A new Alexander McCall Smithtitle is always a real treat, and My Italian Bulldozeris
published by Birlinn in May. (hb, £12.99, 978 1846973550). This is a
brand new stand-alone novel based on an immensely popular short story from the
author whose books have sold over 25 million copies. Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Partywon
the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic
Fiction in 2015 and this looks equally entertaining. When
writer Paul Stewart heads to the idyllic Italian town of Montalcino to finish
his already late book, it seems like the perfect escape from stressful city
life. Upon landing, however, things quickly take a turn for the worse when he
discovers his hired car is nowhere to be found. With no record of any reservation
and no other cars available it looks like Paul is stuck at the airport. That
is, until an enterprising stranger offers him an unexpected alternative: a
bulldozer! With little choice in the matter, Paul accepts and so begins a
series of laugh out loud adventures through the Italian countryside. A story of
unexpected circumstance and a lesson in making the best of what you have, My Italian Bulldozeris
a warm holiday read guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Find
out more and order it here.
We’re used to Biteback bringing us interesting
political titles that give us the low-down on what actually has occurred in
Westminster – but coming in June is a title that examines things that haven’t
come about (yet!) Prime Minister Corbyn: And Other
Things That Never Happened by Iain Dale
and Duncan Brack(hb, £14.99, 978
1785900457) contains twenty-six expert examinations of things that never
happened – but easily could have done if events had so conspired. In this book,
a collection of distinguished commentators, including journalists, academics
and former MPs consider how things might have turned out differently throughout
a century of political history – from a permanent union between France and the
UK in 1940, to Reagan and Thatcher being assassinated in 1981 and 1984
respectively, to Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister in 2020. It includes
what would have happened if Gladstone had drowned in 1885? Britain went
Blackshirt in 1934? Labour had won the 1951 election? Britain had lost the
Falklands War? German reunification had never happened? The UK had joined the
Euro? Yevgeny Primakov rather than Vladimir Putin had become Russian President
in 2000? David Miliband had beaten Ed to the Labour leadership in 2010?
Scholarly analyses of possibilities and causalities take their place beside
enthralling fictional accounts of alternate political histories – and all are
guaranteed to entertain and make you think. This brand new collection of
political “what ifs?” offers a fascinating depiction of how history could have
been oh so different and
you can order it here.
Loving this
story from Oxfam books in Swansea, who have now received
so many second hand copies of Fifty Shades of Grey that they’ve been
able to build a castle out of them – and are now begging the public not to give
them any more please!!
Who wants to reclaim their inner Goddess? Definitely me,
yes please – especially if it can include eating your own body weight in Easter
eggs. If you've ever struggled with diets, food, body image or your weight,
then The Goddess Revolutionis your new handbook for life. Melissa Wellstruly
believes that all women are born Goddesses, but we tell ourselves over and over
again that for some reason, we don't deserve to feel good. The Goddess Revolutionis
taking over as the new 'anti-diet': it’s a revolutionary new way of thinking
that will help women to end the war on their bodies, start embracing an
incredibly rewarding relationship with food, and become happier and more
fulfilled. Tackling very modern issues including 'fitspiration' and the
obsession with perfection caused by celebrity culture and magazine airbrushing;
Melissa speaks in a language that women can relate to. The Goddess Revolution: Make Peace with Food, Love Your Body
and Reclaim Your Life(pb, £10.99 978
1781807125) is published in June by Hay House, and excitingly, we’ve
just heard that the author will be a guest on ITV’s Lorraine to
publicise it. There will also be a feature in the Daily Mail. Mel is
pretty well known in the Goddess world, she has built up a client list
including many celebrities, actresses, models and reality stars, helping them
quit dieting, and transform themselves into Goddesses too – you can read more
about her on her blog here and
you can order The Goddess Revolutionhere.
From one Goddess to another – I’m very much enjoying this video on YouTube showing people’s reactions to Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest smoothie recipe…
Nostalgia titles continue to do well, and Make Do and Send by Sam
Tayloris an arch amusing and
interesting collection of letters on issues that enraged wartime Britain.
In September 1939 petrol rationing was announced as a result of the declaration
of war with Germany and soon clothes and food rationing followed. The propaganda
was upbeat under the banner “Make Do and Mend” but one of our favourite
national pass times, grumbling, soon took over! In a torrent of letters written
all over Britain a roar of pointed moaning ensued. It is an hilarious record of
the stiff British upper lip that trembled with ill-concealed disgust whenever
an injustice or unfair advantage was spotted and is the perfect gift for any
member of the family who enjoys nostalgia and a laugh. Sam Tayloris the
editor of The Lady and also a feature writer on the Daily Mail,
so there should be plenty of publicity for this charming hardback. Make Do and Send: Nostalgic Notes on Daily Life Under War
Rationing (hb, 978 1783340866, £9.99) is coming in June from Gibson
Square and you can find
out more about it here.
Nothing says wartime nostalgia quite like Dad’s Army
– the original I mean, not that lamentable film. Re-live one of its funniest
moments ever here!
The Unforgottenby Laura Powellis getting some BRILLIANT review coverage – read this
one here in
the Daily Mail – and there was also a great plug for it in last weekend
in the Sunday Telegraph’s Stella Magazine. The Sun said it has “intrigue,
suspense and a unique story. The author is annoyingly talented and I devoured
this in a day.” This psychological tale of illicit love, bloody murder and
impossible choices is set in drab, sinister, post-war Cornwall where the
15-year-old heroine is drawn towards forbidden love. It has a very striking
cover – and as I say, the publicity has been terrific. The Unforgottenby Laura Powell (pb, £8.99, 978 1910449592) has just
been published by Freight and you can order it here.
Tom Pickardis one of Britain’s legendary poetry-activists and the
founder of the Morden Tower poetry scene. Allen Ginsberg called him “One of
the most live and true poetic voices in Great Britain” and Paul McCartney
said “with sharp vision Pickard dissects his gut reaction and reminds us to
appreciate the cool clear beauty of our own situation.”Winter Migrantsis
a poetic coastal mediation and strikingly describes a bird’s journey over the
fells. It features the Poetry Prize-winning sequence “Lark and Merlin”.Winter Migrantsby Tom Pickard(pb,
978 1784102647, £9.99) is published by Carcanet in June – it has a
gorgeous cover, and you can find
out more about it here.
You can hear Tom Pickardreading Lark and Merlin on the Poetry
Foundation website here.
Let’s finish with some music! I love this duet between
James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti! Now that should set you up for the weekend!
Who’s
tried to do some Easter baking? Hopefully it’s worked out a whole lot better
than this unfortunate tray of chicks!
That’s all for now folks! More
in two weeks!
This blog is taken from an e-newsletter which is sent weekly to over 700 booksellers as
well as publishers and publicists. If you would like to order any of the titles
mentioned, then
click here or talk to your Compass Sales
representative.
Very well done
to all of the regional winners of this year’s British Book
Industry Awards’ Independent Bookshop of the Year. Stores in seven
regions across the UK and Ireland are winners; the only 2015 winner to retain
its title was Wicklow’s Blessington Book Store,
which won the Ireland crown. Judges praised owner Janet Hawkins and her staff
for a shop that “sits at the heart of the community”. Atkinson-Pryce in Biggar was the Scotland
winner, a region the South Lanarkshire business last won in 2013. Judges
commended the staffers Sue Kekewich, Chris McCosh and Millie McCosh for
constant reinvention that makes it the “ideal destination shop”.
In
London, judges were impressed by the “amazing turnaround” of radical
booksellers Housmans, which expanded
its premises and had record turnover in its 70th year, all while being a
National Living Wage employer. There was a similar story in the South-East and
East region, with The Haslemere Bookshopgetting a “new lease on life” after Ian
Rowley took over the business in 2014.Two regions were won by shops owned by
former Waterstone’s booksellers: Helen Stanton’s Forum
Booksin Corebridge took the
North England crown, with judges impressed by a “stellar events line-up”;
and the South-West champion was Winstone’s Booksin Sherborne, owned by Wayne Winstone.
The shop
was hailed as a “total package”. The hotly contested Midlands and Wales
region was won by Book-ishin Crickwell, Powys, a “small shop that
punches well above its weight”, yet judges also wanted to highly commend Rossiter Booksof
Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye for “second-to-none operational expertise and a
top-notch customer experience”. The winners will vie for the overall Independent Bookshop of the Yearprize, to be awarded at the British Book Industry Awardson 9th May in London. Gardner’s will award the
winner with £5,000, to be put towards the running of their shop.
In celebration of great booksellers everywhere, let’s have
a look at The Bookshop Sketch; starring Marty Feldman and John
Junkin which originally aired in 1970 – still pretty funny and it will strike a
chord with many of you I feel sure!
Coalition (hb,
£25.00, 978 1849549660) by David Lawsis published next week – and the superb publicity
machine at Biteback has really gone into overdrive on this one! The Mail
on Sunday serialisation has begun – with the terrific headline PM:
Gove Is Nuts, Boris Is After My Job! You can read the whole piece here.
The second and third parts of the serialisation come this weekend and next – so
this story will run and run as they say! There have also been articles in the Daily
Mail, The
Telegraph, The
Observer, the Sunday
Telegraph, the Mirror,
The
Sun on Sunday , the Independent
on Sunday, the Sunday
Express , the Guardian,
the Independent,
the Express
, The
Sun, The Times
and the Mirror
plus tons of regional press too. David has also been a guest on BBC1’s The
Andrew Marr Show, -
you can watch that here - where Peter Hitchens said “These memoirs
are terrific. Everybody should read them.” Couldn’t agree more Peter, if
everyone in the country buys this £25 hardback we can all go off to the
Maldives for week on the proceeds! David has also been on the Daily Politics
show and BBC Radio 5Live. Phew!
Coalition
is the definitive insider account of the historic Conservative-Lib Dem
coalition from its birth in 2010 through to its demise in May 2015. This revealing
account is one of the most important political books of the year, shedding
light on perhaps the most fascinating political partnership since the Second
World War. Paddy Ashdown (has he eaten that hat yet?) said “David Laws has
written what deserves to become the definitive account of the 2010–15 coalition
government. It is also a cracking good read” and Mathew Parris commented: “There
are few – even from within my own party – whose inside story of the coalition I
would trust more than David Laws’s.” Find out more and order Coalition here.
Labour peer Joan Bakewell caused massive
controversy earlier this week when she said that anorexia is a sign of "narcissism".
Hay House author, and wellness blogger Katie
Dalebout has written an excellent article for Glamour Magazine
about her own harrowing experience of living with an eating disorder and how
its cause was a complicated issue. You can read that piece here
and I’m pleased to see it contains a massive plug for Katie’s book Let It Outwhich is
published by Hay House next month. Over three million people will have
read this article online – that’s a lot of potential customers for this
paperback – so please do stock it! Let it Out: A
Journey through Journalingis unlike
anything else out there, as it is not a is not a workbook but instead offers
the reader an eclectic collection of exercises that can be used at any time for
solace and self-discovery. It can be read chronologically or it can be flipped
through to whichever page or tool is relevant that day. It has a great
contemporary cover and this fresh guide for young, modern women on finding
clarity and direction in life through writing – and sharing that writing –
offers a unique, new voice to those looking for a peer to speak to them about
finding a different way to cope. Let it Out: A
Journey through Journalingby Katie Dalebout(pb,
£10.99, 978 1781806708) is published in April. Find out more and
order it here.
Who remembers Mary Decker’s clash with Zola Budd
at the 1984 Los Angeles Games – one of the biggest and most controversial
events in Olympic history? If you don’t then you can watch it here. In a head-to-head
that gripped the imagination of the world, the 3,000 metres race pitted the
experienced and glamourous world champion from the host nation against a
prodigious, teenage waif from South Africa wearing a hastily-organised British
flag on her vest and, memorably, no shoes on her feet. Disastrously, a mid-race
collision saw Decker tumble to the inside of the track after her legs tangled
with Budd’s as the 18-year-old overtook the American in a battle for pole
position. Distraught and unable to carry on, the tearful Decker watched in frustration
as Maricica Puica of Romania stormed to gold while Budd, who was heavily booed
by the partisan crowd in the closing stages, faded to seventh. Using the famous
Olympic moment as its focal point, Collision Coursetells the story of two of the best-known and greatest
athletes of all time, analyses their place in history as pioneers of women’s
sport, and lifts the lid on two lives that have been filled of sporting and
political intrigue that, until now, has never been fully told. Collision Course: The Olympic Tragedy of Mary Decker and Zola
Budd (hb, £16,99, 978 1909715363) includes exclusive new interview
material from Decker and Budd and is by top sports journalist Jason Henderson. It is published by Arena Sport
in June and you can order it here.
Hope everyone enjoyed St Patrick’s Day yesterday?
For a comparatively small country, Ireland has made a
disproportionate contribution to world literature, music and comedy – have
a look here
to read and enjoy 30 of the greatest quotes and one liners about Ireland
and the Irish.
It’s always terrific to welcome a new publisher to the Compass
team, and this week we’re pleased to introduce you to And Other Stories;
a literary publishing house, which you can find out more about on their website
www.andotherstories.org and
also on their blog Ampersand, which you can find here.
The second title coming in July from And Other Stories
is The Transmigration of Bodies, by Yuri Herrera(pb,
£8.99, 978 1908276728). Herrera is a
highly acclaimed Mexican writer whose first novel translated into English, Signs
Preceding the End of the World, was praised by critics, booksellers and
readers, with glowing review coverage and excellent sales (over 8,000 print
sales and rising). His new novel is a response to the violence of contemporary
Mexico and is a noirish tragedy withy echoes of Romeo and Juliet, Roberto
Bolaño and Raymond Chandler. It is set in a time when a plague has brought
death to the city and two feuding crime families with blood on their hands need
our hard-boiled hero, The Redeemer, to broker peace. Booksellers love Yuri Herrera; Tom Harris of Mr B’s Emporium, Bath
said “This is as noir should be, written with all the grit and grime of
hard-boiled crime and all the literary merit we're beginning to expect from
Herrera” while Ray Mattinson from Blackwell’s in Oxford said that “reading
The Transmigration of Bodies was akin to being enveloped in a dream state, yet
one that upon waking somehow makes profound sense. Another truly magnificent
novel from one of the most exciting authors to emerge on the world stage for
aeons.”Yuri Herreraspeaks great English and will be touring the UK in
May and June including appearances at the Hay Festival. Find
out more and order it here.
Love this
from BuzzFeed – 18 Faces Every Book Lover Will Recognise!
Aardvark Bureau have
what looks like a very entertaining title coming in June. Max Gateby Damien Wilkinstells
the story of Thomas Hardy’s death as narrated with wit and brutal honesty by
his housemaid Nellie Titterington. In the vein of Longbourn, this will
appeal both to Hardy fans and readers of biographical fiction. As Thomas Hardy
lies on his deathbed at his Dorset home, Max Gate, a tug-of-war is taking place
over his legacy and the eventual fate of his mortal remains. What counts for
more: the wishes of his family and dutiful second wife; the opinion of his
literary friends; Hardy’s own express desires or ‘the will of the nation’?
Wilkins’ writing has been much praised, the Guardian saying: “Wilkins’s
characters are individual, unpredictable and real” and the Independent
on Sunday writing that “Wilkins has an eye for telling detail, a great
ear for dialogue and a dark sense of humour.” You can find out more about Max Gateby Damien Wilkins(pb,
978 1910709139, £8.99) and
order it here.
Wow – there so many great novels to catch up with this
week! And best of all – by reading them you can also become a more interesting,
charming person. What?! Yes, it’s absolutely true, a recent study has shown
that reading fiction may well enhance your social skills! Read
all about it here!
Several decades after the band ceased, the Beatles remain a phenomenon, selling millions and
constantly updating reissues of their back-catalogue; and the recent sad death
of George Martin appears to have prompted even more airplay for the Fab Four.
Coming in July from Red Planet, I Was There:
Beatles Liveis the ideal gift-book
for the fans – by the fans! This is not just a fantastic book about the
Beatles. It is also a unique document of the 60s – a great big slice of rock
music heritage. It documents the Beatles when they were at their peak: at their
world-conquering best. And it does so through the eyes of 500 of their fans,
all telling their personal tales of when they saw the Beatles live in concert –
both in the UK and the US. Packed with vintage 60s memorabilia and
never-before-seen photos of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and
Ringo Starr, I Was There: The Beatles Live
is a lovingly designed time-capsule, a portrait of an era. It is as close to
actually being at a 60s Beatles gig you will ever get! Although thrillingly,
the MD of Compass did actually go to a 60’s Beatles gig – so that’s not
strictly true for everyone! The high-quality souvenir format of this hardback
makes this a great title, and you can find out more about I Was There: Beatles Live(hb,
978 1905959945, £15.99) and
order it here.
Have a look at those crazy 60’s Beatles fans here and here – great footage!
And here's an 8
minute sample what all the fuss was really about!
Compass is on Twitter! Follow us
@CompassIPS. This week we’re loving #BookGeek…
Novelicious @Novelicious
Confession: We totally dog-ear books. A book should look 'read'. Like it's
lived a little, seen some shit, you know?
Joanna Barnard @JoannaBarnard76Retweeted
Kirsty Greenwood "Writing a first draft is tough and the likelihood is
that it’s going to be a bit shit at first"
This blog is taken from an e-newsletter which is sent weekly to over 700 booksellers as
well as publishers and publicists. If you would like to order any of the titles
mentioned, then
please click here to go to the Compass New Titles Website or
talk to your Compass Sales representative.
Strong women have been in the news this week, thanks to International Women’s Day, so this is a good
time to tell you about The Huntingfield Paintressby Pamela Holmes(pb, 978 1910692660, £8.99) which is published by Urbane
Publications in May. Deborah Moggach described this as “an atmospheric
and enjoyable story of a singular and freethinking woman” and it is
inspired by the true story of Mildred Holland and the famous parish church of
Huntingfield in Suffolk. This plucky and headstrong woman revelled in the eight
years she and her vicar husband, spent travelling 1840's Europe. But William’s
new posting in a tiny Suffolk village is a world apart and Mildred finds a life
of tea and sympathy dull and stifling in comparison. What options exist for a
clever, creative woman in such a cossetted environment? A sudden chance
encounter fires Mildred’s creative imagination and she embarks on a herculean
task that demands courage and passion. Defying her loving but exasperated
husband and the mistrustful locals, Mildred rediscovers her passion and lives
again through her dreams of beauty. The national PR campaign, for The Huntingfield Paintress will include coverage
in women’s mag and radio interviews. Stories of strong women combined with
atmospheric local history are doing rather well at present – and I think this
could be popular – it feels like an excellent title for book groups. AN Wilson
called it “a genuinely original, utterly enchanting story” and Esther
Freud said it was “a slice of Suffolk history brought beautifully to life”
– so there is no doubt that it is well written (Pamela
Holmeswon the won the Jane Austen Short Story Awardin 2014) and you can find
out more and order it here.
Ooh, I love a novel with a painterly theme – think Goldfinch
or Girl with a Pearl Earring and have a look at the Guardian’s
list of Top
Ten novels featuring works of art.
In May comes an important war memoir from Biteback.
Pumpkin Flowers: A Soldier’s Story by Matti Friedman(hb,
9781785900433, £12.99). Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Kai Bird said: “it
reminds one of Michael Herr’s unforgettable Vietnam memoir, Dispatches. It,
too, is destined to become a classic text on the absurdities of war. Evocative,
emotionally wrenching, and yet clear-eyed and dispassionate, Pumpkin Flowers is
a stunning achievement.“ Part memoir, part reportage, part elegy for lost
youth, this powerful narrative captures the birth of today’s chaotic Middle
East and the rise of a 21st century type of war in which there is never a clear
victor, and innocence is not the only casualty It is an unflinching look at the
way we conduct war today and an essential chronicle of how war in the Middle
East is shaping the 21st century Award-winning writer Matti Friedmanrecreates
the harrowing, otherworldly experiences of a band of young men, plucked by
conscription from westernised boyhoods, and charged with holding a remote
outpost in Lebanon - a pointless task that changed them forever and
foreshadowed the unwinnable conflicts the United States would soon confront in
Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Pumpkin
Flowerscontains black and white
illustrations and photos and you can find
out more and order it here.
Acres of newsprint this week have been devoted to the
extraordinary news that today’s children are to be taught that sentences ending
with an exclamation mark can only begin with “How” or “What”. Clearly all of
our wonderful authors are going to strongly disagree with this, along with
editors, publishers – pretty much everyone really. Here’s an
entertaining piece in the Guardian on how the government want to
penalise enthusiasm – and here's
what the Daily Mail has to say on the subject. No! No! No!!!!!
Congratulations to Myrmidon, whose title The Anatomist’s Dreamby
Clio Grayis
among the 20 longlisted titles for the Baileys
Women's Prize for Fictionwhich
was announced this week. Commenting on 2016's longlist, Chris
White, Waterstone’s fiction buyer, said: "As ever, it's an
interesting list with much to make an old bookseller smile." Sheila
O'Reilly of Dulwich Books in London added: "The Bailey's
longlist is a wonderful selection of great writing with recognizable names such
as Kate Atkinson and Anne Enright to a some of the best debut novelists of the
past year. What the longlist does is raise the profile of the prize and begin
the conversation about the best women writers in 2016. I see the prize as a
celebration of women’s writing and why not, does it still need to be justified?
Probably but let’s steer the conversation away from the justification and onto
the wonderful writing the Bailey’s celebrates." Author Lionel Shriver
has weighed into the debate nonetheless, saying literary prizes just for women
are "problematic", while calling International
Women's Day"creepy"
at an event to mark the occasion. You can read about that in an article in the Bookseller
here.
The winner will receive a cheque for £30,000 announced at an awards ceremony in
London’s Royal Festival Hall on 8th June 2016.
“Chop off my head and hawk it to the highest
bidder. I'm the Anatomist's Dream, did you know? That's what they call me.” In a
small salt-mining town, Philbert is born with a 'taupe', a disfiguring
inflammation of the skull. Abandoned by his parents and with only a pet pig for
company, he eventually finds refuge in a traveling carnival, as it makes its
annual migration across Germany bringing entertainment to a people beset by
famine and repression. Philbert finds a caring family in an assortment of
'freak show' artists, magicians and entertainers. But when he is persuaded to
undergo examination by the renowned physician Dr Ullendorf, he embarks on an
altogether darker and more perilous journey that will have far-reaching
consequences for a whole nation. The Anatomist’s
Dreamby Clio
Gray (pb, £12.99, 978 1910183212) is a sumptuous feast for the
senses and you can read an extract on the Myrmidon website here.
Could Donald Trump actually become President? That
possibility appears to be getting every closer. But if it all goes tits up for
him – then maybe he could turn his hand to book reviewing instead? This
amusing article from our friends at BuzzFeed really made me laugh as
it hypothesises how Trump would review some literary classics…
And there’s always time for Cassetteboy – here’s his hilarious take on
how Trump may get himself to the White House!
More congratulations – this time to Choc Lit, whose
title The Wedding Cake Treewas a category winner in the Romantic Novelists’ Association Awardsthis week. The Wedding
Cake Treeby Melanie Hudsonwas
awarded Contemporary Category Romantic Novel of
the Year at an awards ceremony in London. The overall prize –
Romantic Novel of the Year was won by Letters to the Lost (Simon &
Schuster) by Iona Grey. The judges commented: “This wonderful range of books
demonstrates the breadth and depth of the genre and illustrates its enduring
popularity and appeal to a wide and discerning audience.”The Wedding Cake Tree (pb, 978-1781892244, £7.99)
is the emotional, fun-filled tale of celebrity photographer Grace Buchanan who
in order to inherit her childhood home has to drop everything for two weeks and
travel the country with a mysterious stranger; war-weary Royal Marine, Alasdair
Finn. This romantic whirl of a novel has had glowing feedback from readers: “Pure
brilliance…This story has truly touched me…Thank you Melanie Hudson, the world
is a brighter place with you and your book in it” is typical – so it is
clearly a very worthy winner. Well done Melanie
Hudsonand Choc Lit!
Very exciting news for Biteback who have just
signed a deal to publish four new volumes of diaries from Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former chief press
secretary and director of communications and strategy. Iain Dale, (MD of
Biteback) said "When I heard from Ed Victor that we had agreed terms, I
literally punched the air. I’ve read every word of the previous four volumes
and, in my opinion, Alastair’s diaries represent the most valuable political historical
documents of the last 20 years. There’s no spin, no editing out the awkward
bits, just raw politics told in an entertaining and engaging manner. You get a
unique perspective from someone who, even after he had left No. 10, was still
right at the centre of things. I’ve been trying to entice Alastair to Biteback
for some time and I could not be more delighted." Alastair Campbell said: "I am very pleased
to be working with Iain Dale – not a bad guy for a Tory. The first book with
Biteback – Volume 5: Never Really Left – will be published in the autumn, and
although it begins the day after I left Downing Street, it becomes clear that I
never fully left and was centrally involved with Tony Blair up to the election
of 2005, where this volume will end. It also, therefore, covers the publication
of and fallout from the Hutton Inquiry, and the deal I helped put together to
get Tony and Gordon Brown co-operating during the campaign, as well as my
attempts – and failures – to adapt to a new kind of life, branching out into
different areas, alongside the realization of continuing mental health issues
that required proper attention."Volume 5:
Never Really Leftwill be published
in autumn 2016, with subsequent books over the next three years. The books will
be supported by a major publicity campaign – something to look forward to as
this is going to be BIG!
Many of us enjoyed the GoogleDoodle this week
celebrating the 105 birthday of Clara Rockmore: master of the theremin –
the world's first electronic music instrument and also the first ever
instrument that could be played without being touched! The theremin inspired
the likes of the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys and was the instrument that
led to the creation of the first synthesizer. You can read all about it in this
article
in the Telegraph here. A good chance to remind everyone about The Life and Loves of Lena Gauntby Tracy Farr(pb, £8.99, 978 1910709054)which was
published by Aardvark in January. This beautifully written novel is the
fictional memoir of Dame Lena Gaunt: musician, octogenarian, junkie. Lena’s is
a life characterized by the pull of the sea, the ebb and flow of passion and
loss, and her enduring relationship with that extraordinary instrument, the
theremin. It combines music and art as she moves the reader around the globe
through the dazzling 30s and 40s, paying tribute to the life of an artist in
all its forms. “Delightful”,
“fascinating”, “exquisite”– the
reviews for this compelling first novel have been outstanding. And you can read
an extract on BookOxygen.com here.
Order The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt here.
Who’s watching The Night Manager on Sunday evenings
– isn’t it exciting? Those whizz kids at Urbane who never miss a chance
to promote their books on social media are suggesting that fans of #Night
Manager and also #Hugh Laurie who love a bit of undercover espionage will
probably also enjoy Escape to Perdition– the high quality page turning thriller which was
published last June and is perfect for fans of Le Carre. The five star reviews
of this title on Amazon would seem to bear this out – “a hard hitting
political thriller and so much more”, “a damn good read with an excellent plot
partly based on fact and part fiction” are typical. Escape to Perdition(pb,
£8.99, 978 1909273795) by James Sylvesteris available now – so if you’re mounting an
undercover, spy-themed table or window display – don’t forget to include it!
And since we’ve mentioned the consistently brilliant Hugh
Laurie – here is a
very funny interview where he is chatting to Ellen DeGeneres about
the differences between UK and US slang.
This blog is taken from an e-newsletter which is sent weekly to over 700 booksellers as
well as publishers and publicists. If you would like to order any of the titles
mentioned, then
please click here to go to the Compass New Titles Website or
talk to your Compass Sales representative.
