Staring out of the window Eliza Graham's blog

Catalan interlude

2009-10-01T12:51:00.003Z

There are many downsides to the author's life: the bad weeks (or months) when the words won't come, the books that are turned down, the bad reviews.

Occasionally there are the wonderful highpoints, the moments when you know exactly why you want to write: the words that come flying out of your fingers on to the laptop, the readers who get exactly what you meant, the surprise sale of rights that brings in unexpected money.

And sometimes you are invited to wonderful places to talk. This week I spent a couple of days near Girona in Catalonia talking to readers enjoying a Booklovers' holiday run by 7 Day Wonder.

I've lost the adaptor for my digital camera so can't post my photos until it turns up. But the website link above will show what a beautiful venue this is. Of course, it's the people who really make it fun, and Lee and Debbie, who were running the week, cooking and generally looking after us, couldn't have been kinder. The readers staying at La Torre de Dolt for the week were a lively, thoughtful group, all passionate about books, and it was a real treat to chat about authors we enjoyed.

I had to bring a touch of winter to the sunny atmosphere by talking about Restitution, set, of course, in the throes of a Prussian winter. But hopefully it just made everyone relish the sunny comforts around them even more.

Jubilee and when life mirrors art

2009-08-31T12:18:00.003Z

I've been away from this blog for a long time, desperately trying to complete my third novel, Jubilee.

This morning something happened which literally made a shiver run down my spine. Jubilee, in part, is the story of some ten-year-old children who are evacuated from London to the countryside where I live. They come from an inner city life to the Berkshire Downs and learned a new life, which involved being close to sheep and pigs and chickens.

This morning, while I was doing the hoovering, a man knocked on the door. Turns out he'd been evacuated to this very cottage as a ten-year-old at the beginning of World War 2. He was in the village to commemorate the start of the war.

So all the time I was writing my novel I was sitting in a cottage which had witnessed events very similar to those I was dreaming up.

We showed him round the cottage and chatted about life then and now, and some of the families who'd lived in the village, and whose descendants are still here.

The Bookbag

2009-05-17T17:08:00.003Z

The Bookbag has reviewed Restitution. The blog is a great place to go if you're looking for ideas of what to read next.

Flogging the Quill

2009-05-11T13:06:00.004Z

Editor Ray Rhamey's blog, Flogging the Quill, is one of the longest-standing of its kind on the net and has won him many fans. If you're looking for an editor to stand over your shoulder while you polish your book (aren't we all?), take a look at Ray's new book, Flogging the Quill: Crafting a Book That Sells.

To find out more about Ray, visit his site (there's a link from this blog, on the bottom right).

Interview on Pan Macmillan site

2009-05-08T10:04:00.001Z

Interview with Eliza about Restitution at the Pan Macmillan website.

Blogging Restitution

2009-05-07T19:50:00.003Z

Book bloggers have been busy reviewing Restitution and you can read their blogs at Juxtabook and Carole's Books .

Restitution now a Pan Macmillan Paperback

2009-04-25T15:09:00.006Z

I'm delighted that Restitution has come out in paperback and is already available at Amazon at the reduced price of £4.79.

Alternatively, there is an extra 10% Off all Books at Waterstones on orders worth £20 or more. Use code PP6666.

Restitution a Pan Macmillan Paperback

2009-04-25T15:09:00.001Z

Extra 10% Off all Books at Waterstones on orders worth £20 or more. Use code PP6666

Free books for reviewers

2009-04-08T09:22:00.003Z

If you're a keen reader, for pleasure or 'work', and would like a review copy of Restitution, please email me on grhelizATgmail.com. I have four copies of the soon-to-be-released paperback to send reviewers. No conditions, as long as you can commit to writing and posting/publishing a review within the next three weeks.

It doesn't have to be a print newspaper, it can be a blog/online book review site or Amazon. And you don't have to reveal your identity to me if you don't want to, as long as you give me a safe mailing address for the book.

Just to remind you what Restitution is about, here's the blurby bit from Amazon:

February 1945. Europe is in ruins and the Red Army is searing its way across Germany's eastern marches, revenging itself upon a petrified population. The war is over, but for some the fight for survival is only just beginning. Alix, the aristocratic daughter of a German resistance fighter, is desperate to flee before the Reds come. But when a ferocious snowstorm descends she is left alone and terrified.

To find out more about the book, look at the review section on the right hand of this blog.

Ann Weisgarber

2009-04-07T17:58:00.002Z

Huge congratulations to fellow MNW author Ann Weisgarber, whose debut novel, The History of Rachel of DuPree, is on the shortlist (of three) for the Orange New Writers' Prize (to go alongside her longlisting for the main Orange Prize).

RESTITUTION an editor's pick

2009-03-17T17:58:00.001Z

I'm delighted to discover that Restitution is an editor's pick at the Historical Novels Review (scroll down nine titles). [Photo]

Two more books

2009-01-15T13:54:00.003Z

I'm really delighted to announce that Pan Macmillan has contracted me to write two further books. The first, provisionally entitled JUBILEE, is about the disappearance of a girl from a Silver Jubilee party in a chocolate-box pretty village 1977 and how this mystery relates to less than chocolate-box pretty events occuring in her farming family decades earlier.

I have no idea what the second one will be about though I did have an idea when we up in Scotland on a long family walk through a very icy, very beautiful copse beside an almost frozen Highland river.

JUBILEE has to be completed by the end of May. I have set myself the task of writing at least one thousand words every working day.

Norway

2008-12-18T18:18:00.005Z

I've just had the early Christmas present of finding out that a Norwegian publisher, Cappelen Damm, have bought the rights to Restitution. It will be published in their Storia series of historical fiction.

I'm delighted about this.

Journals #1

2008-12-15T12:22:00.003Z

Gabcast! Journals #1

Journals #1

2008-12-15T12:22:00.001Z

Gabcast! Journals #1

Restitution in large print

2008-11-14T08:32:00.001Z

Well, Katy, who kindly commented on my last post, you clearly possess ESP because I was going to blog this week to say that ISIS are going to publish Restitution in large print, next year, I believe!

I'm delighted about this.

A Woman in Berlin: Zeitgeist?

2008-10-25T16:07:00.005Z

I was interested to read this article in The Daily Mail and a similar one in The Daily Telegraph about a new German film which seems to cover the historical events Restitution focuses on: the wholescale rape of German women by the Red Army.

It's good to see that this appalling crime is receiving some attention.

I'm always anxious when I talk about this in relation to Restitution that it makes the book look terribly gloomy. Dark things do happen in the novel, but the end is upbeat, with the reunion of families and the tying up of loose ends.

Debutante's Ball

2008-10-11T16:14:00.002Z

Today I'm very pleased to be guest-blogging over at the Debutante's Ball. Do pop over and say hello.

Oxford Times article on me and Restitution

2008-10-10T07:32:00.004Z

The Oxford Times has written this article about Restitution, following an interview I did with Helen Peacock.

Mary Cavanagh's A Man Like Any Other: The Priest's Tale

2008-10-06T19:19:00.007Z

Mary Cavanagh is another Oxfordshire author I have come to know over the last year since we met at Mostly Books in Abingdon. I discovered her writing when Mark gave me her first novel, The Crowded Bed, which was a delight.

Her second novel, A Man Like Any Other, came out last month and I've just finished reading it. Mary has excelled herself; it's a fine book. Some of the themes present in The Crowded Bed such as the tangled knots of family relationships and the psychological prisons we construct for ourselves and others are also to be found in A Man Like Any Other.

Here's the synopsis: Father Ewan McEwan is the chaplain of Waldringhythe, a Cistercian Abbey on the Suffolk coast. Despite his binding vows as a Roman Catholic priest he has, for most of his adult life, secretly enjoyed a passionate and devoted affair with Marina Proudfoot. When Marina dies, his profound grief forces Father McEwan to follow his own unique instruction; 'To know yourself is to understand yourself, and memory is the only key'. Thus, he tells his life story, from the mystery of his early childhood, his moral dilemmas as a young adult, his world fame as the subject of a controversial, iconic photograph, and his present as a sinning priest.

Edited to add: Mary Cavanagh will be at Mostly Books in Abingdon on Wednesday 8th October,at 7.30pm.

Find this book on Amazon.

Book Launch

2008-09-27T16:17:00.006Z

I had a wonderful book launch party on Wednesday at Mostly Books in Abingdon. I don't have many photos but I'm hoping that Mark at MB will have posted some on his blog and I can redirect you over there.

We sold, I would imagine, around 45 books, if you include the 11 I took home to hand on to people who'd requested signed copies. Not bad for a mid-week in a market town, and a tribute to Mostly Books' ability to get people into the shop. Mine was about the fourth event they were hosting in two days, so I was lucky to grab a slot!

Thanks to everyone who came--it was lovely to see you all.

RESTITUTION

2008-09-18T07:55:00.003Z

Friday 19th September is publication date for Restitution.

It's a strange moment: I've been working on the book for about six years, on and off, and here it is at last, in print. Part of me still wants to grab it back and just check that I can't do another rewrite but I suppose this is it: the final version. Gulp.

So here's a little about the book:

February 1945, Europe is in ruins and the Red Army is revenging itself upon a petrified population. The war is over, but for some the fight for survival is only just beginning. Alix, the aristocratic daughter of a German resistance fighter, is alone and desperate to flee before the Reds come. But when a ferocious snowstorm descends she must return to the shelter of her abandoned ancestral home.

There, she is shocked to find her childhood sweetheart Gregor. As old passions are rekindled, a couple break into the house to hide - the man, dressed in Gestapo uniform, is a stranger, but his companion is altogether more familiar.By morning, the blizzard has died down but the Reds are back. The woman and her Nazi escort are dead, and Gregor has vanished.

Alone and terrified, Alix runs for her life, and embarks upon an extraordinary and heartbreaking journey. It will take sixty years and the fall of another empire - Communism - before the riddles of that fateful night can be deciphered.

"Restitution" is a memorable novel about love and betrayal, hatred and heroism - a reminder that, even in the worst of times, the most courageous acts of kindness are possible.

2008-09-15T08:32:00.001Z

The Professors' Wives' Club, Joanne Rendell

2008-09-15T08:19:00.004Z

Joanne Rendell is a Brit who, after completing her PhD in English Literature, moved to the States to be with her husband, a professor at NYU. She and I have met in several places online and become friends and I'm thrilled that her debut novel launches this week.

I bet some people have to concentrate hard on getting those apostrophes in her title right. Even professors' wives might have to pay attention. And that might not be the end to their problems, as The Professors' Wives' Club relates.

With its iron gate and high fence laced with honeysuckle, Manhattan University’s garden offers faculty wives Mary, Sofia, Ashleigh, and Hannah a much needed refuge. Each of them carries a scandalous secret that could rock the prestigious university to its very core.

When a ruthless Dean tries to demolish the garden, the four women are thrown together in a fight which enrages and unites them.

THE PROFESSORS’ WIVES CLUB

by Joanne Rendell

New American Library/Penguin; 2^nd September, 2008

Spotted

2008-09-05T08:57:00.003Z

Spotted in Borders at Heathrow's Terminal Four: the paperback version of Borderlands by Brian McGilloway and Annabel Dore's The Great North Road (which I bought because I hadn't read it yet and I loved it and left it in Sydney for my brother's next guests to enjoy).

Spotted in Dymocks in George Street, Sydney, copies of Playing with the Moon. What a lovely bookshop that is. I could have lingered a long time there and in fact we did lose both children and 'urgent' purchases were made.

Spotted in its US edition in bookshops across the States (including Houston and Huntington Beach): Brian McGilloway's Borderlands. You are becoming ubiquitous, Brian.

We are starting to cross the planet!