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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