Anna Sayburn Lane's Blog, page 8
December 31, 2019
Books I loved in 2019
[image error]Well, 2019 was a bit bumpy, wasn’t it? As always, I took refuge from the vicissitudes of the UK’s fortunes with a lot of good books. Looking over my list this year, it’s quite heavy on dystopia, with some unflinching real life reportage and a top-note of hope.
In no particular order, I enjoyed:
1. John Lanchester, The Wall. An all-too-believable future Britain, grimly keeping out the Others. Beautifully written, with the best exploration of cold and boredom I have ever read. Sure, it was bleak, but the humour and humanity kept me gripped to the bitter end.
2. Margaret Attwood, The Testaments (and The Handmaid’s Tale). I began by re-reading The Handmaid’s Tale, which I first read more than 25 years ago, before diving into The Testaments. In both books I was most interested in the way she showed how oppressive regimes maintain their position by exploiting our fear and self-interest. Everyone thinks they would resist – but would we really?
3. Various authors, Refugee Tales III. The latest edition of stories from around the world, washing up on our shores. You can’t think of someone as other when you’ve listened – really listened – to their story.
4. Alan Moore, V for Vendetta and From Hell. Graphic novels are well outside my usual comfort zone. I read them for research for my next novel, and found them unsettling, gripping and immersive. From Hell in particular was a tough one, with far more horror (graphically depicted) than I usually read. But a forcible introduction to the genre.
5. Anna Burns, Milkman. God, I loved this book. The unmistakeable voice of the narrator, the absurdity of the humour, the all-enveloping claustrophobia within which horrors that would be tolerated nowhere else seem normal.
6. Toni Morrison, Jazz. I’d not read this novel until Morrison’s death was announced this year. The obituaries sent me back to her output, and I had my eyes opened to the formal inventiveness of her work, especially in this spiky, riffing, cut-up novel of life on the edges of New York’s Harlem.
7. Ali Smith, Spring. Third in the quartet of seasonal novels from Smith, and the one that takes her closest to the Refugee Tales project, of which she is patron. Her experience of visiting the detention centre at Gatwick comes through clearly in this novel of hope, redemption and the power of stories.
8. Kerry Hudson, Lowborn. I was lucky enough to catch Kerry Hudson talking about her visceral memoir at the Bookseller Crow independent bookshop in Crystal Palace this year. It will break your heart and re-make it, with a bit more space inside.
9. Diana Evans, Ordinary People. More Crystal Palace memories, just as I leave the place where I’ve lived for the past 17 years. An ordinary love story set among ordinary people in an ordinary London suburb. In extraordinarily clear prose, it explains why love is not always enough.
10. Pat Barker, The Silence of the Girls. This was the book that started my year – an astonishing conjuring-up of the stink and guts of war, and the misery that it inflicts on the non-combatants – the women, the children, the girls.
My general reading aim for next year is to read books that will help me understand the world – and in particular the country – I live in. The last few years, I’ve found myself struggling to understand the choices we in the UK have made. Time to listen harder, read more carefully, and learn better.
October 29, 2019
Event: Lewisham Library Saturday 16 November
[image error]I’ll be back in south London in November to meet the fabulous book groups at Lewisham Libraries, who have been reading Unlawful Things.
I’ll be reading from the novel and answering questions, so if you’re in south London and have a burning question about Unlawful Things, do come along. Entrance is free.
Tickets available via
September 29, 2019
What makes a crime writer?
Journalists. Police officers. Doctors. Engineers. School teachers. I met a lot of crime writers at the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival – and pretty much all of them had another string to their bow.
As someone who came to fiction writing late, I found it really heartening to discover that my fellow “new” crime writers picked for the Crime in the Spotlight strand of the festival were not the dynamic 20-somethings of my imagination, fresh from their creative writing MA. I wasn’t the elderly elephant in a roomful of under-30s, but typical of a group of professionals who’d spent 20 or 30 years working at one field or other, before translating that wealth of life experience to writing fiction.
For some of us, writing is a second job – I wasn’t the only working journalist who’s turned to fiction, and I met a teacher who manages to scribble down a novel during the six week summer holiday (respect!).
Others had begun writing after retiring from a career in medicine, or in the police force, or the army. Perhaps it’s no surprise that these professions that can bring you up close and personal with the grittier side of life tend to produce writers of crime fiction.
[image error]Book signing with Yrsa Sigurdardottir
But the biggest surprise was Yrsa Sigurdardottir, the wildly-successful Icelandic crime writer I was paired with. I was amazed to discover that she doesn’t write full time – far from it. She’s an engineer who runs her own construction company.
Writing, she said, was like a hobby she turned to at the end of a hard day’s planning construction projects with her team. She says she takes a couple of weeks off when she’s nearing the end of a book, to get it ready for publication. Is it hard to go back to work again? Certainly not. ‘I kiss the floor of the office ,’ on her return to work, she said!
I get that. Working in the ‘real world’ means you engage with people, share the load, focus on clear, deliverable results. Writing a novel is about trying to choose between the endless possibilities in your own head, and what you hoped to achieve never seems quite to translate onto paper. Perhaps that’s why so many writers in the crime genre, which involves letting your imagination go to some pretty unsavoury places, are firmly rooted in the real world outside of fiction.
[image error]By the way, if you’re a crime fiction fan, I can heartily recommend the Bloody Scotland festival. It was tremendous fun, with a wide variety of events catering to every type of crime fiction imaginable. See you next year?
August 25, 2019
Unlawful Things at the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival
[image error]I’m excited to announce that I will be appearing at the prestigious Bloody Scotland crime writing festival next month, reading from Unlawful Things on Sunday 22 September.
The festival attracts lots of big names. This year the programme includes Ian Rankin, David Baldacci and Lisa Jewell, and many more.
The festival has a “Crime in the Spotlight” programme, which highlights new and upcoming crime writers. I was thrilled to be selected as one of this year’s 12 Spotlighters. I’ll be appearing alongside Icelandic crime queen Yrsa Sigurdardottir, who will be interviewed after my reading. Her detective Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, a lawyer, is also an amateur sleuth with a record of digging up secrets from the past.
It’s great for a new writer to get such good exposure, and I’m hoping to introduce some crime fans to Helen Oddfellow. I wonder how the two fictional detectives would get along in real life!
Find out more about the festival here.
March 18, 2019
Unlawful Things on tour
One of the many things I didn’t know existed when I started on my publishing journey was the Book Blog Tour. Instead of going on tour around the country, you send your book ‘on tour’ around the book blogs.
[image error]The Unlawful Things blog tour had 13 stops, with book-lovers around the country agreeing to post a review, extract or feature about the book. It was exciting to see the reaction of these amazing people, who all read a huge amount and post reviews on dozens of books each year. Book bloggers, unlike some social media ‘influencers’, are unpaid and truly independent. They get a review copy of the book, and are free to write whatever they want in their review – so I was also a little nervous. Would these expert readers like Unlawful Things?
They did. “It is definitely five stars from me for this one, a fully action packed thriller with plenty of content, fantastic characters and a great story line – very highly recommended!” said Donna of Donna’s Book Blog. “The great prologue has you hooked from the off……What then follows is a gripping tale of history, religion, conspiracies and a little romance,” said The Bookwormery. “A thriller with an academic twist, this is a unique book dominated by some serious historical research,” reported Northern Reader. Book After Book called it “suspenseful, atmospheric, and gripping” while Stacy Is Reading said: “Unlawful Things is a fascinating feast for the imagination and a true success on every level.”
Rachael Read It was one of several bloggers who hoped to hear more of Helen Oddfellow. “’Unlawful Things’ heralds the arrival of a heroine and literary sleuth who stays with you long after the last page,” she said, while Bookmark That declared: “Helen Oddfellow is my new favourite person.” The Book Drealms said “There was a depth of character built up as the story progressed which really endeared [Helen] to me.” Shelf of Unread Books, on the other hand, enthused about the “brilliantly, terrifyingly realised” villains.
Wrong Side of Forty declared it “an exciting, knowledgable and engrossing read”, while Jaffa Reads Too wrote: “Helen’s determined quest to discover the truth allows the story to look more closely into the tangled history of Christopher Marlowe, a fascinating subject in himself, but which also combines a really dark historical mystery, with a modern day fast action thriller.”
My thanks to everyone who took the trouble to read and review the book. It makes all the difference.
January 25, 2019
Event: Storytelling, 22 February, Crystal Palace
[image error]It’s been a while, but I’ve enjoyed telling my short stories at venues in London over the past few years. I’ve told stories about best friends (the sort you love to hate) at the George Inn in Southwark, tall tales about killer rats at the Lido Cafe in Herne Hill, and now I’m warming up for Open Mic Night at the Paxton Centre in Crystal Palace.
I have a soft spot for the Paxton Centre, a quirky independent arts venue run by artist and ceramicist Beth Mander. It hosted my launch party for Unlawful Things back in December, and Beth made sure the night went smoothly. The Paxton’s monthly Open Mic Night is a mixture of music and spoken word performances, and usually gets a lively audience. It’s hosted by acclaimed poet Joe Duggan, whose own poetry performances are by turns funny, moving and powerful. I was thrilled when Joe asked me to do a slot.
I’m going to tell an old favourite, one of my first published short stories, Stag. It’s about the terrifying consequences of upsetting the local goddesses, the morning after a stag do, in my old hunting ground of Greenwich Park. Let’s just say the wedding may need to be postponed…
You can book tickets (a very reasonable £3) here: https://www.thepaxtoncentre.co.uk/whats-on/2019/2/22/open-mic-night.
Stag was first published in the ‘penny dreadful for the 21st century’ magazine One Eye Grey.
January 4, 2019
New year, new book
I’ve made just one new year resolution this year – to write the first draft of my next novel.
Reading the reviews for Unlawful Things has been a delight, not least in discovering what people think about my heroine, Helen Oddfellow. She’s been described as “the new Morse”, a “splendid protagonist” and “who Dan Brown’s Professor Robert Langdon from The Da Vinci Code would have been if he were younger, female and travelled using an Oyster Card”.
But the big question readers have asked is: what happens next? Will Helen disappear back into my imaginary world, or are there plans for a sequel? The good news is, she’ll be back. I’m deep into researching, plotting and planning for the second Helen Oddfellow mystery.
I’ve been intrigued by the poetry and art of William Blake since university. Most people know him from the Songs of Innocence and Experience, including classics such as London and The Tyger. He was a bit of an oddball, a London tradesman who saw visions of angels and ghosts, and who struggled for recognition as an artist all his life.
I’m busy weaving a mystery around his already extraordinary life, for Helen and her friends to unravel. Think he’s not relevant today? Think again… I’ll keep you posted on progress. But let me know what you think – are there any other Blake fans out there?
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December 5, 2018
A special trip to Shakespeare’s Globe
I’ve loved Shakespeare’s Globe, the recreation of the Globe Theatre on the south bank of the Thames, since it opened in 1997. This year, the programme seems designed for people with an interest in Unlawful Things – not only are they producing Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, but a dramatic recreation of the Treason Trial of Walter Ralegh. So I sent them a copy of my novel, to see if they were interested. This is what happened next.
November 14, 2018
Corpus Christie College Cambridge: Marlowe’s student home
For three short years as a child, I lived in Cambridge. The bustle of the market in the city centre, the honeyed stone of the university’s ancient colleges and the peaceful flow of the River Cam were mine only until the age of eight, but they are the backdrop to some very happy childhood memories.
I wonder how happy Christopher Marlowe’s memories of his six years at Cambridge were? He arrived at Cambridge University in 1580, a scholarship boy supported by a bequest from the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker. As with all the Parker scholars, he attended Corpus Christi College (founded 1352), which had also received Archbishop Parker’s amazing library, containing priceless treasures from the ransacked monasteries of England.
Marlowe might have been acutely aware of his social status and restricted budget, compared to the sons of the nobility who were his fellow students. Perhaps that was what motivated him when, a couple of years later, he was recruited by Queen Elizabeth’s secret service, reporting to spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. It seems that Cambridge has a long, long history with spying. In addition to his studies and other activities, it’s likely Marlowe wrote his first play, Dido Queen of Carthage, during his student years.
[image error]Portrait of the evangelist Luke, in Saint Augustine’s Gospel
I revisited Cambridge a couple of years ago, entering Corpus Christi College on a lovely September day, when the library was open to the public. My visit wasn’t just prompted by curiosity; I was researching a scene where the two heroes of Unlawful Things visit the Parker Library on the trail of Marlowe’s lost manuscript. I marvelled at the library’s incredible collection, including the sixth century Gospels of Augustine (see left), brought to England by Saint Augustine when he arrived to convert the heathen British to Christianity.
I enjoyed wandering around the lovely Old Court, the humble buildings hidden away behind the impressive Victorian frontage, where the college buildings that Marlowe would have known are preserved. All the time, I tried to see the place through the eyes of my fictional characters, Helen and Richard. They would have loved this, I thought.
Perhaps my early fondness for Cambridge found its way into the novel. I can’t help noticing that the Cambridge section of Unlawful Things is probably the happiest time that I allow Helen and Richard together. A hiatus, a sunny day and a scholarly moment to enjoy the beauty, before it all starts to go so very, very wrong…
November 7, 2018
Thomas Becket: Canterbury’s martyr saint still making headlines
For an event that took place almost 850 years ago, Thomas Becket’s death is surprisingly well documented.
Four knights rode to Canterbury Cathedral, shortly after Archbishop Becket returned from a lengthy exile in France. They demanded to speak to him; they claimed to be acting for the King, Henry II. They drew their swords and cut Becket down, leaving him dead on the stone floor.
The murder shocked Europe and outraged the church. Henry II is alleged to have signed Becket’s death warrant with the hasty words: “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” He swiftly declared his repentance, walked barefoot into Canterbury and prayed for forgiveness. Pope Alexander III declared Becket a saint. Saint Thomas Becket was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, in an ornate golden shrine studded with precious stones. Rumours quickly began that the saint worked healing miracles, and the pilgrims started to come. Thousands of them, down the ages, remembered best now in Geoffrey Chaucer’s epic poem The Canterbury Tales.
What happened next is less well-documented. We know that Henry VIII, in his own bitter battle with the Catholic Church, declared Becket a traitor, and had the shrine destroyed. What happened to Becket’s remains? Nobody really knows, and that mystery is a key part of the plot of Unlawful Things.
So I was excited to see that Saint Thomas Becket’s remains are back in the news – or at least, his blood-stained tunic is. The tunic was given to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, some 50 years before the shrine at Canterbury was destroyed. The basilica will loan the relic to Canterbury for an exhibition to mark 850 years since the saint’s death, in 2020.
Two years ago, a sliver of his elbow joint toured Britain, attracting crowds. When I started to write Unlawful Things, I wondered if modern Britain would be in the slightest bit interested in what had happened to the saint’s remains. Happily, it looks as if Becket can still pull a crowd, eight centuries after his death.
But what does Thomas Becket have to do with Christopher Marlowe, modern day London and Unlawful Things? Sorry, you’ll have to read the book to find out!
