose multiple personalities bloomed on the single stalk of her ego,’ as she observes with wit and intelligence aspects of her multi-faceted self, and of others – mostly the men she entrances with the judicious arrogance which adds a form of intellectual spice to her beauty. Such a woman should be forearmed for the fray.

Alas, much that is important in life is lost by Margaret. It is lost in the moral laziness which, in the opening chapter, ‘Cruel and Barbarous Treatment,’ leads her to waste her time with The Young Man (we never know his name) for whom she leaves her husband, though ‘she couldn’t bear to hurt him’. It is lost during her humiliating and drunken seduction on a train to Reno by ‘The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt’ – the ageing, socially and intellectually inferior ‘travelling salesman,’ Mr Breen. In this chapter Miss McCarthy gives us a chilling masterclass in the dangers of female sexual contempt. Her later weary surrender in the chapter ‘Portrait of the Intellectual as a Yale Man’ to Jim Barnett – whose ‘inadequacy made him self-important’ ends in exasperated disillusionment – his – as he reflects that he would ‘hate her forever as Adam hates Eve.’

Finally, remarried unhappily to the controlling Frederick, we leave her talking to her psychiatrist. She is, the author warned us at the start, ‘fumbling in her spiritual pocket-book, for the ordinary, indispensable self that somehow got mislaid.’ But then again ‘perhaps she never took it with her in the first place.’

Polly Samson Shares Her Love of Short Stories

Hollie Cruickshank — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:14:55 +0000

Polly Samson is the author of the short story collections, Perfect Lives and Lying in Bed . Here she tells Virago why she loves short stories.

It seemed natural to link three stories that became part of my first collection, Lying in Bed and after that I began to notice what a lovely hybrid the linked story collection is.

In the best short stories the action takes place off the page or between the lines. When character and mood carry the narrative small details become more significant and the past and present can exist together in a way that would clog longer fiction. Everything exists as some sort of clue to the person or the story and a good one lingers in the mind, deepening, darkening and revealing itself and its characters long after its ended.

What makes linked stories so pleasurable, I think, is that frisson of recognition when one character walks onto another character’s stage.

I didn’t set out to write a collection of linked stories but that’s the way the characters in Perfect Lives came out, emerging from the wings and insisting on their moment in the spotlight. Here are some favourite linked story collections:

Daniel Kehlmann: Fame

Elizabeth Strout: Olive Kitteridge

Melissa Bank: A Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing

Judith Hermann: Alice

Alice Munroe: The Beggar Maid: Stories of Rose and Flo

If you would like to hear more, Polly will be discussing Perfect Lives at the Virago Book Club live event next week

Gillian Slovo's play 'The Riots' opens at the Tricycle to rave reviews

Victoria Pepe — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:23:16 +0000

Gillian Slovo, author of Ice Road and Every Secret Thing, saw her new play 'The Riots' receive wonderful reviews after its first performance this week. The play is about the riots that rocked London in August, and is based on interviews with politicians, police victims and the rioters themselves.

"It asks the right questions in a way that is clear, gripping and necessary," said the Guardian's Michael Billington. While in a four-star review for the Telegraph, Charles Spencer called the drama "admirably even-handed".

As 'The Riots' opened, Slovo told Radio 4's Front Row that the script had been compiled from "56 hours of taped material".

"Every single minute of it was fascinating, almost without exception. But it was clear to me from the beginning that we needed to hear from certain people, in particular a victim of the riots – but we also needed some rioters and we needed some police. Out of those central people, I built the story of the others."

For more information, or to buy tickets, visit the Tricycle's website and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Our Favourite Stories from Perfect Lives

Hollie Cruickshank — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:24:42 +0000

In preparation for the Virago Book Club Live Event with Polly Samson next week, the Virago team wrote about their favourite Perfect Lives short story and what it meant to them, posting on our Virago Book Club forum.

Read below for a snapsnot of our responses:

Carleen Peters: “For me The Birthday Present typifies the qualities I like best in the collection as a whole, and the qualities I like most about Polly Samson’s writing. Deceptively simple, very corporeal and sexy, dryly funny, and at its heart a protagonist I’d quite like to bump into at a muggy beach front café in Brighton.”

Victoria Pepe chose Morganna because she “is a fabulous character, a hippy, 'jingling and jangling armfuls of bracelets', who falls into the grief of being left with as much drama as you would expect. Polly Samson writes the story with a tongue firmly in her cheek – all the classic overblown 'woman scorned' tropes are there, but brilliantly turned on their heads.”

Hollie Cruickshank: “In Leaving Hamburg Aurelia’s journey through the streets of Hamburg allows us such an insight into her memories, desires, hopes, dreams and regrets. Polly’s language is rich with imagery and you find yourself wrapped up within Aurelia’s thoughts. You feel a sense of nostalgia for the people no longer in her life and a sense of closure in time for a new beginning.”

Naomi Doerge: “My favourite is The Man Across the River. I think one of Polly's best attributes is her ability to have the reader feel/smell/touch/taste so clearly whatever her characters are feeling. I really liked the creepiness of it because it is something that everyone can relate to. Even better is that there are so many different veins to this story."

Stephen Dumughn: “In A Regular Cherub there are passages that almost make you gasp as well as laugh – Tilda describing her newborn baby as a 'christmas gammon, boiled and ready for studding' for example. The combination of the disillusionment Tilda feels about motherhood, contrasted with the raw emotion – almost sentimentality – of the ending, totally rings true for me. Like all the other stories it's clever without ever seeming contrived.”

Which is your favorite short story in Perfect Lives? Visit our forum and tell us!

Virago Book Club Live Event with Polly Samson

Hollie Cruickshank — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:24:45 +0000

We can now confirm the details of the Perfect Lives 'Live Event' with Polly Samson.

Polly will be coming in to the Virago offices on the evening of Tuesday 29th of November to talk about the book with an audience of Book Club members.

There will be wine, good conversation and maybe a slice of cake – what better way to spend an evening?

If you'd like to be part of the audience then sign up to the Virago Book Club for details of how to apply. Remember, if you are a Virago Book Club member, you can order your copy at a special discount of 10% off the online price from Foyles.

To join the discussion log onto our forum and let us know your thoughts.

Happy reading, we'll see you there!

Perfect Lives by Polly Samson to be Book at Bedtime

Victoria Pepe — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:22:44 +0000

We are delighted to announce that Polly Samson's Perfect Lives has been picked as the BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime. It begins this Monday, 21 November at 10.45pm and will be on at the same time every night next week. Here's what Polly had to say when she found out:

Having Perfect Lives as a Book at Bedtime is like having my best wish for the book granted. I was invited to the recording of 'The Egg' and 'The Rose Before the Vine' which were read by Claire Skinner of Outnumbered fame (I think this is the only time that my children have asked me, nay begged me, to get an autograph). The five selected stories have been masterfully abridged and produced by Christine Hall and I was amazed to hear them work so well despite being cut to under 2,000 words each (some of the stories are 5 or 6,000 words in the book). Christine told me that Mark Meadows, the actor she employed to read 'Barcarolle', is also, completely by coincidence, a good pianist so she was able to get him to play some parts of Chopin’s Barcarolle to fade in and out of the story. It’s that sort of thing that makes me believe that Perfect Lives has been blessed in some way!

Below is the list of stories that will be featured:

Monday 21 November: 'The Egg'
Tuesday 22: 'Barcarolle'
Wednesday 23: 'The Birthday Present'
Thursday 24: 'The Rose Before the Vine'
Friday 25: 'Remote Control'

Don't miss it!

And beady-eyed regulars will have noticed that Perfect Lives is also the next Virago Book Club pick. Visit the website again or follow us on Twitter for more information – and the opportunity to come to an event with Polly at Virago!

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