How to talk about a story with the improbable title of The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society? That question’s been baffling me for days. I have to talk about it because it’s the best book I’ve picked up in recent memory, and it has not one but several stories worth telling. I want to talk about it because it refers to may subjects I hold dear. But, more than anything, I want to say this is one book my mom would have loved. As a girl, my mom spent two years in England, before the Beatles but after the War. To say those years made an impression on her is like saying the Colorado River had an effect on some of the topography in Arizona. For the rest of her life, she maintained a lively and affectionate interest in the fortunes of Great Britain and everyone who had ever lived there. But, even though she saw England recovering from World War II, I don’t think she knew about what happened to the Channel Islands during the conflict. I know she never mentioned it to me. That’s one reason why The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society is so important. We…
Mr. E. WilliamsJohnson & Alcock Ltd.Bloomsbury House74-77 Great Russell StreetLondon, WC1B 3DA Dear Sir: As the literary agent for the estate of Dick Francis, you probably receive too many letters concerning his novels and I apologize for adding one more. However, this letter is not to ask for licensing, reprinting, film or merchandising rights; nor does it demand Felix Francis be locked away until he creates six new books. It is a request that some of Dick Francis’s thrillers be re-recorded and released as audiobooks in order to protect the stories as well as their prospective audience. I realize book recordings were probably something of a publication afterthought when these books were originally released, and the process involved little more than recorded speech. I know, I just spent an excruciating weekend listening to Odds Against being read like it was a shopping list. All of the tension, terror, irony and humanity was drained from the narrative and although each character had an individual accent, they all spoke at the same rate and pitch. As a suspense novel, this recording it could have been marketed as an effective sleep-aid medication. I’m female, American, and an amateur performer but I could have done a better job reading than that!…
I guess it’s no secret I’ve finished writing a book. Well, up till last week, I thought it was finished. After 5 years of slaving away on paragraphs and polishing each sentence, I thought The Plucky Orflings was complete. I liked it, my sister liked it, and my friends loved it, so I figured it was just a matter of time until some agent agreed. Well, if so, that time isn’t now. Now, I suspect most agents are decent people. They work incredibly hard in a difficult industry that gets more challenging by the day. And, so far, not one of those that turned me down has said the dreaded words, “You can’t write.” But none of them are interested in representing my book. They say, it’s “not right for us” or “not what we’re looking for” and then they wish me well finding somebody else. Since I only write to agents who work in the genre my story falls within (Historical Fiction for Middle-Grade readers), I had no idea why my book was wrong. It’s like being told you aren’t some guy’s type when you resemble his last three girlfriends. Okay, what am I doing wrong? Last month, my rejected novel…
Posts occurring on Valentine’s Day are practically obligated to have a romantic theme. Well, this is as close as I’m likely to get: the Shakespearean play that made me fall in love with love. Everyone remembers their first, I mean the first production of a Shakespearean play. It tends to dominate their world view and every play by the Bard they see after that. Present a newbie with the star-crossed lovers in Romeo and Juliet, and you’ll find you’ve created a romantic; force another to audit a poor reading of Julius Caesar, and they’ll loathe plays and politics for the rest of their days. Like so many others, the first Shakespearean play I ever watched is still my favorite today. It gave me the way I like to look at romance. Tragic lovers can entertain somebody else, I favor the wit and laughter of Much Ado About Nothing. What makes this lighthearted romp so different from Shakespeare’s other comedies isn’t the “supposed” leading couple of the piece (Claudio and Hero) but his comedic characters, Benedick and Beatrice. From one perspective these potential partners have everything in common: they’re both smart, funny, astonishingly verbal, unromantic, sarcastic and brave. Their similarities give them…
Yesterday was the 65th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne. It’s an incredible milestone, one no other ruler of England has attained, and she deserves all the honor and respect she gets. The woman has seen a lot of changes during her reign, but that’s not what England should celebrate today. Today marks the 205th birthday of Charles Dickens, one of the most influential Britons and writers of any time. He didn’t just watch the world change, he changed our language and world with his stories. He was the literary Colossus of the Victorian Age, and his influence is still felt today. Dickens in his early years The life of Dickens holds enough drama to fuel a multi-season mini-series. His terrible childhood has become so well-known we label all other impoverished, chaotic beginnings as “Dickensian.” The funny thing is, he tried to hide these facts for years. Destitution was considered a social and character defect in the Regency and Victorian Eras and Dickens spent much of his life’s energy trying to get as far away from his impoverished past as he could. That drive turned him into a law clerk, a court reporter, a freelance journalist and finally…