Simon Trewin

CANONGATE has three novels in contention for Le Prince Maurice Prize, to be announced in June. We Are Now Beginning Our Descent by James Meek, Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith, and United Agents client The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas are on a long lost of nine books, Continue reading ‘MISS SCARLETT AND THE PRINCE’

Andrew Martin’s brilliant Jim Stringer series of novels, set in the environs of the Victorian railway network, have received a rave review from Katherine A. Powers in the Boston Globe. She says (of The Lost Luggage Porter,” “The Necropolis Railway” and “The Blackpool Highflyer”) ‘Martin could be compared, in a way, to W.   G. Sebald, though he is not such a sad sack – in fact, not a sad sack at all. He is possessed of a sense of humor quite missing in Sebald. But he does share that writer’s mood of alienated possession of the past. His is an original voice, and the historical novels ate the best I have read this century’

Lisa Norman writing in the Nottingham Evening Post says of my co-authored book SHOPPING WHILE DRUNK, ‘every now and again a book comes along that you just can’t put down – unfortunately for whoever buys this it’s not one of them’. She goes on to say that she couldn’t care less about the book and that it is ‘rubbish’. The art of criticism is not dead. Lisa – we salute you! Click on the image to read the whole thing.

Danny has done it again! Another wonderful feelgood Danny Wallace book is gearing up for a July launch – FRIENDS LIKE THESE follows Danny on an epic journey around the world to reunite his best mates from schooldays. Bound proofs have just landed on my desk and they look wonderful. Watch this space for more details in the run up to what will no doubt be a huge bestseller.

On Friday night at the Centre For Life in Newcastle, Ally Kennen’s BERSERK won the North-East Teen Book Award in front of a big audience of secondary school students who had voted for their favourite book out of a strong shortlist. Ally spoke brilliantly about her second novel and signed books for 40 minutes for a long queue of enthusiastic teenagers. All the shortlisted authors, two of whom are winners of the Carnegie Medal,  were at the event: Mal Peet THE PENALTY, Nicky Singer THE INNOCENT’S STORY, Anne Cassidy INNOCENT (Hodder), Tim Bowler FROZEN FIRE and Sarah Wray THE FORBIDDEN ROOM

Scarlett is currently Number 8 on the Italian Fiction Bestseller list with THE END OF MR Y and, in Germany (where it is called TROPOSPHERE) it has already sold in excess of 5,000 copies. For those of you German speakers out there check out this tv review of the book (click the image to view).