Interview with 'Orkney Twilight' author Clare Carson

Happy Thursday, readers! Today I have a very exciting author interview for you, the writer of an awesome thriller called Orkney Twilight. I don't usually cover adult books on Delightful Book Reviews, but after reading the press release I was intrigued and really wanted to see what it was about! I am halfway through and I must say I am totally hooked. The story behind Orkney Twilight is utterly fascinating... the author's father was an undercover policeman himself and in the novel she explores what it's really like to be so close to someone, yet not really know anything about them at all. I was fortunate enough to be able to speak to Clare Carson all about writing unsettling narratives, creating the hugely diverse mix of characters within the novel, and what it was really like to have a Dad who also doubles as an undercover cop...

How did you find inspiration to write Orkney Twilight?
The inspiration came from two main sources. When I was a kid, my dad worked as an undercover cop. I thought of him as a master storyteller. The second source was our regular childhood holidays in Orkney – I was intrigued by the cairns and stone circles littering the island, the sense of ancient mysteries. The two fused in my mind as a story about individual and collective mythmaking.

The presentation of Jim in the novel is very ambiguous. How did you want the reader to feel about him as a character? 
Ambiguous. The thrillers I love – the ones that raise unsettling moral questions - have ambiguous characters at their core. I don’t think Jim is any more ambiguous than Alec Leamas in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Having said that, Jim has a peculiar charisma, and some people who have read the book do adore him.

How far is Sam based on yourself in your teenage years?
Sam is nothing like me. She shares some of my teenage experiences, but she is a completely different character. One of my sources for Sam was Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Maybe I should have called the book  Sam’s Adventures in Undercoverland.

In Orkney Twilight, the reader travels along with Sam to discover the truth about Jim, which results in an unsettling narrative with many twists and turns. How did you achieve this effect?
My primary device for unsettling the narrative was using Sam’s perspective to tell the story. The book is written in the third person, but everything is seen through her eyes. I understood Sam, in many ways, as a neo-noir protagonist in the Big Lebowski mould. She is an insider-outsider who doesn’t know exactly what is going on, sometimes doesn’t want to find out and isn’t always capable of revealing what she thinks and feels. She sees many important events but doesn’t necessarily interpret them correctly. 

Tom seems to be portrayed as the one who is never afraid to ask questions. How integral is he to the progression of the story?

Tom is central. When the object of the story is as ambiguous as Jim, and the protagonist is as blurry-eyed and conflicted as Sam, you need a more focused character to keep the plot moving along the straight and narrow. Sam tries to sideline him. But then she would, wouldn’t she?

Sum up Orkney Twilight in three words.

Who to believe?

Thank you for being interviewed, Clare!

 Check out Clare Carson here: http://headofzeus.com/books/Orkney%20Twilight

Buy Orkney Twilight here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Orkney-Twilight-Clare-Carson-x/dp/1784080942

Until next time :)

Project Remix

Hello, readers! As you might know, I have been writing for a very long time, but did not show a single person my work until I was thirteen or fourteen. My Dad knew I was an introvert about my writing, but he also knew that I wanted nothing more than to become a writer one day. However, being an introvert about my work and wanting to publish aren't easily cohesive, so he suggested that I join a teen writing website called movellas.com. Since then, loads of amazing things have happened to me, and a great number of them are due to Movellas! With their amazing community, invaluable support and great competitions I gradually emerged out of my shell and became proud of my writing for the first time ever. Throughout all the years I was active on the site I entered many of the competitions (I was only successful in a few of them!) and this boosted my confidence hugely, and reminded me that it might someday be possible to pursue my dream of becoming a writer.


A couple of weeks ago, I received a very exciting email regarding one of these competitions. However, it was unlike anything I had ever come across before on the site. This competition was one of the most exciting competitions for young people that I have ever heard about before. The email was regarding an invitation to the awards ceremony of a competition called Project Remix, a competition to find the UK’s best young writers and creatives. The competition encouraged young people aged 13-19 years to take inspiration from their favourite writers to make their own creative work in response to their books and stories. The possibilities for entries were enormous: Write a fanfic, design an alternative cover, reboot a story for their own spin-off comic strip, or even write a piece of original music inspired by a writer's work.

Even more exciting; the Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman herself chose her favourite entries in each category. There were hundreds of entries, all from the categories of:

. Creative writing: write your own piece of fiction inspired by your chosen book, story or poem. Word limit: up to 2,000 words.

. Comic strip: create your own comic strip inspired by your chosen book, story or poem. Limit: up to three A4 pages.

. Cover design: design or illustrate your own alternative cover for your chosen book.

. Book trailer: produce a book trailer – a short piece of film, like a film trailer – for your chosen book, story or poem. Limit: up to 2 minutes.

. Music: write and perform a song or a piece of original music inspired by your chosen book, story or poem. Limit: up to 3 minutes.

The Movellas Team and Malorie Blackman were astounded with the incredible quality and diversity of all the entries, and I think this shows how talented teenagers are, and how much they can achieve when they really put their minds to it. 

As soon as I heard about this competition and the awards ceremony I knew that it was something I wanted to follow up and spread the word about; anything that includes inspiring teenagers to get creative is something I will be interested in! I couldn't wait to meet the young people whose entries had blown away the Children's Laureate and speak to them about their creative endeavours. When I joined Movellas back in 2012 the site was mainly focused on creative writing, with a sparse number of book trailers and book cover design. It was amazing to see how the site had evolved, and how competitions like these were reaching out to a greater number of young people, appealing to all different kinds of interests.

A few posts will popping up over the next couple of weeks with interviews with the winners and an outline of the event- keep your eyes peeled!

Check out Movellas and Project Remix here:

www.movellas.com

http://www.movellas.com/projectremix

http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk

http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/news-and-blog/news/99/

Until next time :)

World Book Night Flagship Event!

Happy Saturday, readers! Today I have a very exciting post for you... As promised, a run-down of the World Book Night Flagship event at the Shaw Theatre in London. Over the past couple of weeks I have been lucky enough to be involved in WBN and publishing posts such as author interviews and my own reading journey. Hence, I was really looking forward to attending the Flagship event, as many authors that inspire me were attending, and it was set to be a fantastic celebration of what World Book Night aspires to do.

The Shaw Theatre is a beautiful, modern venue with a lovely foyer area and an even lovelier theatre. It was fantastic to see so many people there; all of whom I knew loved books as much as I do. I saw many people from different publishing companies, PR agencies, charities and booksellers. Waterstones was even there selling all of the books from the shortlist, and there were plenty of people buying the wonderful books that we would be hearing about later that night. 

In the theatre, we were welcomed by Sue Wilkinson MBE, the Chief Executive of the Reading Agency, who gave an inspiring talk about everything that the Reading Agency does to encourage people to start reading, the importance of World Book Night and the integral value of books in themselves. The excitement in the venue grew as we were given a run down of the authors we would be hearing about that night, and the reading journeys we would discover as the evening went on. 

David Almond was the first author on stage, and it was not only a thoroughly enjoyable and inspirational talk, but the passion he felt for books, reading and writing came across so powerfully. I am a huge fan of David Almond's novel A Song for Ella Grey and it was so wonderful to hear about him explain what an honour it is for him to write for young people. There were only a handful of young people in the audience (including me) and the  way he addressed criticisms he hears every day for example young people don't read anymore, teenagers don't enjoy books, they don't care about literature was very emotional; I hear things like that said too, and it made such an impact to hear them addressed by one of my favourite authors. David Almond also spoke about his own reading journey and the part imagination has played in both his reading and writing throughout the years. He made some incredibly interesting points about how reading and writing can be merged to be seen as one entity; how imagination has not only affected his writing but his reading also. The continued importance and unfortunate dismissal of libraries was also discussed, and there were several murmurs of approval from the audience as we all concurrently agreed that libraries are an invaluable part of all of our reading lives. David Almond called libraries one of the most important human institutions, and writing a product of humanity's desire to 'create something beautiful'. It was a wonderful start to the evening, and demonstrated not only the importance of World Book Night but of authors like David Almond who care so passionately about what he does.

We heard many other fabulous authors talk about their individual reading journeys and read out sections from their own work. In my opinion, there's nothing quite like listening to books you have read and loved being read out loud by the person who wrote the words. It is also wonderful watching the passion as they read out the story they prepared so intricately months, years before. It's kind of like going to see your kid at their first ever ballet show or school play. You're like woah, I made that. Books are people's babies, and the readers share and invest in the experience as much as the author does. Sarah Winman's first chapter of When God Was a Rabbit and Irvine Welsh's reading held me utterly engrossed and I believed every word they said when they told us that they wouldn't have written their work without the books they had read. It was also amazing to hear

Elizabeth Fremantle read a section of The Queen's Gambit and talk about the 'superpowers' of reading. I thoroughly agreed when she pointed out that people who read are the most attractive people, and the people who are best to fall in love with ;)

One of the highlights of the event was definitely hearing Akala perform his epic poem; he is a totally awesome guy and a huge inspiration for young people everywhere. The fuse of poetry and rap was a beautiful combination and it was definitely something I had never heard of before. Lynda La Plante had us all in stitches recounting the moment when she thought a ghost knocking at her door when it was in fact an audiobook of Wuthering Heights; the moment when Heathcliff is yelling Cathy's name across the moors. Blaine Harden's story about how at college Conrad's Heart of Darkness changed his mindset about nearly everything, and opened up a world where words meant something. But most of all, it was just a bloody good read, and I think that sometimes that's all it takes for someone to start reading. It's not always about deep meaningful discussions or a moment of sudden inspiration, but the times when a book simply speaks to you. 

And lastly, Annabel Pitcher's impromptu poem of her reading journey, from Flat Stanley to Emily Brontë and Harry Potter was absolutely incredible, and put into words so perfectly not only the point to World Book Night, but the books and authors that make it such an incredible, inspiring and potentially for many people, who don't read, a life changing event.

I'd just like to thank you all for sticking with me the past couple of weeks, SO MANY of you have checked out my WBN posts and I am so grateful for all the people who have shared it and spread the word! THANK YOU xxx

I am attending a very exciting event on Monday... So I will keep you posted on that!

Check out all the WBN links below:

http://www.worldbooknight.org

http://readingagency.org.uk

http://www.delightfulbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/a-world-book-night-special-interview.html

http://www.delightfulbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/a-world-book-night-special-rachel.html

http://www.delightfulbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/world-book-night-special-my-reading.html

http://www.delightfulbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/world-book-night-2015.html

Until next time :)

 Hehe sneaky little add-on on the end here.... A STREETCAT NAMED BOB <3 

A World Book Night Special: Interview with Elizabeth Fremantle

Happy Wednesday, readers! Today (the day before World Book Night) I have a special interview for you, with the amazing Elizabeth Fremantle! Elizabeth is the author of many wonderful historical novels including 'Queen's Gambit', which is one of the titles for World Book Night, and I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to speak with her all about World Book Night, the 'transformative qualities of literature' and even her own reading journey...

How are you involved in World Book Night?

I’m going to be at the WBN event at the Shaw Theatre in London, talking about why reading is a superpower.
I was a book-giver on the first WBN in 2011, when I was a struggling writer in search of a book deal, so to have Queen’s Gambit amongst so many brilliant titles, and to be part of the WBN flagship event is very special indeed on a personal level. 

 Why do you think projects like this are important?

Anything that reminds people of the transformative qualities of literature and encourages people to discover the pleasures of a good book has got to be a good thing.
 
What is your own 'reading journey'?

The first novels that truly captured my imagination as a small child were Frances Hodgeson-Burnett’s The Little Princess and The Secret Garden. 
I graduated onto Laura Ingalls-Wilder’s autobiographical tales of life in a pioneer family, which I read countless times, never tiring of them. 
It was Jean Plaidy who whet my appetite for historical fiction, aged about twelve. 
If I’m sad I always turn to PG Wodehouse, because he makes me laugh out loud; I’m a fan of Patricia Highsmith, F Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, Stephan Zweig, to name only a few. 
Of contemporary authors I read everything Sarah Waters writes, I love Rose Tremain, Hilary Mantel and there are many more, far too many to name here. 

What is your personal favourite in the World Book Night titles? (not including your own, of course!)


It’s hard to choose between so many wonderful books but I’m going to say Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. She’s a wonderful writer and it’s an utterly beguiling novel.

Do you think the Government should play a part in getting people reading? If so, what could they do?

I used to volunteer in my local primary school, helping children who struggled with reading, working with them one-on-one. What always made me sad was the level to which volunteers were relied upon, making the help they needed inconsistent. When work made it difficult for me to continue with it, it was devastating to think that the children I’d been working with might no longer continue to get the help they needed. 
Some children, for whatever reason, have parents who are unable to read with them at home. So I suppose I’d like to see increased funding to help those children and their parents.

What got you reading? 

I was always a natural bookworm, reading was a refuge for me and so I needed no encouragement. I still tend to read at least a book a week, and never go anywhere without a book in my bag. 


Thank you, Elizabeth, for being interviewed on my blog! 

Tomorrow I will be attending the World Book Night flagship event at the Shaw Theatre in London, and I look forward to seeing Elizabeth and many other exciting names there. Also, look forward to a write up of that event!

Check out Elizabeth Fremantle here: http://www.elizabethfremantle.com

Check out World Book Night here: http://www.worldbooknight.org

You can still buy tickets for the Flagship event here: http://bit.ly/1HV5O4y

Until next time :)

A World Book Night Special: Rachel Joyce's 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' (*****)

Happy Sunday, readers! Today I have another World Book Night special for you, this time a review of one of the featured titles on the World Book Night list 2015. Following World Book Night 2014, national charity The Reading Agency which runs the programme, conducted a survey of World Book Night volunteers who had the chance to suggest the title they would most like to give away as part of the programme. Rachel Joyce’s bestselling The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry has been selected from the volunteers’ picks to be a title for 2015, in recognition of the inspiring work of the World Book Night volunteers who champion reading for pleasure through social action in their communities.

Intrigued? Here is the blurb...

When Harold Fry nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other. He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone. All he knows is that he must keep walking. To save someone else’s life.

I read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry last week and thoroughly enjoyed it- I was struck by the protagonist, Harold Fry, and the strength and determination he showed throughout the book. He is such an inspirational and unique character, and throughout the book you really feel as if you get to know him; his strengths, his failures, his wishes, his downfalls. The special thing about Harold is that he is not perfect, he is utterly human. As you read you learn that he is not on the 'pilgrimage' for any other reason but to fix the mistakes of his past and to rediscover his sense of self. Rachel Joyce writes beautifully and does not reveal everything in the first chapter, but scatters in the truth sparingly, so the reader is discovering things about Harold and his life as Harold reflects on his past mistakes, and sets about trying to fix them.

The whole book is one big adventure. It pulls the reader in and doesn't let them go until the very last page. It is a roller coaster of emotions, and although it is a highly emotional read, you feel satisfied and happy at the end. Throughout the book you can't keep but wonder how you would manage on such a journey, and how far you would go to save someone else, and yourself, before it is too late. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, more than anything, is a story about love, how one manages it, and everything that gets in the way. It questions how much one can sacrifice for love, and the difficulty of sometimes expressing it.

Overall, I loved the journey that this book brought me on. However young, or old, you are, wherever you live or whatever you do, this book speaks to you. It appeals to the most objective element of our humanity, and renders you speechless when it is over. 

Check out Rachel Joyce here: http://www.rachel-joyce.co.uk

Check out World Book Night here: http://www.worldbooknight.org

Buy The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Unlikely-Pilgrimage-Harold-Fry/dp/0552778095

Until next time :)

A World Book Night Special: My Reading Journey

I have always been a reader. It has defined me, shaped me, and created the person I have become today. If you had told me when I was little that at 17, I would be reviewing books on my own blog and on the Huffington Post, I would not have been surprised in the least. Ever since I was younger, I have always known that books and reading would play a huge part in my future. 

Reading was one of the first things I learned to do. The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker was the first book I read at about 6 years old, closely followed by Teddy Robinson Stories by Joan G. Robinson. After my parents had tucked me up in bed at 7pm, I would grab my torch and read these until I fell asleep. I used to think that reading was one of the naughtiest and secretive things you could do. After reading and re-reading these books, I would trace the illustrations and write my own versions (probably the earliest fanfiction!) and write my name in felt tip in the inside cover, so everyone would know that these books belonged to me. This has remained a constancy; I am not more possessive about anything else in my life more than my books. 


There has never been a moment in my childhood where I have not been reading. I can think of a few hundred books that I can say that I have loved, but few books have changed me. There have been books that have challenged my way of thinking, books that have made me cry, made me laugh, made me look at myself a little differently. There have been few books that have actually changed me as a person. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell has made me less scared of studying creative writing at university, If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch has made me treasure my siblings more, She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick has taught me that it is okay, and sometimes better to be different.

But the book that has changed me? Villette by Charlotte Brontë. It is by far not the most popular and widely-acclaimed Brontë novel, not by a long shot. But when I read it last summer, it taught me so many things. It taught me that it's okay to challenge, and be scared by, religion. It taught me that improving yourself, whether academically or your sense image, is completely normal, and it takes time. It taught me that when you feel your most alone, you will always get through it, and it isn't about someone else helping you, it is about you helping yourself. And finally, it taught me that unrequited love is one of the most painful and soul-destroying emotions to ever be felt by a person. Villette has taught me to challenge the world around me, to always ask questions, and to always have a firm grasp on what I want from life. There is nothing in life that is more important in life than having a sense of direction, and a purpose.


I would love to hear your reading journey. Share it below!

Visit the World Book Night page: http://www.worldbooknight.org

Until next time :)

World Book Night 2015

Happy Friday, readers! I apologise but for the rest of this week and most of next week I will be overwhelming you with posts... All very exciting, however! This year, I am fortunate enough to be involved with World Book Night 2015 (with The Reading Agency), a great project aiming to get the whole nation reading and loving what they read. It involves 20,000 volunteers from all over the UK handing out 400,000 free books they love to the public, and hopefully encouraging them to continue reading for pleasure. In conjunction with FmCM Associates, I will be writing some features all about World Book Night this year, including book reviews, author Q+As and even my own 'reading journey'...

The lovely Sanne from BooksandQuills has made a video about her involvement with World Book Night, and the book she has chosen to give away is Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. She has packaged them up into gorgeous little presents and has given them away, and left them in places where people will find them and pick them up.

Thousands of volunteers are doing the same thing all over country, and I am determined to do my bit to support this fantastic project! In my next few blog posts I will be spreading the world of World Book Night, sharing my favourites, and commenting on my own 'reading journey'. This year sees a sensational and diverse line up designed to bring reading and books into people’s lives. The list (featured below) covers a range of genres including crime, poetry, non-fiction, Quick Reads, fantasy and sci-fi, historical and contemporary fiction, and fiction in translation.

Appearing on the list are bestselling favourites, including Lynda La Plante’s Prime Suspect, David Almond’s Skellig, and Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. The incredible Roddy Doyle is also featured with his first Quick Read title, the spooky comedy Dead Man Talking. Also on the list this year is TV and radio personality Karl Pilkington’s hilarious comedy, The Moaning of Life – a book which is sure to appeal to his fans and to tempt those who are not yet regular readers to try a book on World Book Night. As well as these amazing books, World Book Night is able to include a wonderful anthology of poetry on the list for the first time, Essential Poems from the Staying Alive Trilogy edited by Neil Astley.

World Book Night 2015 is focusing on reaching out to as many readers as possible from all parts of the country and many public participation events through partnerships with libraries, bookshops, communities and charities, will be taking place in venues and open public spaces in celebration.

Interested? Here are the 20 titles especially selected for 2015:

1. After the Fall by Charity Norman (Allen and Unwin)

2. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M. C. Beaton (Constable, Little, Brown) 

3. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb (HarperCollins)

4. Chickenfeed by Minette Walters (Quick Read) (Pan Macmillan) 

5. Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson (Head of Zeus)

6. Dead Man Talking by Roddy Doyle (Quick Read) (Vintage, Penguin Random House)

7. Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden (Pan Macmillan)

8. Essential Poems from the Staying Alive Trilogy, Neil Astley (ed.) (Bloodaxe)

9. Honour by Elif Shafak (Penguin General, Penguin Random House)

10. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher (Orion / Hachette Children’s) 

11. Prime Suspect by Lynda La Plante (Simon & Schuster)

12. Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle (Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House)

13. Skellig by David Almond (Hachette Children’s)

14. Spring Tide by Cilla and Rolf Börjlind (Hesperus)

15. Street Cat Bob by James Bowen (Quick Read) (Hodder)

16. The Martian by Andy Weir (Ebury, Penguin Random House) 

17. The Moaning of Life by Karl Pilkington (Canongate)

18. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Transworld, Penguin Random House)

19. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Two Roads, John Murray)


20. When God Was A Rabbit by Sarah Winman (Headline)

There will be lots of posts coming up in the next few days all about World Book Night- I can't wait to share them with you!

Until next time :)