May 7, 2014
In association with the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Jonathan Meades will be reading from An Encyclopedia…
Watch Hilary Mantel, author of the Man Booker Prize-winning ‘Wolf Hall’ and its sequel ‘Bring Up The Bodies’, talking about the primary focus of her new novel, Anne Boleyn.
By 1535 Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son, is far from his humble origins. Chief Minister to Henry VIII, his fortunes have risen with those of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, for whose sake Henry has broken with Rome and created his own church. But Henry’s actions have forced England into dangerous isolation, and Anne has failed to do what she promised: bear a son to secure the Tudor line. When Henry visits Wolf Hall, Cromwell watches as Henry falls in love with the silent, plain Jane Seymour. The minister sees what is at stake: not just the king’s pleasure, but the safety of the nation. As he eases a way through the sexual politics of the court, its miasma of gossip, he must negotiate a ‘truth’ that will satisfy Henry and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge undamaged from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days.
In ‘Bring up the Bodies’, sequel to the Man Booker Prize-winning ‘Wolf Hall’, Hilary Mantel explores one of the most mystifying and frightening episodes in English history: the destruction of Anne Boleyn. This new novel is a speaking picture, an audacious vision of Tudor England that sheds its light on the modern world. It is the work of one of our great writers at the height of her powers.
Amazing news at 4th Estate HQ! Care Of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles has been longlisted for the Desmond Elliott prize 2012.
The committee noted how ‘this longlist reflects a trend in debut fiction of bringing contemporary resonance to some traditional heavyweight themes’, and Wiles’ novel is no exception.
Care of Wooden Floors is about how a tiny oversight can trip off a disastrous and farcical (fatal, even) chain of consequences. It’s about a friendship between two men who don’t know each other very well. It’s about alienation and being alone in a foreign city. It’s about the quest for perfection and the struggle against entropy. And it is, a little, about how to take care of wooden floors…
Books that made the longlist are:
A shortlist of three books will be announced in May, and the winner will be announced on Thursday 28th June at Fortnum & Mason, London.
The 2011 winner was our very own Anjali Joseph for Saraswati Park. Fingers crossed for a repeat of this fantastic success!
Watch Hilary Mantel talking about her new novel Bring Up The Bodies, the forthcoming sequel to the Man Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall.
By 1535 Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son, is far from his humble origins. Chief Minister to Henry VIII, his fortunes have risen with those of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, for whose sake Henry has broken with Rome and created his own church. But Henry’s actions have forced England into dangerous isolation, and Anne has failed to do what she promised: bear a son to secure the Tudor line. When Henry visits Wolf Hall, Cromwell watches as Henry falls in love with the silent, plain Jane Seymour. The minister sees what is at stake: not just the king’s pleasure, but the safety of the nation. As he eases a way through the sexual politics of the court, its miasma of gossip, he must negotiate a ‘truth’ that will satisfy Henry and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge undamaged from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days.
Hilary Mantel explores one of the most mystifying and frightening episodes in English history: the destruction of Anne Boleyn. This new novel is a speaking picture, an audacious vision of Tudor England that sheds its light on the modern world. It is the work of one of our great writers at the height of her powers.
The new novel from the bestselling author of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides.
Brown University, 1982. Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English student and incurable romantic, is writing her thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot – authors of the great marriage plots. As Madeleine studies the age-old motivations of the human heart, real life, in the form of two very different men, intervenes.
Leonard Bankhead, brilliant scientist and charismatic loner, attracts Madeleine with an intensity that she seems powerless to resist. Meanwhile her old friend Mitchell Grammaticus, a theology student searching for some kind of truth in life, is certain of at least one thing – that he and Madeleine are destined to be together.
But as all three leave college, they will have to figure out how they want their own marriage plot to end.
For your chance to win a copy of the paperback edition of The Marriage Plot, post your answer to this question on our facebook wall:
What was the name of Jeffrey Eugenides Pulitzer Prize-winning and multi-million copy bestselling novel?
Competition closes Wednesday 18th April 5pm. UK and Ireland only. One winner will be drawn at random. Terms and conditions available here
The edition is one of 500 printed from the uncorrected author manuscript. The cover is printed on a textured paper, with wood effect detailing. The design uses the falcon detail from the hardback jacket, shown in red on a white background.
On the inside front flap is a list of characters from the Howard and Boleyn families, and on the back flap characters from Jane Seymour’s family.
Each of the 500 limited edition proofs are individually numbered and the text is printed on long-grain paper – not often used in UK printing and which (we think) makes for much more enjoyable reading.
To enter the competition, like Hilary Mantel on facebook www.facebook.com/HilaryMantelOfficial and tell us the title of her 2009 Man Booker Prize winning novel by writing your answer on the wall.
Competition closes 5pm Monday 9th April. Full terms and conditions available here
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