Alex Miller: ‘Simple prose is valued more now than a decade ago’
Alex Miller is an Australian author, who won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1993 for his novel The Ancestor Game. His eleventh novel, Coal Creek, was published in 2013. What was the first book to...
View ArticleFrankie Gaffney’s advice to writers: ‘give up the booze and break some rules’
What was the first book to make an impression on you? My Ma started reading to me long before I can remember, so I can’t recall a first book. Where the Wild Things Are made an early impression, though....
View ArticleAnthony Glavin on Eggshells by Caitriona Lally: a novel that keeps its promises
I’ll confess it was with fingers crossed that I opened Caitriona Lally’s beguiling debut novel, Eggshells, of which I had previously seen the first 10,000 words as one of three judges for the Irish...
View ArticleReview: Eggshells, by Caitriona Lally: full of action and humour
In his analysis of the works of James Joyce, the novelist, linguist and literary critic Anthony Burgess maintained that there are two types of novels – those focused on the world at large, with plot...
View ArticleMark Billingham Q&A: ‘Cops solving crimes with supernatural powers strikes me...
Mark Billingham’s latest novel is The Bones Beneath, published by Grove Press. A former actor, television writer and stand-up comedian, his series of novels featuring DI Tom Thorne has twice won him...
View ArticleGerard Lee’s motto: ‘Write something, or there’ll be no cake’
What was the first book to make an impression on you? Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson. What was your favourite book as a child? The Boy with the Bronze Axe by Kathleen Fidler, published in 1968. I...
View Article‘I’m glad I didn’t know Eggshells would be published: not knowing was...
Caitriona Lally was a finalist in the 2014 Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair. Her first book, Eggshells, was published by Liberties Press in May. She has been shortlisted for Sunday Independent Newcomer...
View ArticleAlison Weir: ‘I loved fairy tales from infancy’
Alison Weir lives and works in Surrey. Her books include several works of non-fiction – Britain’s Royal Families, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Children of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry VIII:...
View ArticleHerman Koch on being caught by Holden Caulfield
What was the first book to make an impression on you? Robinson Crusoe. I wanted to live on an island just like him. I played I did. What was your favourite book as a child? All the books that featured...
View ArticleNeil White: ‘Enid Blyton turned me towards mystery and horror’
What was the first book to make an impression on you? Any one of the Enid Blyton Famous Five books. I remember well the feeling of mild terror as the mystery unfolded, which turned me towards mystery...
View ArticleAgnes Ravatn: ‘Research is synonymous with procrastination, so I try to avoid...
What was the first book to make an impression on you? Boy by Roald Dahl certainly made an impression. I read it as a child and actually literally fainted and woke up on the floor after reading the...
View Article‘A lot of Eggshells is from conversations I overheard. People just have no...
Meeting debut author Caitriona Lally in the Book Upstairs Café on D’Olier Street, I was extremely relieved to discover that, unlike her novel’s main character, her hair wasn’t brittle and her hygiene...
View ArticleCaitriona Lally on writing Eggshells: from the dole to a debut novel
In the summer of 2014, I got word that Liberties Press was interested in publishing my first novel, Eggshells. Three years previously, I had kept notebooks to record conversations I’d overheard on...
View ArticleKetil Bjornstad: ‘The novel is the best weapon against multi-tasking’
Ketil Bjornstad is a Norwegian pianist, composer and author. ketilbjornstad.com What was the first book to make an impression on you? It must have been Saint Exupéry, The little Prince. My father read...
View ArticleEggshells by Caitriona Lally is new Irish Times Book Club choice
Eggshells by Caitriona Lally, described by Declan Kiberd as “a fairy tale of contemporary Dublin, edgy and eloquent, a remarkable debut”, is the new Irish Times Book Club choice. Over the next four...
View ArticleMovie review: The latest attempt at 'Madame Bovary' is lovely, but so severe...
It may be, as the proverb states, that inside every fat person there is a thin one trying to get out, but it is likely not true that inside every great novel there is a fine film struggling to be made....
View ArticleGemma Bovary
Gemma Bovery (2014) Cast includes: Fabrice Luchini (The Women on the 6th Floor), Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe), Jason Flemyng (Snatch), Niels Schneider (I Killed My Mother) Director: Anne Fontaine...
View ArticleFilm review: Madame Bovary fails to make emotional connection
Reviewer rating: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars ★★★ When Gustave Flaubert's first novel came out in 1856, there was a very French reaction – they put the language of the book on trial. The ostensible charge...
View ArticleMadame Bovary
Dir: Sophie Barthes. UK-Belgium. 2014. 118mins Gustave Flaubert’s once scandalous 1856 novel has defeated many an experienced director from Vincente Minnelli to Claude Chabrol. In only her second...
View Article'Hausfrau' Strips Down Its Modern-Day Madame Bovary
7:11 AM ET Lynn Neary Audio for this story from Weekend Edition Saturday will be available at approximately 12:00 p.m. ET. Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum Hardcover, 320 pages | purchase Purchase...
View Article