Having visited the Somerset town of Frome this summer, I was keen to support the annual literary festival which is entirely run by volunteers and always has a great line-up, including, this year, one of my favourite authors, historical novelist Andrew Miller talking about his latest novel The Land in Winter, which was a very … Continue reading Not one but two prizes!
When I first encountered Fanny Osbourne, she appeared as a footnote in Louis Stevenson’s story—emotionally fragile, grieving, and overshadowed. But the more I read, the more she demanded centre stage. Like my own heroine Frances Sitwell, Fanny was shaped by loss and resilience, but unlike Frances, she courted controversy and defied convention with unapologetic strength. Camille Peri’s A Wilder Shore and other biographies have only deepened my fascination with this remarkable woman—adventurer, writer, and the fierce force behind one of literature’s most celebrated figures. Without Fanny, there may have been no Louis as we know him. Continue reading Fanny Stevenson Barges In: #BeyondtheBook #TheAbsentHeart
Adapted from my my Beyond the Book newsletter of September 2024. Sign up for future issues here. If Frances Sitwell is my heroine, who is the hero? It would be easy to argue for Louis Stevenson (who has a way of taking centre stage even when he isn’t present!) but chief contender for male lead … Continue reading Sidney Colvin: an unlikely hero #BeyondtheBook #TheAbsentHeart
A Brilliant day in Bristol As in all the best stories from my childhood, the day of my book launch dawned bright and clear, so much so that as we walked down Park Street I worried guests might have chosen to head for the beach rather than the book launch. However my fears proved groundless … Continue reading The Absent Heart takes off in #Bristol #booklaunch #historicalfiction
The Absent Heart is very much a novel about letters and how they defined Frances Sitwell’s relationship with Robert Louis Stevenson, but it’s not a novel of letters. I’m actually quite a fan of the epistolary novel and, with all of the R.L.S.’s letters to my heroine at my disposal, I could have gone down … Continue reading Letters in fiction: Robert Harris, Gill Hornby and me!
