If you like your fiction with dark family secrets, obsession, a bit of the Gothic and strong women characters fighting to improve their lives, this year’s Guernsey Literary Festival will be a treat for you.
The Festival, which runs from 2-14 May, has signed up three UK writers who will tick those boxes and much more. They will be talking about their recent and in some cases break-through novels.
Liz Hyder’s book The Gifts, her debut novel for adults, is a rich and rewarding gothic mystery set in 19 th century England, where mysterious creatures and a supposed ‘fallen angel’ spell danger and obsession for four women and a fame-hungry surgeon. The book is recounted from five different perspectives.
A recent Guardian review described the book as: “a stirring tale of female empowerment, full of vivid imagery and evocative settings. In The Gifts, a Victorian novel for adults, four feisty women struggle against the constraints of a patriarchal society.”
Liz Hyder is a writer, creative workshop leader and freelance arts PR consultant. She is past winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize category. Liz will be speaking at the Guille Alles Library on Thursday 11 May from 1-2pm.
Abigail Burdess’s debut novel Mother’s Day, described by fellow writer Daisy Buchanan as: “so dark and so shockingly, fabulously funny. I absolutely adored it”, was published only last month.
Abigail has a wealth of experience writing for nearly every entertainment format imaginable, including award-winning comedy shows for television, radio and stage, including the Emmy-nominated Tracey Ullman’s Show (BBC1), Watson and Oliver (BBC2), and the BAFTA-winning That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC2), as well as children’s television, plays and musicals. She is married to comedian, actor and novelist Robert Webb.
At her Guernsey event she will be discussing her journey into fiction writing and how it has differed from other writing endeavours, resulting in the publication of her Mother’s Day, a highly anticipated thriller, with ‘the mother of all twists’.
Abigail’s talk will be at the Guille Alles Library on Friday 12 May from 4-5 pm.
Georgina Moore’s (pictured) The Garnett Girls was one of the most anticipated releases of the year and has already reached the Sunday Times best seller list.
The Garnett Girls is a powerful tale of sisterhood that asks whether children can ever be free of the mistakes of their parents. The novel is set on the Isle of Wight, where Georgina and her family have a holiday houseboat called Sturdy.
In this brilliant debut novel full of heart and warmth, three very different sisters—and their free-spirited mother—must grapple with life, responsibilities, and family secrets.
New York Times reviewer Lucy Foley, herself a best-selling author, described The Garnett Girls as “gorgeously written and utterly absorbing…a rare and wonderful delight”.
Georgina Moore, an award-winning book publicist and Deputy MD of Midas PR agency, will be speaking on Sunday 14 May from 10-11am at Les Cotils.
Further information about the festival can be found here.
