Anna Sayburn Lane's Blog, page 7

Christmas offer – two-book signed bundles

[image error]Are you looking for a perfect present to introduce someone to the Helen Oddfellow mysteries this Christmas?

I’m offering two-book bundles, each including a signed copy of Unlawful Things and The Peacock Room, gift-wrapped and sent to the address of your choice, for £15 (including posting and packing). UK postage only.

I only have a few of these available, so if you’d like to order one, email me today at hello@annasayburnlane.com.

The Peacock Room on tour

[image error]The Peacock Room had enjoyed a great tour around the book blogs during publication week. Book bloggers are real reading enthusiasts. Unpaid, they write reviews for the love of it, in return for a copy of the book. So what did they think?

Well, Book-lover said she “literally devoured this in one sitting”, declaring it was “without doubt a five star read”.

Handwritten Girl agreed it was “genuinely a fascinating story” which made for “entertaining and thrilling reading.” A great start to the tour!

For Books, Life and Everything, the subject matter hit the spot. “I do love a literary mystery and one which involves William Blake and Christina Rossetti adds the icing to the cake,” she said.

Shelf of Unread Books had enjoyed Unlawful Things and was pleased to find: “The Peacock Room is a more than worthy successor to Unlawful Things, offering the same combination of intriguing literary mystery and contemporary conspiracy whilst developing the returning characters nicely.”

Bookmark That, another Unlawful Things fan, agreed. “Another stunning, well thought-through and fast-paced historical fiction which is both topical and very sinister,” was her verdict.

Babbage and Sweetcorn declared it “A great blend of modern day thriller and historical mystery. I loved how this book had me engrossed in both the main thriller element of the book and equally, on the story surrounding the artist and writer William Blake.”

For Orlando Books, “This is a clever, slow burn of a thriller that builds the tension gradually up to a nail biting end.” She found it “Full of great characters and lots of interesting detail, especially the life and works of William Blake, all of which make this a very engrossing and entertaining read.”

Bookliterati said it was “an intriguing, intelligent and compelling thriller” while Northern Reader said “I recommend this as an extremely well-written novel with many layers of interest.”

My thanks to all the book bloggers for taking the time to read and review The Peacock Room.

Who was William Blake (and why am I writing about him?)

[image error]William Blake, self-portrait

Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright…

For many people, that’s the one line of William Blake’s poetry they think they know. But the prolific, self-published poet an artist has a great cultural reach. You probably know more than you think.

When I first came across his poetry at university, it struck me by its freshness. It was unlike anything else I’d ever read. It has stayed with me down the years until – finally – it surfaced in my new novel, The Peacock Room.

Born in 1757, Blake was the son of a small businessman who ran a shop selling stockings in Broad Street, Soho. The family was respectable but not rich, and Blake was expected to work for a living.

He had shown an interest in art from an early age, so was apprenticed to be an engraver, engraving the designs of other artists. Although he enrolled as a student in the Royal Academy of Arts, he never felt he got the artistic recognition he deserved.

As a boy, Blake loved to walk from central London down to Peckham, where he saw angels in the trees of Peckham Rye. Maybe he found solace in the countryside – he grew up in a violent time, having witnessed the destructive Gordon Riots. He was certainly radical in his youth, and wore a cap which showed his support for the revolution in France.

He married Catherine, the daughter of a market gardener from Battersea, in 1782 when he was 25. Despite their long and seemingly happy marriage, they never had children. A year after his marriage, Blake published his first book of poems. At this time, too, he bought a printing press and set up in business.

Blake wrote the first drafts of the poems that were later published as Songs of Innocence and Experience (including The Tyger, Infant Joy, and London) in about 1785. He was part of a literary circle, and there are records of him singing his poems aloud to the company.

[image error]Some of the books I read while researching The Peacock Room.

But he was frustrated that all the calls on his talent were for his skill as an engraver, to engrave the work of others. A few admirers asked him to produce his own illustrations, for example to illustrate Bible stories or books of poems. He did the work to keep the money coming in, but his heart was in his poems and art.

Blake and Catherine moved to Lambeth in south London in 1790, where they lived for 10 years close to the river in Hercules Buildings. It was here that many of his best-known works were written.

Blake had devised a process by which he engraved the poems and their illustrations on one plate, which he would then print and hand-colour. He was excited that this liberated him to print his own books, but disappointed that they did not meet with great success. Few of his copies of Songs of Innocence and Experience were sold, and even fewer of his later prophetic books.

He gained more success as an illustrator of other people’s books, and for a time because quite sought-after. However, he had a habit of falling out with his patrons and publishers, which didn’t help. In 1800 Blake moved to the village of Felpham on the Sussex coast, where he worked for a local landowner, Thomas Butts. Although he loved the place at first, Blake became frustrated at the work he was asked to do, such as engraving work for Butts’ own books of (dire) poetry. However, during his two years by the coast he began two major new works, Milton and Jerusalem.

The stay in Felpham was brought to a dramatic end when Blake was accused of sedition by a soldier with whom he had an argument. At the time, during the wars with France, this was incredibly serious and Blake could have been in danger. However, Butts paid for a good lawyer and the villagers of Felpham sided with Blake in court. He was acquitted of the charge.

The Blakes returned to London, where William continued to work as an artist and engraver. His one and only exhibition, put on by his brother above his Soho shop, was not a success. He toiled on, mostly in obscurity, although he formed friendships with up-and-coming painters such as Samuel Palmer.

Blake died in his bed in 3 Fountain Court, off The Strand, on 12 August 1827, singing his own songs of praise.

The facts of Blake’s life are – Felpham excluded – uneventful. He lived and worked mostly in obscurity. But the legacy of his work is incredible. In the years after his death his work was reassessed by – among others – the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of painters, the writer Aldous Huxley, the rock band The Doors, graphic novelist Alan Moore and the Women’s Institute, who sing Blake’s anthem Jerusalem at their meetings.

I wanted to explore a little more of the life, and influence, of this most original mind. The Peacock Room is the result.

Book launch: 8 October

[image error]Join me for a celebration! I’ll be holding an online event to celebrate the publication of The Peacock Room on October 8, at 7pm. I’m delighted to say the event will be part of Libraries Week 2020, and will be co-hosted by Lewisham Libraries. I’ll be joined by Rachel New, one of Lewisham Libraries’ outreach officers, who has been a great supporter of Unlawful Things. We’ll be talking about the inspiration behind the new novel, and what readers can expect next for Helen Oddfellow.

To take part, drop me an email [hello@annasayburnlane.com] with ‘book launch’ in the subject and I’ll send you the link for the event, which will be held over Zoom. Alternatively keep an eye on my Facebook page for details.

I’m sorry I won’t be able to raise a glass with you in person, but I hope you will tune in and celebrate over the ether.

 

 

Cover reveal: The Peacock Room

[image error]And here it is! I’m delighted to share the cover for the new Helen Oddfellow mystery, THE PEACOCK ROOM, which will be published in October.

A literary obsession.

An angry young man with a gun.

And one woman trying to foil his deadly plan.

When Helen Oddfellow starts work as a lecturer in English literature, she’s hoping for a quiet life after the trauma and loss of her recent past. But trouble knows where to find her.

There’s something wrong with her new students. Their unhappiness seems to be linked to their flamboyant former tutor, Professor Petrarch Greenwood, who holds decadent parties in his beautiful Bloomsbury apartment.

When Helen is asked to take over his course on the Romantic poet William Blake, life and art start to show uncomfortable parallels. Disturbing poison pen letters lead down dark paths, until Helen is the only person standing between a lone gunman and a massacre.

As Helen knows only too well, even dead poets can be dangerous.

THE PEACOCK ROOM is the intriguing follow-up to the acclaimed 2018 mystery thriller UNLAWFUL THINGS, which introduced the London literary sleuth Helen Oddfellow.

Thanks to designer Jessica Bell for another great cover.

Coming soon: the second Helen Oddfellow mystery

[image error]I’m thrilled to say the new Helen Oddfellow mystery, THE PEACOCK ROOM, will be published in October.

A literary obsession. An angry young man with a gun. And one woman trying to foil his deadly plan.

When Helen Oddfellow starts work as a lecturer in English literature, she’s hoping for a quiet life after the trauma and loss of her recent past.

But trouble knows where to find her. Disturbing poison pen letters lead her down dark paths, until Helen is the only person standing between a lone wolf gunman and a massacre.

As Helen knows only too well, even dead poets can be dangerous.

THE PEACOCK ROOM is the intriguing follow-up to the acclaimed 2018 mystery thriller UNLAWFUL THINGS, which introduced the London literary sleuth Helen Oddfellow.

Lewisham Voices podcast: Beyond Unlawful Things

I enjoyed a long chat with Rachel New, outreach officer for Lewisham Libraries, for their Lewisham Voices website, about the inspiration behind Unlawful Things and my next novel, The Peacock Room. In[image error]cludes tips on writing in lockdown, becoming a journalist, and how not to give up on your novel during eight years of writing!

You can listen to our conversation here.

The history and mysteries behind Unlawful Things – online talk

[image error]The usual talks and events that I had planned for this year are on hold, so I decided to try an online talk. On Monday May 4 at 7pm, I’ll be talking about the real-life history and mysteries that inspired the novel.

The talk will take you to some of the fascinating places in London and Kent that I visited while researching the novel. I’ll talk about the amazing archives at Dulwich College, the ancient pilgrim hostel in Canterbury and the magnificent Cobham Hall in Kent.

To join the talk, email me hello@annasayburnlane.com and I’ll send you a link.

 

 

Creative Conversations about William Blake

[image error]Before lockdown, I joined Creative Conversations podcaster Yang-May Ooi for a preview of the William Blake exhibition. Blake was a visionary artist and poet – and features strongly in my next Helen Oddfellow novel. You can listen to our conversation here.

Love [reading] in a time of coronavirus

[image error]Strange times.

I had a cracking weekend of activities planned. On Saturday, I was going to lead a walk around Deptford and along the Thames, in the footsteps of Christopher Marlowe, Samuel Pepys, John Evelyn, Joseph Conrad and more. It was to be part of Deptford Literature Festival, a day of mostly free events, many aimed at families, to get people excited about reading and writing.

On Sunday, I had tickets for the Killer Women crime writing festival in London. I was looking forward to hearing about new releases, to talking to experts and meeting other writers.

Both festivals were cancelled with a few days’ notice. As a friend commented, literary festivals are not that crucial in the current context. But spare a thought for all the people who worked so hard to bring the events together. Literary festivals are also a great way for authors to promote their books, and many people with new books out, which they have laboured over for years, will see their time in the spotlight come and go.

With a suddenly empty diary, and the potential need for self-isolation in future, I did what I always do in times of crisis. I headed for my local bookshop and stocked up. My ‘stockpile’ consists of the new Hilary Mantel novel, The Mirror and the Light (which I have been longing for since I finished Bring up the Bodies, seven long years ago), plus Daisy Jones and the Six, which I’ve heard great things about, plus a copy of the wonderful reader’s quarterly, Slightly Foxed.

If you want me, I’ll be reading. And if you think that sounds like a good idea, contact your local indie bookshop. Most take orders and will arrange delivery, if you’re self-isolating. And don’t forget you can find your local through Hive. They face a tough time, as do we all. Let’s support each other.