Looking forward to a book signing of the Portuguese edition in Funchal, Madeira at 6pm today.
I’ve been waiting for weeks to be able to share the cover of my new novel ‘Acts of Love and War.’ And now it feels wrong to glory in my own work, when we see what’s happening in Ukraine. It also feels much too close to the bone that for two years I’ve been writing about the Spanish civil war, in which ordinary citizens were armed against the professional troops and superior hardware of an aggressor. And here it is happening on the streets of Europe again. I have also researched and written about the International Brigades, in which volunteers went to fight for what they saw as right. And now again, we see Ukraine setting up International Brigades. So though I’m happy about my new novel, due out in May on Kindle, in the UK in June and in Canada in August, humanity makes me weep.
‘Acts of Love and War’ cover reveal
After a lovely afternoon talking to Ann Morgan, the Royal Literary Fund is showcasing our interview this week in its Writers Aloud series.
You are warmly invited to join me and the curator of Lamsdorf museum in Poland in conversation about The Prisoner’s Wife, on Wednesday 1st December at 4pm UTC/GMT.
https://www.facebook.com/CMJWLambinowiceOpole/videos/775085507222007
Very happy to see the overseas editions coming out. The Dutch one is particularly interesting, as it roughly translates as ‘The Changeling’ , focussing on Izzy’s task of passing herself off as a male prisoner of war.
Very pleased that Kindle are offering The Prisoner’s Wife for just 99p throughout September.
The second part of my talk to students at De Montfort University was about the books which inspired me to become a writer. From Bunnikins Picnic Party to Palgrave’s Golden Treasury. And the writers, from Enid Blyton to Emily Dickinson.
I have just received recordings of four parts of a talk I gave for students at De Montfort University in December. The first is a reply to three key questions: "Why did you become a writer?" "What do you find most surprising or difficult about being a writer?" and "What excites you most about being a writer?"
Very much enjoyed talking to this perceptive book group in Brighton about The Prisoner’s Wife.
Having been a member of the National Association of Writers in Education for more years than I care to remember (and Chair for 7 years) it feels very special to have been the subject of this interview by Professor Andy Melrose. A bit like being asked back to your school to give a speech at prize-giving.
Excited that the virtual book club www.bookshipapp.com has added me to its Meet The Author pages and I’m looking forward to joining online book club meetings. Bookship includes a private chat, a public discussion area called the Cafe, readings and "bookish" features such as a “virtual highlighter”. And they donate 10% of their revenue to literary charities, because they believe Books Change Lives.
Well, it would have been more fun to go to Antwerp for their annual book fair, but of course it was cancelled this year. Instead it all went online and it was still pretty special to be interviewed by Belgian TV journalist Tom Decok about 'De Verwisseling' the Dutch edition of 'The Prisoner's Wife.' Don't worry, the interview is in English!
https://youtu.be/K-Gp--hoz6o via @YouTube
As we enter our second lockdown, it feels like a good time to plan future holidays. The fabulous Book Trail website is featuring the route you’d take to follow Izzy and Bill on their journey through The Prisoner’s Wife.
It also features an article by me about my travels in researching the novel.
https://www.thebooktrail.com/authorsonlocation/maggie-brookes-travels-to-the-czech-republic/
There are so many really incredible writers featured on the Creative Writing Blogspot of Leicester University, that I feel very honoured to have been included.
Feeling very contemporary. This interview with Francis Sealey was live-streamed yesterday by GlobalNet21, and is now available on youtube or as a podcast!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J66bop_T-yA&t=3s
https://globalnet.podbean.com/e/an-interview-with-maggie-brookes-the-prisoner-s-wife/
A wonderful Dutch bookseller has posted this review of The Prisoner’s Wife:
Liefde hoopt alles
Liefde kan alles
Liefde overwint alles
Liefde
(Love hopes everything
Love can do anything
Love conquers all
Love)
Thanks to Michael Bartholomew Biggs for this thoughtful review in The London Grip.
This week the gorgeous edition of The Prisoner’s Wife was launched in the Netherlands . Makes me wish I spoke Dutch!
I’ve never been in a chart before and probably never will again, so two entries in one week has me tickled pink. In at number 2 in The Bookseller’s ‘Heatseeker ‘chart for authors who haven’t been in one of their charts before, and in at 56 in the W H Smith paperback chart. Funny things about both of these: George Orwell’s 1984 is also on the ‘Heatseeker’ chart (???); when I asked the manageress of my local WH Smith if she’d like me to sign books she said, ‘maybe if you get to number one.’ That put me in my place.
‘One of the most audacious war stories ever told.’ Pleased to celebrate Sidney Reed in this feature article in the Daily Express today, as a way of thanking him for telling me the extraordinary story which inspired The Prisoner’s Wife. Thank you Sidney!
