On 5 May 2011 a referendum on electoral reform was held in the UK: 68% of us voted No; 32% (including me) voted Yes; the turnout was 42%. We weren’t collectively brave enough, or we were too frightened of change to vote Yes conclusively (or to vote at all). Last Thursday, 7 May 2015, a Conservative government was … Read More
Author: Angela
103 years on, Titanic; and the things that come unbidden when you write
One hundred and three years ago today more than 1,500 people died in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic when RMS Titanic hit the iceberg and then sank, in the early hours of 15 April. My great-grandmother, Nöel Rothes, was one of the lucky survivors and this year YOU Magazine in the Mail on Sunday has … Read More
A time when women weren’t persons … and other equally unequal inequalities
In 1927 a group of Canadian women’s rights activists, including Emily Murphy, who was born 147 years ago today launched the Persons Case, which contended that women were qualified persons eligible to sit in the Senate. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that they were not (I wonder what the Supreme Court, in its wisdom, thought women were, … Read More
The Brain in Love; and Jim Burge’s Burgeoning Promotional Videos for writers and artists
Dr Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University, studies the brain, in love. She gave a glorious TED talk about it, here. I particularly loved Walt Whitman: Oh, I would stake all for you. and Emily Dickinson: Parting is all we need to know of Hell. and Dr Fisher herself: Anthropologists have never found a society that did not have love. And, … Read More
Je Suis Charlie …
… one week on, what else is there to say but Je Suis Charlie and to stand with the murdered at Charlie Hebdo? Except Je Suis Ahmed.
Fog Island Mountains and Dr Atal Gawande, this year’s BBC Reith Lecturer
Michelle Bailat-Jones has written a beautiful novel called Fog Island Mountains. I’ve just posted a review of it here. The novel won the 2013 Christopher Doheny Award and I hope it goes on to sell, and so to affect, many many readers. It deserves to because it deals with the most serious event in our lives with eloquence, compassion, honesty … Read More
Sequels, Literary Festivals and Natasha O’Farrell’s heavenly handbag
There have been some heart-warming reactions to The Dance of Love and several people have suggested I write a sequel, possibly set in the Depression and the lead-up to the Second World War because, they said, it would be fascinating to find out what happens next in the characters’ lives and how they do or don’t live … Read More
Haworth Parsonage, Richard Flanagan and Anselm Keifer
In September we holidayed in England: we travelled north-west to Stratford (and saw a wonderful production of The Roaring Girl, a play about Mary Frith, an astonishing sixteenth-century woman who lived and dressed as a man, partly in defiance of her times to give herself freedom, partly so she could act as pimp, procurer and … Read More
The Launch of The Dance of Love, History of the Rain, and Emily Young’s Kew Gardens angel video
The DANCE of LOVE was launched at the wonderful Barnes Bookshop last Thursday: I wrote about on Robert Hale’s blog – the book’s publishers – here. It was a happy family affair: my whole family was there: my two younger sisters smuggled my American sister into the country for it which was a wonderful; the family of … Read More
Today for one day only THE DANCE of LOVE is .99p on the Kindle Daily Deal (or $1.64 in the US)
If you own an electronic reading device (why does that sound so odd?) and you’d like to download and read a historical romance that’s received kind words from reviewers (‘Lovers of Austen will find much to admire here’ Shiny New Books; ‘A beautifully-written book that moved me deeply’ BooksPlease; ‘Sparkles with rich and authentic detail’ Fiction is … Read More
Niall Williams’s History of the Rain
I’m so full of Niall Williams‘s History of the Rain that I don’t want to write about anything else this month. It is the most beautiful and beautifully-written novel I’ve read, probably ever, and if not ever, then certainly for a very very long time. And it is – naturally – a book I would love to … Read More
The DANCE of LOVE is published today
Hurrah! A big thank you to Buried River Press for publishing it. You can find out more from the YouTube film here, or the book’s pages on my website, here: and, if you’d like to, you can buy it in paperback here and here and with worldwide free delivery here or in an electronic edition here. … Read More
THE DANCE of LOVE PUBLISHED SOON; GOODREADS GIVEAWAY; FIRST TWO REVIEWS and … StuckinaBooks’ letters and Letters to an Unknown Soldier
Happy news, THE DANCE of LOVE will be published on 31 July by Buried River Press. You can pre-order copies here and here and here with free worldwide delivery, and, of course, here. There’s also a Goodreads Giveaway running from today until early on 17 July for four free copies. Enter here, if you’d like … Read More
THE DANCE of LOVE : goodreads giveaway. And Bill Viola at St Paul’s, London
In a few days’ time, 17 June to be exact, for a couple of days until midnight on 19 June, two uncorrected paperback pre-publication proofs of THE DANCE of LOVE will be available free in a goodreads giveaway. If you’d like to enter the draw – it’s limited to people living in the UK and … Read More
Writing a novel is just like life …
… it’s only in the doing of it that I discover what works and what doesn’t. I can plan and plan and plan and I do, but when I do I tend, at least some of the time, to let myself get away with vague descriptions, half-formed theories or, sometimes, whole ideas that don’t hold … Read More
SPEAKING of LOVE : just .99p or $1.66 for Easter : Kindle Countdown
For a few days over Easter, 17 April to 22 April to be exact, the ebook of SPEAKING of LOVE will be half price. Just .99p at amazon.co.uk and $1.66 at amazon in the USA : it’s on a Kindle Countdown. You can watch the clock counting down should that be your kind of thing here for the … Read More
The Titanic: the 102nd anniversary of the tragic sinking, and, on a happier note, the launch of SHINY NEW BOOKS
On this day, 102 years ago, many many people drowned, or froze to death, in the icy waters of the north Atlantic after RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg. My great-grandmother, Noël Rothes, was one of the lucky survivors. I wrote about her experience on the 100th anniversary of the sinking, here. But I’m sure there are … Read More
Failure is the Mother of Success; and Paula Meehan
失败是成功之母 Shībài shì chénggōng zhī mǔ Failure is the Mother of Success (a Chinese Proverb) Last week Anne Enright, Booker Prize-winning wonderful writer, gave one of BBC Radio 4’s The Value of Failure programmes. Sadly they’re no longer available to listen to again, but I’ll do my best to convey the essence of what she … Read More
Scared to Say I Love You this Valentine’s Day? Fabularium and Random Acts of Kindness Week
If the very idea of saying I love you this Valentine’s Day scares you to death, may I suggest a remedy: ask yourself why you’re with (or want to be with) the one you love and then make a list of your reasons. I know, it sounds far too practical to be romantic (and probably … Read More
SPEAKING of LOVE: an alternative Valentine ?
SPEAKING of LOVE is one of amazon’s Recommended Valentine’s Reads this week (10-17 February). Happy days. But please be warned: it is an alternative Valentine, one that asks why we find it so difficult to talk about love; one that shows the terrible consequences of not talking about love. It doesn’t pretend love is easy.