WOMEN AUTHORS AND BOOKS TO REMEMBER
Marsha
Hunt: The Sixties star talks about her book
Best remembered for her role in the first rock musical Hair with its
notorious nude scene, the iconic Sixties star Marsha Hunt writes about her
struggles with cancer in her book Undefeated in which she records
her recent battle with breast cancer. Undefeated by Marsha Hunt, published
by Mainstream Publishing - ISBN:1845960785.
Quite challenging in its nature, the books appeals to both sexes. It is
dramatic and fun too.
Pamela Stevenson: Sails the
South Seas in search of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson
Pamela
Stephenson gave up her job as a psychologist and - having analysed her
husband, the comedian Billy Connolly - left him and two of their daughters
behind, as she followed in the intrepid footsteps of Fanny Stevenson,
maverick wife of the writer, Robert Louis Stevenson. Pamela talks
about her journey in a sailing boat around the South Seas, meeting her dream
lover - and how Billy reacted to her trip. Treasure Islands:
Sailing The South Seas in the wake of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson by
Pamela Stephenson, Headline Books, ISBN: 0 7553 1285 6. The book is as
exciting as the personality of the author. Get a copy.
M.
L. MALCOLM'S "SILENT LIES"
This is
the story of a Hungarian boy born into poverty, who uses his amazing ability
with languages to build a brilliant new life for himself. But when Hungary
collapses after its defeat in World War I, Leo loses everything. Caught up
in a riptide of events beyond his control, he reinvents himself as
circumstances demand, eventually fleeing to Shangha. He takes with him a
stolen diamond necklace that will prove to be his salvation—or his death
warrant. Based on actual historical events, from the Communist takeover of
Budapest in 1920 to the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937,
Silent Lies brims with fascinating
details about life among the rich and scandalous during the period between
the two World Wars. Malcolm excelled in depicting the authentic aura and
ambiance of the era. Her characters are captivating, even though, her hero
is not exactly a saint or a martyr. This is a mesmerizing story told in the
genre of a Robert Louis Stevenson who has just swallowed a double cognac
with Victor Hugo. Malcom's mastery of lyrical suspense is evident. The story
encompasses all aspects of life, its ups and downs, hopes and despair,
adventures and rendez vous with fatality. A must buy book. It will haunt you
for years to come.
Hardcover: 6 x
9, 336 pages.
Publisher: Longstreet Press (USA) (November 2005) ISBN: 1563527502.
Alice Walker: Do older women
want their own romantic fiction?
Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, talks about her life and work.
The latest literary phenomenon is 'Matron Lit': romantic fiction
aimed at the older woman. Do older women want to see the reality of their
lives reflected in romantic fiction or do they prefer their fantasy figures
in pert good health, and without the family responsibilities and emotional
baggage that maturity often brings? Alice Walker burst
onto the literary stage in 1983 when she became the first African-American
woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Colour Purple. The book
went on to sell more than 5 million copies, and in 1985 was made into a film
by Steven Spielberg - bringing the experiences of a young black woman in
the American South to a mass audience for the first time. In 1992, her
novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy, raised awareness on the issue of female
genital mutilation. She's been a controversial campaigner for black and
women's rights - coining the term 'womanist' to describe African American
women's experience of feminism. Now, at the age of 61, she's the author of
27 books - of poetry, novels, short stories and memoirs. Now Is
The Time To Open Your Heart by Alice Walker, published by Phoenix,
ISBN:0753819570, is an outstanding literary achievement.
Ilil
Arbel's The Lemon Tree: A masterpiece. Best Short Novel of the Year.
As soon as you
begin to read Ilil Arbel's masterpiece, "The Lemon Tree", you start to feel
the presence of a superb writer who has unveiled the intimate secrets of
conversing with the depth of the soul and the warmth of a parallel world of
beauty and love which dissipated in joyfully morose and cherished
memories. Arbel's tender, heart felt and nostalgic style echoes the drama of
Tolstoy and charming eloquence of Victor Hugo. The past is romantic, but no
one wants to live it again. In Arbel's book, the past continues on a
different path. It is a joyful one, a hopeful road of life, despite the hard
time, the suffering, the constant threat of typhoid fever and horrible
deceases without cure, facing arrest at Port Said, the fear of being
shot by Manchurian officials for smuggling "a few necessities of life", and
desperately chasing runway trains, her parents went through, suffered from
and barely made it to the promised land. Arbel wrote about all these
unpleasant and horrifying events her parents experienced and suffered
from. However, the sweetness and lyrical warmth of her style, the way she
described how Marusia, Ilil family's nanny was concerned about Ida, (Ilil's
mother) frozen nose, because Siberia's icy weather, where Ilil's
parent previously lived, had no mercy on humans, and how papa used to rub
her frozen nose with snow and goose fat, while hugging her.
Photo:
Dr. Ilil Arbel, the author of "THE LEMON TREE". Truly, this woman is one of
the greatest writers of our time.
You will be touched
by the simplistic, yet majestically eloquent and descriptive style of Arbel
which brought back the memories of taking trips to the woods to collect
bluebells and wild berries, skating on the Siberian ice, building huge
snowmen with coal eyes, traveling in troikas, pushing their
"child-size sleds", running madly with exuberant joy and innocence,
jumping to lie on them and " traveling for unbelievable distances on the
uninterrupted sheets of ice, feeling as if they were flying."
Yes, it is true,
you will be reading about an ordinary and loving Siberian family who lost
their child and promised to keep his soul alive through an ordinary lemon
tree, should they succeed to plant it in an orchard in Israel. I would give
my life for a lemon tree, for a cactus tree, even for the hell tree, if that
tree would keep alive the soul, the fragile whispers, the bleeding memory,
the loving face of a child I lost and loved so much! This tree is not a
plant. In Arbel's book, as well as on the roads of life, Sasha's tree
becomes a citadel, a temple, a cathedral, a shrine, a human chronicle,
perhaps a human drama, and perhaps too, a guiding light...a strong
shoulder...and the reflection of myriads of hope, perhaps?
Photo:
Ida Rosenfeld, co-author of THE LEMON
TREE and Ilil's mother in her thirties in Israel.
Thanks to the
magnificent artistry of Ilil Arbel, the whispers of Ida, the jokes and
stories of Papa, the silly but tasty cakes of Mama, we learned that
the very simple day by day experience of ordinary but "real" people, the
songs they sang, the stories they heard and told, the family bond that ties
together, mother, father, grand mother, children and grandchildren, naive
but funny jokes are more significant, meaningful , tender and mightier than
all the swords of the Iliad and Herculean exploits. Get a copy of the book.
Get more copies, if you have real friends. "THE LEMON TREE" is a
masterpiece. One of the 10 best books of the year. A triumph of the pen and
the human spirit. Two thumbs up.
THE LEMON TREE:
Publication date: February 2005. Price: $11.95. Size: 6x9. ISBN:
0-595-33982-4. Pages: 104. Illustrated. Available from Ingram Book Group,
Baker & Taylor, iUniverse, Inc., Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.
Kate Adie
On her new book
In an era obsessed by family history, how do people without any cope? Kate
Adie was adopted as a baby and has written a new book about foundlings,
children who are abandoned to the state by their mothers, often with next to
nothing to connect them to their roots. Kate talks about
Nobody's Child and how the lack of information about where the
foundlings have come from affects them as they grow up. Nobody's Child by
Kate Adie, published by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd -ISBN: 0340838000
Adriana
Trigiani: Author and director
Adriana Trigiani is author of the bestselling Big Stone
Gap books, a series of quirky tales set in a coal-mining town in southwest
Virginia. In her latest book 'Rococo', she tells the story of a small
Italian-American town poised for a makeover never expected. The book
is colorful, informative and entertaining. Rococo by Adriana
Trigiani, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0743263677.
Lynn Knight
Author
Lynn Knight tells us about the woman who started out as a factory girl then
became one of Britain's most distinctive designers.
Her brightly coloured designs are instantly recognisable and it's this that
makes Clarice Cliff one of the most influential ceramic designers of the
last hundred years. She was a woman who rose from being an apprentice gilder
in the potteries to a position as an art director, described by the press as
a "brilliant girl artist." The striking range which she designed, decorated
with "a gargantuan feast of colour", is now seen as the epitome of Art Deco
and avidly collected. The modern spirit of her work captured the essence of
the 1920s, a time when women were embracing new freedoms. Lynn Knight
whose biography of Clarice Cliff tells the story of a woman who started out
as a factory girl and became one of Britain's most distinctive designers. I
found the book to be extremely entertaining and authoritative as well.
Wealth of captivating stories and passages of time. Highly recommended.
Clarice Cliff by Lynn Knight, published by Bloomsbury - ISBN: 0747578281
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Booker
nominated author on her new novel
Rachel Cusk's new novel 'In The Fold' has been nominated for this year's
Booker prize. Described as a classic story of modern manners, the book takes
a blackly comic look at the modern English family as it follows the story of
Michael and Rebecca's crumbling marriage and their attempts to rekindle old
friendships.
Sabine Kuegler On her
Jungle Childhood
Sabine Kuegler grew up with a little-known tribe in a remote jungle area of
West Papua in Indonesia and moved to Europe aged 17. Kuegler adapted to
everyday life, in her new world. She writes about what she made of her first
encounters with supermarkets, train stations and pop music. Jungle
Child by Sabine Kuegler is published by Virago Press, ISBN: 184408261X
Dava
Sobel: The author talks about her new book
Did you know that sunlight travels to us at 186 thousand miles per second,
or that on Mercury, a day is twice as long as a year? Or that the Aztecs saw
Venus as the twin brother of the sun and that a single carat of moon rock
sold at auction for more than four hundred thousand dollars? Dava
Sobel, author of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter and now The Planets,
gives us an awakening insight on the subject. The Planets by Dava
Sobel, published by Fourth Estate Ltd - ISBN:1857028503
Anna Swan's Statues Without Shadows
A daughter's
search for the parents she never knew. When Anna Swan was a young
girl she was told her father was a demon and her mother a saint. This was a
picture painted by her maternal grandparents who took her in when her mum
died. By the time she was seven her father had died too and Anna was left to
grow up in an atmosphere of secrets and lies. Anna Swan writes about those
cherished , happy and painful family's tableaux in her biography, Statues
Without Shadows, and her long search to discover the dark truth about her
parents and the lives they led at the heart of London's 1950s literary
scene. Statues without Shadows by Anna Swan, published by Sceptre -
ISBN: 0340835370.
Helen Fielding: The author
revives her Bridget Jones column
Helen Fielding has revived her Bridget Jones newspaper column ten years
after her thirty-something creation made its debut. Helen has now settled
with a partner and has had a child, so what new challenges does she perceive
for the world's most famous singleton?
Anna Akhmatova
by Elaine Feinstein
: Discover the Russian
poet's extraordinary life.
Anna Akhmatova was not only one of the greatest Russian poets of her day,
she was also known for her bravery. Throughout Stalin's terror, she stood by
friends such as Dmitri Shostakovich and Boris Pasternak who were threatened
by the regime. She was famously beautiful and many men fell in love with
her, but each of her three marriages were unhappy.
Diana Melly: Author talks about the ups and downs in her life
Diana Melly has been a night-club hostess, model, novelist and has been
married to George Melly for 42 years. When they met, she was 24, had
already been married twice and had two children. Diana has now written
frankly about her life in a new autobiography. Melly candidly writes
about her open marriage, the death of her son, her role as a mother
and her thoughts about Greckel – one of George’s former lovers. A revealing
and powerful piece of work. Captivating. Take a Girl Like Me by Diana Melly,
ISBN 07011 79066 - Published by Random House.
Shirley Hazzard on her
holiday reading list
Most of us, throughout the year, make ourselves promises about the books
we really must get round to - whether they're classics or contemporary - but
there's never enough time to get going. Holidays are a good opportunity to
catch up so we've been inviting authors to share their must reads with us.
Shirley Hazzard's novel The Great Fire was short-listed for the
Orange Prize and won the National Book Award in the United States. So what
was on her holiday reading list?
A Life In Secrets: The story of Vera Atkins and SOE's lost
agents.
The
extraordinary life of Vera Atkins- the woman who parachuted female
secret agents into occupied France during the war, and then in 1945
made it her personal mission to track down the missing agents and
find out the awful truth of what had happened to them. Sarah
Helm, the author of A Life In Secrets: The story of Vera Atkins and
SOE's lost agents, tells the whole story about the underground and
dark side of political intrigues, spies and beyond. A most
fascinating book. Get a copy.
Patricia Tyrell on her new
novel Grandmother Wolf, and what it's
like to find literary success in later life
Patricia Tyrell had nine novels rejected over a period of 20 years; she
self-published 300 copies of her tenth book, The Reckoning, and
sold them to libraries. Interest in the novel spread by word of mouth before
it was short-listed for the Encore Award after which publishers competed to
sign her up. The 75 year-old author writes about her latest novel,
Grandmother Wolf which tells a story about family and the generation
gap. The Reckoning published by Weidenfeld
& Nicolson ISBN: 0297848917.
Grandmother Wolf published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN:
0297848968.
Grace Nichol on her childhood
in Guyana, her work at Tate Modern and her new collection of poems
Grace
Nichols' latest book Everybody Got a Gift is a collection of new
poems and old favourites, inspired by both her life in Britain and her
tropical childhood in Guyana. Grace writes about her poetry, her family and
her work with schoolchildren at Tate Modern. I loved the book. It is
submerged with human drama, bleeding truth and deep reflections on life.
Highly recommended. Get a copy.
Everybody Got a Gift by Grace Nichols A & C Black (Children's books)
ISBN: 0713673753.
RM Lamming:
Re-writing the stories of women from the Bible
Eve, Martha and Claudia Procula, wife of Pontius Pilate – these are three of
the women in the Bible who have now been brought to life by award-winning
author RM Lamming. In her latest book, As in Eden, Lamming turns
the spotlight on these women and gives their lives a new perspective.
Lamming about re-writes these ancient stories. As
in Eden by R M Lamming
Published 9 June by Faber &
Faber Ltd
ISBN 0-571-22642-6.
Elvis
By The Presley's Written by Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley
Priscilla Presley is best known as the 14 year old
girl that Elvis met and became infatuated with when he was in the army in
Germany. She ended up living with him in Memphis and marrying him
when she was 21. Six years later they were divorced but stayed friends
to bring up their daughter Lisa Marie. Priscilla went on to become a
well known TV and film actress and the woman who saved the Presley estate
from near bankruptcy. This book could be an exploration about the
author's life both pre- and post-Elvis and about the difficulties of
living with such a well known name. Elvis
By The Presley's Written by Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley
Published by Random House
Publishing ISBN: 1844138410.
Valerie Mason-John's Borrowed Body
Author Valerie Mason-John spent much of her childhood at a Dr Barnado's
village in Essex, she then moved to London to live with her biological
mother and at the age of 14 was living on the streets. She draws on these
experiences in her new novel Borrowed Body which follows the life
of a Nigerian girl abandoned by her mother. Valerie tells us about the
inspirations behind the book and how, in the Barnado's centenary year, she
looks back at her time in a children's home.
Borrowed Body
By Valerie Mason-John
Published by Serpents Tail
ISBN 1 85242 891 0.
Joyce Carol Oates by Joyce
Carol Oates: One of America's most honoured and prolific authors
Reading one of her novels is - according to one critic "...like
becoming a peeping tom, staring without guilt into the bright living rooms
and dark hearts of America". An exciting book set against the backdrop of
Niagara Falls, where she grew up. The author deals with the
desecration of natural beauty, in one case a violent gang rape witnessed by
the victim's daughter, in the other industrial pollution.
Beyond Black
By Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel returns with her
first novel for six years. The highly acclaimed author, in her
tenth novel, Beyond Black, follows her memoir, Giving Up
the Ghost. Set in the suburban dormitory towns around London’s orbital
motorway, the new novel follows a medium who makes her living by passing on
the messages of the dead. Beyond
Black By Hilary Mantel Published by Fourth Estate ISBN 0 0071 5775.
Life Mask
by Jackie Kay:
Her new collection of poetry looks at
the different masks we wear in relationships
Her
award-winning poetry collection, The Adoption Papers, was described
as a "triumphant debut". Since then Jackie Kay has gone from strength to
strength as a writer. She has a remarkable imagination but it has been said
of her that she also has an "ability to write about lesbian relationships
and racial identity without ever seeming to be pushing an issue on us".
In her new poetry collection, Life Mask, she brings her
characteristic warmth and incisive observation to bear on the emotional
fall-out of a break-up, and the different masks we wear in our
relationships.
Life Mask
by Jackie Kay
published by Bloodaxe.
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