Hello booklovers,

The nights are well and truly drawing in and there is an Autumnal tang in the air. If you fancy getting into the spooky spirit why not take some inspiration from our recommendations below?

The Corset by Laura Purcell

Review by Anna Tink

If you’re in the mood for some seasonally spooky reads, I would recommend that you look no further than the novels of Laura Purcell, who with her wonderful blend of Gothic horror, historical detail and creepy sense of menace has had me captivated over the last few months.

The Corset was the first of her novels to catch my eye, with its stunning cover, the peacock feather thread curling seductively across the front of the book. The two heroines, Dorothea, wealthy, well educated and engaged in charitable work, and Ruth, a very young, maltreated seamstress, poor and in prison; the object of Dorothea’s interest as a self confessed murderess with a dark secret.

The Victorian world of pseudo scientific thought, through Dorothea’s interest in phrenology, (the possibility that bumps on the skull can predict mental traits), ghostly superstition, witnessed in Ruth’s relationship with the eponymous corsets she stitches, and the macabre outcomes of her work, move forward the stories of the protagonists, both feisty, intelligent and passionate, despite their different backgrounds and situations. Classic Victorian themes of madness, murder and betrayal are all evident here, and make for a riveting and malevolent read. The Corset, that most imprisoning of garments tightens it grip to the final stitch…..

Since then I have read The Silent Companions and Bone China by the same author; more great heroines in creepy gothic tales with fascinating historical detail to add to the chilling mix, and more eyecatching covers too. I look forward to Laura’s next novel, The Shape of Darkness in 2021. I thoroughly recommend these eerie tales as the nights draw in. Move a little closer to the fire and prepare to be just a little bit spooked.

Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins 

This deliciously dark offering from Lucy Atkins takes us into the shady lanes and old creaking houses of Oxford. Complete with priest holes, ghosts and dark pasts, this psychological thriller is riveting and disturbing in equal measure.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’  was first published in 1892 in the New England magazine. This powerful short work tells a story based on the author’s own experience. A woman living through an enforced ‘rest cure’ following the birth of a child starts to see shapes moving in the walls and is slowly driven mad by it. You’ll never look at patterned wallpaper the same way again…

There is plenty to get your teeth into here and we won’t judge you if you want to keep the light on as you read…

Bookish best,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team

Hello booklovers,

We do hope you enjoyed tour latest FbF book club meeting. We are delighted to report that the next session will take place at 7.30pm on the 13th of October, with a book choice of ‘A Thousand Ships’ by Natalie Haynes. Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, ‘A Thousand Ships’ brings a fascinating retelling of the Trojan War.

‘This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of all of them.

In the middle of the night, Creusa wakes to find her beloved Troy engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of brutal conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over, and the Greeks are victorious. Over the next few hours, the only life she has ever known will turn to ash..

The devastating consequences of the fall of Troy stretch from Mount Olympus to Mount Ida, from the citadel of Troy to the distant Greek islands, and across oceans and sky in between. These are the stories of the women embroiled in that legendary war and its terrible aftermath, as well as the feud and the fatal decisions that started it all. . .

Powerfully told from an all-female perspective, A Thousand Ships gives voices to the women, girls and goddesses who, for so long, have been silent.’

As well as being a writer, Natalie is also a comedian and a broadcaster – her show ‘Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics’ is well worth a listen. You can find it here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b077x8pc

A Zoom invite will be sent out closer to the time – see you all there!

Bookish best,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team

Hello booklovers,

Bookish best,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team

Hello booklovers,

Once upon a time, we lived through lockdown. Bleak news filled our lives globally and personally; shops and establishments closed their doors and plans were cancelled; we were denied seeing our family and our friends. In the face of blank calendars and scribbled-out diaries, there was very little to look forward to… until a variety of innovative people decided to take matters into their own hands.

Up and down the UK, museums, galleries and festivals moved their work online for all to view, including our very own Felixstowe Book Festival.

As our festival director Meg worked hard to figure out this brave new world of cultural events, many questions filled our heads…

“Would it work?”

“Will anyone watch?”

“Would it still be interesting?”

“Will people still enjoy it?”

The answer to all of our ponderings seems to be… a resounding yes! This weekend we held virtual host to a wonderful line up of authors and speakers.

We went live through entertaining interviews with Paul French, Liz Trenow, Nick Cottam, Carol Drinkwater, George Alagiah and Harriet Tyce. A fascinating evening was spent with Brontë expert Nick Holland on Friday evening and we heard Martin Bell’s musings on his life and career on Saturday evening. The weekend was peppered with video insights into the days in the lockdown lives of some of our favourite authors. Our younger festival fans enjoyed story readings and drawalongs to keep them busy. All in all, our packed programme provided some much needed literary sustenance to you all during one of the strangest and most stressful years of our lives.

We are delighted with the supportive response we have received from you all, dear festival fans, and are quite overwhelmed to see that we have managed to raise over £1000 thanks to your kind donations, which you can check out through our fundraising page. We thank you from the bottom of our bookish hearts – we couldn’t do this without you.

So, that is it for 2020! We did not start the new decade expecting our festival weekend to turn out quite as it did, but we are so glad you enjoyed it in its virtual form. As a final cherry on the cake, all our festival videos are still available to watch on our website and on our Facebook page.

Without further ado, here’s to 2021!

Take care everyone.

Bookish best,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team x

 

Hello booklovers,

Today’s the day! Our festival is finally here and we are all very excited here at the virtual festival HQ. We hope you are too.

As you know, our festival this year is entirely online.

We have a whole host of Live Interviews, pre-recorded author Q&As, plus video insights into the day in the life of an author in lockdown. What more could you wish for? And for our younger festival fans we have drawalongs and a story reading, such fun!

Don’t forget to take a look at our guide to viewing our Live events here: https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/how-to-view-our-fbf-live-stream-videos. 

For anyone not using Facebook, head to the Online section of our website over the weekend where you will be able to view the festival. You can find this here: https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/online

If you feel like having a good read, have you had a look at our latest blog series, the Castaway Library?

Imagine if you were stranded on a desert island, with nothing but three books to keep you entertained. Which books would you pick?

We posed this very question to several authors who would have, under normal circumstances, been guests at our original 2020 festival, and recieved some totally fascinating responses. Look out for the castaway libraries of Edward Parnell, Kit Yates and Louise Millar.

You can find them here:

We are so grateful to all the support we have been receiving from both our supporters and our sponsors. This week we took to our blog to thank Kingsfleet Wealth, David Button Independent Funeral Directors, Coes Felixstowe, Jackamans Solicitors and Poor Richards Books for their support and sponsorship of our Live interview events this year. You can find out more information about each sponsor through our other blog posts.

Everything kicks off tonight with our book club meeting hosted on Zoom by Liz Rastrick and Ruth Dugdall – we hope to see you there! You can find all information about this wonderful celebration here:  https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/events/felixstowe-book-festival-book-group-happy-birthday-anne-bronte

Here is a reminder of our full programme!

Thank you for all your support over the past few weeks, we do hope you enjoy our online festival!

Bookish best,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team x

Hello booklovers,

Our festival is extremely lucky to recieve a great deal of support from local businesses and we are so grateful for their sponsorship. Today we are saying a big thank you to David Button Independent Funeral Directors.

David Button Independent Funeral Directors is a small, family run business with a friendly, relaxed and calming atmosphere. David Button’s premises is conveniently located in Walton on the outskirts of Felixstowe, on a main bus route and with free on street parking. You can get in touch via phone (Tel: 01394 200793) or through their website Www.davidbuttonfuneraldirectors.co.uk.

David Button is very kindly sponsoring our live stream interview with Paul French.

A great big bookish thank you,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team

Hello booklovers,

We would like to round off our celebration of our sponsors by saying a huge thank you to yet another independent local business showing us their support: Poor Richard’s Books.

Poor Richard’s Books is an independent book shop located in Felixstowe town centre specialising in second-hand and antiquarian books. 70,000 books on two floors include local interest titles on Felixstowe and East Anglia plus children’s illustrated, crafts and pastimes, transport and paperback fiction. You can get in touch on the phone (Tel: 01394 283138) or via the Poor Richard’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Bookstore/Poor-Richards-Books-248406908840401/.

Poor Richard’s Books is kindly sponsoring our live-stream interview with Liz Trenow.

A great big bookish thank you,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team

Hello booklovers,

Over the past few days a collection of authors have taken isolation to the next level and imagined themselves alone on a desert island with only three books for company. Together they assembled a magnificent castaway library.

Here are the books to be found on our literary desert island (author surname first, in true library style…)

The selfish gene by Richard Dawkins

Dark Pines by Will Dean

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Oceanic Birds of the World: A Photo Guide by Steve Howell and Kirk Zufelt

Curious Warnings: The Great Ghost Stories of M. R. James

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Motherwell by Deborah Orr

Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Certainly a selection enough to keep one stimulated and well read when stuck alone on a desert island! With grateful thanks to our contributors, Edward Parnell, Kit Yates and Louise Millar.

The next question is… which three books would you class as essential reading for life alone on a desert island? We would love to know!

Bookish best,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team x

You can find our full castaway library interviews here: