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Literary Fiction

A Conversation With… Louisa Treger

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The Paris Muse Louisa Treger Headshot
The Paris Muse Louisa Treger Headshot

This article contains affiliate links to bookshop.org. Purchasing the book through these links provides the blog with a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Louisa Treger is a historical fiction novelist and author of the novel, The Paris Muse.

We recently caught up to talk about her latest novel, writing habits, book recommendations, and Louisa’s journey into publishing.

Hey Louisa, it’s lovely to have you on the blog. Thanks so much for joining me.

Please tell me a little more about yourself and your journey into publishing.

Thanks so much for having me. I am thrilled to be here.

I studied the violin at music college and later worked in orchestras, recording studios and as a teacher. And then, aged twenty-four, my life as a musician came to an abrupt end. I caught a virus, which turned into the debilitating condition ME.

For the best part of a year, I was confined to the house, suffering from overwhelming fatigue and limbs that ached as though I had flu. Playing the violin was out of the question. I didn’t have the strength to lift the instrument to my chin, much less perform on stage. 

But something positive came out of it. Forced rest gave me an opportunity to rethink my life, and I realised I wanted to work with words, not music. Illness was my body’s way of telling me it was time for a change. As soon as I was well enough, I enrolled for a PhD at University College, London, focusing on early 20th century women’s writing.

While researching Virginia Woolf, I came across the writing of Dorothy Richardson, a personality I found so extraordinary I was later inspired to write a novel about her, The Lodger. 

I began work on it once my three children started school, only to discover that having an English degree didn’t prepare me for writing fiction. I learned to write by working and working and getting it wrong, and weeping silent tears over my laptop, and then picking myself up and trying again.

Choosing the traditional publishing route was a bumpy journey strewn with rejection letters and ripped-up manuscripts. It took ten years to get my first publishing contract and there were times I was close to giving up. But there was always one more idea to try, one more story, and I kept going because I had to. Writing is part of who I am.

So, your latest novel is The Paris Muse.

Could you tell my audience a little more about it?

The Paris Muse tells the story of Dora Maar, best known as Picasso’s ‘Weeping Woman’, his muse and his lover, as though tears were her only defining feature. But she was far more – a pioneering photographer, painter, poet and committed left-wing activist.

The novel explores their love affair that broke her, and her journey towards self-discovery and self-expression. It is a story of heartbreak, resilience, and ultimately, artistic survival and redemption.

One of the commonalities between your novels is the spotlighting of women erased from history.

What’s your research process like before you begin writing about people like Dora Maar and Virginia Courtauld? How challenging is it to find that right ‘voice’ of theirs?

I love research – it’s like being a detective. Some avenues lead to dead ends, others turn up gold, and you never know which it’s going to be.

My approach is anything but systematic. I start with whatever leads I have and see where the journey takes me; there’s a kind of serendipity in the way one thing leads to another, and I’ve learned to trust the process.

I prefer primary material – letters, diaries if they exist, etc. I also like to visit the settings of my novels, where possible, as this breathes life into the writing.

By reading as widely as I can – everything the character wrote, everything written about her, and as much as possible about the period she lived in, her voice gradually starts to take shape in my mind. And then I take an imaginative leap, almost a leap of faith, into the story.

Which writers are you enjoying the most right now? And who are the biggest influences behind your own writing?

I am currently binge reading Elizabeth Strout. I love the empathy of her writing and the way in which she uses simple language to say so much.

A book that made a huge impression on me as a teenager was Villette by Charlotte Brontë. I prefer it to Jane Eyre. On the face of it, Villette is the story of a lonely woman’s love for an unattainable man. But it’s so much more – a passionate love story, an attack on the conventions binding 19th-century women, and a beautiful and strange work of poetic fiction.

Other favourite authors include Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Rachel Kushner – I could go on.

Do you have any writing rituals or habits that help you stay creative?

I write in the dining room of my home in London, where a big bay window lets in plenty of natural light. Strong coffee is a must — in my favourite mug, a gift from my daughters. It features a photo of our late, adored golden cockapoo, Monty.

I love walking, and many of my best ideas seem to arrive when my legs are moving.

What’s next? Are you working on any new projects right now?

I am working on a new novel. It’s still in the early stages, so I won’t say much just yet – only that it’s a venture into true crime.

And finally, we love a good book rec here — so what’s the best book you’ve read this year?

Gabriële by Anne Berest and Claire Berest is based on the life of their great-grandmother, Gabriële Berest – wife, muse and intellectual catalyst of the artist, Francis Picabia, despite his manic-depressive temperament, compulsive infidelity, and flamboyant excesses.

Blending novel, biography and personal reflection, their account unfolds alongside the birth of Cubism, Dadaism, Abstraction, and other radical artistic movements.

It’s a unique and powerful portrait of a complex woman whose mark on modern art was both profound, and until now, overlooked.

The Paris Muse, published by Bloomsbury, is available in hardback, paperback, and ebook.

You can order your copy from all good bookstores, or order directly from the publisher.

A Conversation With… Dan Spencer

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Dan Spencer Cat Lover
Dan Spencer Cat Lover

This article contains affiliate links to bookshop.org. Purchasing the book through these links provides the blog with a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Dan Spencer is a poet and debut author of the novel, Cat Lover.

Recently, I spoke to Dan about his feline-themed novel, literary inspiration from across the globe, and of course some book recommendations. He also offered some brilliant, and quite extensive, advice for aspiring novelists.

I hope you enjoy the interview, and if the book tickles your fancy, do consider picking up a copy and supporting a fellow writer.

Hey Dan, thanks for taking the time to talk to Tales from Absurdia. It’s a delight to have a fellow cat lover on the blog!

First and foremost, it would be awesome to find out a bit more about yourself and your journey into publishing.

Hi, John! Thanks for the chance to chat about the book. 

So, it’s been a longish road to my debut. I studied Creative Writing as an undergraduate at UEA and on the master’s at the University of Glasgow. I then began publishing pieces in literary journals (a lot of flash fiction, prose poetry and autofiction).

As more pieces were published, I began to find journals that my work chimed with and to gain an understanding of what editors liked. Meanwhile, I still found it hard to complete what I’d call a ‘successful’ novel. 

Next, after over ten years of living in Glasgow (My wife and I are from southeast England), our family made a move to Osaka. Whilst working there, I would write novels in Muji notebooks during my combini lunch breaks.

The first of these didn’t get published, but it got me a handful of interested agents. The second one I started was Cat Lover. When we returned to the UK, during Covid, I sent it out and, this time, one of those previously interested readers (the lovely and perceptive Cara Lee Simpson at SLA), became my agent and got me signed with Atlantic Books.

I was so lucky that my editor there, Kate Ballard, also really ‘got’ the book. It’s a dream come true to be with Atlantic. I’ve genuinely loved them since their early days when they published In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut, which was a massively important book for me.

Do tell me more about Cat Lover.

It’s such a curious premise, and the preview in Gutter Mag left me both amused and a little unsettled at the same time!

What should readers expect from your novel? And where exactly did the concept come from?

I’d say it’s a little weirder than your typical ‘cat novel’, though it does look closely at a cat’s experiences and behavior, so cat lovers will find that there.

I’d call it a thoughtful, character-led book that aims to place you right inside the psychology of Ivy and Berry, a doctor and her pet cat, who are struggling with a new man in their lives.

One inspiration was my father’s cats. My parents separated when I was young, and it seemed like my dad’s cats saw a more intimate side of him than I did. They were there in those quieter moments when my brothers and I weren’t. In Cat Lover, Berry observes other characters in their more private moments. I think ‘intimacy’ is a key theme of the book.

I’ve also said that I began writing the book in Japan, but it’s set in Glasgow, so one reason for writing was to connect with and reflect on that city. The story takes place over one winter in a tenement in Glasgow’s West End. The characters and surroundings are unique to that world.

I’ve also said that I began writing the book in Japan, but it’s set in Glasgow, so one reason for writing was to connect with and reflect on that city.

The story takes place over one winter in a tenement in Glasgow’s West End. The characters and surroundings are unique to that world.

"I think 'intimacy' is a key theme of the book"
Dan Spencer Author, Cat Lover

I think it’s also relevant that this isn’t the first novel I pitched to agents (let alone the first I’ve written). So, when I came to write Cat Lover, I was making not my ‘forever novel’ but one story that engaged me. That’s part of why it worked (for me at least), because it developed as a focused and constrained story.

Which writers are you enjoying the most right now? And who are your big influences?

I’m trying to increase my reading of recent literary fiction. At the moment, I’m getting into Bryan Washington. His UK publisher is also Atlantic Books (though I don’t know him).

I’d already noticed him as a very cool, new, lit fic writer on a publisher that I loved, but I’m finally reading him. Memorial is set partly in Osaka, so as an erstwhile Osakan, it’s an easy win for me. 

In terms of influences, I’ve mentioned Galgut. I can see the traces of so many writers in my work (Muriel Spark, John Berger, Nathalie Sarraute, Maguerite Duras, Italo Calvino, Lydia Davis, and many more).

Murakami’s novels gave me permission to write whatever I wanted. Modiano is a writer I’d like to read more and more of and to move towards in my own style.

Yukio Mishima is a huge influence. In fact, Cat Lover takes its structure from The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, which is also a weird love triangle within a constrained time period and setting. A Cat, a Man, and Two Women by Junichiro Tanizaki was also an influence.

Do you have any writing rituals or habits that help you stay creative?

Oof, there’s so much to say. But I can give a few random pointers.

One: Write what interests you. I mean, always write only what feels compelling to you. I handwrite a full first draft start-to-finish in a notebook. If I begin to feel there’s no impetus to what I’m writing, I stop and pursue a different thread. 

Two: See it all as a long, ongoing process, because (at least in my experience) it’s often two steps forward and one step back.

A case in point is finding an agent. When I first tried to publish a novel, I used the Writers & Artists Handbook (with a year’s subscription), as well as Google, and kept a spreadsheet about what I’d sent and when.

Ultimately, I had about 70 rejections! But from this I got a handful of quite interested agents I could try next time. These were the first people I sent Cat Lover.

Specific to finding an agent, I’d say you should find someone who’s growing their list, so a newer, hungrier agent. By now, I’ve been in contact with my agent for about four years, and, in that time, she’s also been developing as an agent whilst I’ve been growing as a writer. 

Also (and I’m not great at this), whatever happens with your writing, you’ve got to live your life.

And finally, what are you currently reading?

I’ve mentioned Bryan Washington. Aside from that, I’ll just have to list the pile of books by my bed, all of which I should have already finished, if I could only stop looking at my phone.

Thanks so much for talking about the book, John!

Cat Lover, published by Atlantic Books, is available in paperback and ebook.

You can pre-order your copy from all good bookstores, or order directly from the publisher to support an indie publisher.

Sad Little Men by Richard Beard

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Sad Little Men By Richard Beard
Sad Little Men Book Review Pin

"All anglophone private schools exist in the shadow of the institutions that influenced their founding. They replicate the segregation and social exceptionalism reserved for superior beings destined to lead."

Title: Sad Little Men
Author: Richard Beard
Pages: 278
Published by: Harvill Secker (2021)

 

It’s 2021 and the UK government is embroiled in scandal.

Boris Johnson has to front up to parliament and apologise for partygate — a series of parties that took place at the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns — but appears unwilling to do so.

Remarkably, this will not bring his government down. That chapter, featuring a certain ‘Pincher by name, pincher by nature’ will unfold later.

But his bluster, deflection, and obfuscation reveals a naked exceptionalism about men like Johnson that will define his, and many others’, legacies.

This is where Richard Beard’s Sad Little Men picks up, promising an exploration of the origins behind the UK’s political leaders for the past century.

Sad Little Men
An Overview

“At an English boarding school [...] the world they enter is enclosed and has much in common with the asylum at Bethesda, Maryland, where [Erving] Goffman did most of his research”

Sad Little Men, Richard Beard

Sad Little Men makes the case that the culture of boarding schools produces highly flawed individuals. Beard, who attended boarding school at the same time as Boris Johnson and David Cameron, though not at the same institution, chronicles UK private school life throughout the ages, adding his own experiences throughout.

Lacking in empathy — and by extension the necessary qualities for a role in politics — Beard builds a picture of emotional deprivation and strident exceptionalism.

Ultimately, this damage trickles down to the electorate through bad policymaking and toxic rhetoric.

A word on the audiobook version. It’s exceptional, and arguably the best way to experience the book. The narrator, John Sackville, delivers a performance that’s well spoken in the manner of an old Radley College boy, but also quietly vulnerable with trauma leaking into the pronunciation of every word.

Sad little men and the fallout from ‘boarding school syndrome’

Plenty has been written about ‘boarding school syndrome,’ and even more research into attachment theory and its role in separation anxiety.

It’s in this vein that Beard questions how healthy it is to remove a young boy from his family home, to instead be raised by a surrogate parent such as a matron or schoolmaster — especially under the guise of it being ‘good for you’.

And boarding schools as a hotbed of extraordinary social privilege with crippling emotional deprivation, is Beard’s core thesis.

Private schools, declassified

Good old ‘regular’ private schools do not escape Beard’s condemnation either.

He argues that Eton, Winchester, Radley, and Harrow are simply the blueprints of success for every other private school in the land.

These schools exist in their own space and time, Beard argues, retaining many of the cultural and social-economic quirks and antics of previous decades.

On the one-hand, this could be seen as a sweeping generalisation. However, it’s hard to deny the evidence presented. On numerous occasions, Beard consults diary entries of famous alumni, including Orwell and Churchill, and points out the extraordinary similarities in culture across the decades.

These include the glorification of war, the ‘banter’, and the language used. The ‘tuck shop’ features — where young chaps can get their sweets — as does ‘prep’ time after school. 

Any reluctant private school attendee will recognise at least a handful of these.

Conclusion

Sad Little Men is unlikely to change the hearts and minds of the reader who has entrenched views on private schools.

Those who are in favour of private schools may — unkindly in my view — deride the book as a hit job from a disgruntled ‘old boy’. Meanwhile, readers with preconceived notions will likely find their prejudices bolstered by Beard’s book.

That’s not a criticism of Beard’s book, but more a reflection on our own time, where entrenched ‘sides’ and binary opposition thrive in the absence of nuance.

Regardless, Sad Little Men is at its best as an insightful look into the workings of private schools past and present — and a crucial intervention into the public conversation on the UK education system.

Rated 4 out of 5
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No One Left to Lie to (by Christopher Hitchens)

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No One Left to Lie to Hitchens
No one left to lie to book review pin

“The acquittal of Clinton, and the forgiving by implication of his abuses of public power... has placed future crooked presidents in a strong position."

Title: No One Left to Lie to
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Pages: 338
Published by: Verso (1999)

Bill Clinton is a bad, bad man.

At least, that’s the impression one takes away from No One Left to Lie to.

Reading Hitchens’ account of the Clinton presidency, I’m reminded of the media coverage of President Trump’s impeachment, whose well-documented and heinous crimes against America are perceived to be unprecedented.

And yet reading No One Left to Lie to, Trump’s behaviour and abuse of public office seems, to the contrary, to be wholly precedented.

Clinton may not stand accused of provoking an insurrection, but his use of executive power to salvage personal reputation at the expense of respect to the electorate feels remarkably familiar to a 2020s reader.

Clinton’s Kryptonite

The central premise of No One Left to Lie to is Bill Clinton’s political triangulation and perceived dishonesty in the public eye.

Triangulation is a form of aloof centrism, claiming a tenuous moral high ground without any substantial grounding. It involves borrowing ideas from each political wing – not for the good of the nation, but more cynical reasons around political expediency.

It’s a revisionist take on the Democratic heyday of the 1990s from a journalist and writer who, much like his literary hero George Orwell, possessed that rare quality of eluding the binary boundaries of both the liberal Left and the conservative Right.

Christopher Hitchens defined himself as a leftist and a remnant of the international working class movement. Less swayed by binary political allegiance, Hitchens’ world views were shaped more by an internal moral compass – again, very much like Orwell.

'Hitchens was one of the very few people who could slash and burn you in print, then meet for drinks and talk in the true warmth of friendship, discussing a writer we both admired, garrulous to the very last. It was a sign of his essential decency that he didn’t make it personal.'

George Packer, The New Yorker (2011)

For example, Hitchens’ unwavering support for the Iraq War was a flashpoint between him and comrades on the Left, whilst his excoriating critiques of figures like the late Reverend Jerry Falwell drew the ire of the political right.

Of course, this didn’t make him infallible.

Is No One Left to Lie to a Reliable Text?

Hitchens is no stranger to polemical writing that challenges the reputation of seemingly untouchable public figures, such as Henry Kissinger and the late Princess Diana. He even branded Mother Teresa a ‘thieving, fanatical Albanian dwarf‘. 

Regardless of one’s views on Hitchens’ polemics, No One Left to Lie To was a bold book to write in 1999, considering the accusations levelled against President Clinton.

Openly accusing Clinton of rape on multiple occasions and including detailed witness accounts, Hitchens dismantles the carefully curated mask fostered by Clinton.

The stronger parts of No One Left to Lie to reside in the chapters dedicated to Clinton’s wielding of foreign policy. Hitchens argues that foreign policy under the Clinton administration was used both as a cudgel to flex US military supremacy and a shield to distract from criticism back home.

And with a number of sources close to the then-President, it’s a damning picture.

“By Tuesday, December 15, after Clinton’s last-ditch nonapology had “bombed” like all its predecessors, every headline had every waverer deciding for impeachment after all. On Wednesday afternoon, the president announced that Saddam Hussein was, shockingly enough, not complying with the UN inspectorate.

And the cruise missiles took wing again. Within hours, the House Republicans had met and, “furious and fractured,” according to the New York Times, had announced the postponement of the impeachment debate, due to begin on Thursday morning.”

Christopher Hitchens, No One Left to Lie to (1999)

The stronger parts of No One Left to Lie to reside in the chapters dedicated to Clinton’s wielding of foreign policy. Hitchens argues that foreign policy under the Clinton administration was used both as a cudgel to flex US military supremacy and a shield to distract from criticism back home.

And with a number of sources close to the then-President, it’s a damning picture.

Final Thoughts

Whilst Hitchens was a great writer and rhetorician, this was not ‘The Hitch’ at the peak of his powers. It’s overly wordy for such a brief text, and his prose lacks the wit and fluidity found in later books such as god is Not Great.

Regardless, No One Left to Lie To remains a powerful contrarian viewpoint and a sensational polemic against a much-loved former US President.

But to get the most out of this book, it’s imperative to leave political biases at the door and judge on the evidence contained within.

A must-read piece of political journalism.

Rated 4 out of 5
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Luckenbooth (by Jenni Fagan)

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Luckenbooth By Jenni Fagan
Luckenbooth book review pin

“There is cheering out on the street. There is dancing. People meet and fall in love. Scuffles break out. They drink far too much. All of life is happening.”

Title: Luckenbooth
Author: Jenni Fagan
Pages: 338
Published by: Windmill Books (Imprint of Penguin, 2021)

In Jenni Fagan’s Luckenbooth, we follow the often squalid, sometimes vivacious lives (and deaths) of its residents.

Decades pass, people come and go, but the curses of dead women remain, echoing through the cold halls and dank stairwells of 10 Luckenbooth Close.

And much like Fagan’s novella Hex, Luckenbooth is a macabre but powerful piece of writing.

A darker shade of Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a magical place, but like all capital cities, there’s a darker underbelly that most are not privy to. 

Fagan’s interpretation of Edinburgh in Luckenbooth is the antithesis to the tourist board presentation. The novel exposes the reader to political corruption, malicious landlords, extreme poverty, and ingrained misogyny. All the things that polite society is aware of but tends to avert its gaze from. 

Luckenbooth is therefore a seething critique of society’s failings. And whilst the novel lacks subtlety at times, with each chapter veering into a different injustice, this feels intentional.

Fagan drags the reader kicking and screaming from the comfort of fiction back into the stark reality of social issues in our own world, only to pull them back in with slick, beautiful prose.

Luckenbooth Close as architectural horror

10 Luckenbooth Close is a place poisoned by the people within and the world without – and throughout the novel, the building morphs and buckles in grotesque ways. 

It’s a dying building, with the spirits of its violent past clinging to the veil between life and death, haunting its residents.

Highly visual, Fagan’s depictions of 10 Luckenbooth Close elicit creation in the mind of the reader. This is especially powerful in latter parts of the novel where the once-packed building stands derelict and (almost) abandoned.

Byam Shaw, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

There is a power to abandoned places – in the absence of humanity, they take on new forms and natural life takes over, which Cal Flyn’s excellent Islands of Abandonment explores with real-world locations.

A form of architectural horror, Poe-esque in execution, it’s a memorable setting that will haunt the mind of its readers long after the final page is turned.

Final Thoughts

Is Luckenbooth worth reading? Great pieces of literary fiction unlock the reader’s imagination, transporting them to wild and wicked places they’ve never experienced before. And Luckenbooth is one of those books – if you give it time. 

It’s a bleak affair and not all readers will enjoy this relentlessly dark interpretation of Scotland’s capital. However, Jenni Fagan is a wonderful writer with a marvellous way with words – and it’s a compelling tale for those willing to darken the door of 10 Luckenbooth Close.

If you’re in any doubt, try reading Hex first – it’s a shorter book that introduces you to the writer’s style. But, if you’re a socially-conscious reader with a fascination towards the gothic, you’ll absolutely love this one.

Rated 4 out of 5
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Christ on a Bike (by Orla Owen)

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Christ on a Bike Book Review
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"Cerys receives an unexpected inheritance but there are rules attached. Three simple rules that must be followed..."

Title: Christ on a Bike
Author: Orla Owen
Pages: 260
Published by: Bluemoose Books (2024)

What would you do if you inherited a significant fortune from a total stranger? How about if you were legally unable to share it with anyone else?

These are the questions that Cerys, the meek and humble protagonist of Christ on a Bike, must wrangle with.

Routinely unnerving, each chapter becomes progressively more uncomfortable as the source of the inheritance comes into question. In fact, Orla Owen’s third novel goes to some startlingly dark places.

It’s a compelling setup, and Christ on a Bike duly delivers dollops of payoffs. This is a brilliant novel – and one that would make for an equally brilliant TV drama.

The perils of greed

Speaking of television, the BBC once ran a TV drama called The Syndicate. This was about friends and families winning big on the lottery and how extreme changes in personal wealth can alter people in unexpected ways.

Owen takes this a step further, with the wealth possessing a uniquely selfish legal agreement.

There are rules attached, one of which is that Cerys cannot share her wealth with another soul under any circumstances. Her finances are audited by a specially-selected financial adviser, and the keepers of the estate have an uncanny ability to sniff out non-compliance.

It’s particularly pertinent that Christ on a Bike is set to release in the midst of an international cost of living crisis. From a readerly point of view, this context has a huge impact on how the novel is read. 

As Cerys’ lifestyle becomes increasingly lavish, with decadent details around the gorging of luxury truffles, and frivolous purchases of expensive branded soap and silky bed sheets, it makes for a physically nauseating read. 

This isn’t a criticism. To the contrary, it’s a remarkable achievement, eliciting a physical sensation of revulsion towards glutton via the medium of print. 

Meanwhile, Cerys’s sister Seren struggles to run a family home and cannot even dream of the excess wealth her sister has inherited by chance. 

And whilst Cerys is a more empathetic individual, Seren is more volatile. The money amplifies these character traits, and the disparity between the two creates an uncomfortable cocktail of guilt and envy.

Narrative & characters

As a writer, Owen positions herself as one who “focuses on the dark and macabre side of family life, the parts that go on behind closed doors.” And never is this more true than in Christ on a Bike, with tension around Cerys’s inheritance poisoning the relationships with her sister.

But the joy with this book is the incongruity between the subject matter and Owen’s own writing style. Her prose possesses a welcoming, approachable whimsy that captures the everyday in a genuinely satisfying manner; not unlike another Bluemoose author, Rónán Hession.

Between a mysterious recurring figure in Cerys’s new life and the feeling she’s being watched, Christ on a Bike retains a tense discomfort throughout. After all, what are the consequences of breaking this agreement? Can she back out of it? What would happen if she tried?

And it’s this dissonance between Owen’s affable style and the macabre narrative that unsettles the reader.

Owen’s novel broaches these questions – plus a number of moral quandaries befitting the biblical theme. And it’s a lot of fun.

Leonard and Hungry Paul

By Rónán Hession
Read the full review

Conclusion

Christ on a Bike is another feather in the proverbial cap of Bluemoose Books, and of Owen herself.

Each chapter has been crafted with a finesse that characterises the type of novel that Bluemoose Books publishes.

It’s clean, lean writing that never prevaricates or wastes the reader’s time. As I noted in my review of Heidi James’s The Sound Mirror, it’s clear that the team at Bluemoose have some remarkable editors on staff.

Owen is a fantastic writer too, which makes it easy to recommend Christ on a Bike to almost anyone. This is a novel that’s well paced and contains a darkly compelling narrative, with a divine writing style.

Rated 5 out of 5
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How to Read Like a Writer by Erin Pushman Book Review

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How to Read Like a Writer by Erin Pushman Book Review
How to Read Like a Writer Blue Details

How to Read Like a Writer, by Dr Erin Pushman, is a 10-chapter exploration of the pillars of creative writing which discusses how, by reading like a writer, you can improve your own writing skills.

With some excellent tips imparted in an easy-to-digest manner, this is a solid primer for the budding writer on how to read in a more analytical way.

But the retail pricing of the book raises significant questions over what the commercial market for this book is.

How to Read Like a Writer
Overview

If you want to be a writer, you need to read more – according to conventional wisdom. You also need to ‘read like a writer’. But what exactly does this mean in practice? 

Fortunately Erin Pushman has assembled a plethora of examples in this short but concise handbook. 

It’s a practical text that discusses topics including ‘pace,’ ‘theme,’ and ‘setting’ in sufficient detail, before assigning the reader a handful of post-chapter writing activities. These chapters guide the reader with some excellent bite-size analyses of each area of writing whilst the activities are thought-provoking enough to help the reader retain the knowledge.

One issue How to Read Like a Writer has, however, is repetition. Pushman frequently uses the same passages from certain texts to illustrate that chapter’s particular lesson. For example, an identical extract from Zadie Smith’s The Embassy of Cambodia appears at least four times across the whole book.

Whilst familiarity with a text makes it easier to comprehend the argument, it does make for incredibly tedious reading. Assuming a basic level of comprehension on the reader’s behalf, and using more varied examples, would have been far more effective.

Regardless, How to Read Like a Writer does a fantastic job of presenting an array of writing styles. This is not simply a how-to guide on writing a 300-page literary fiction novel. Pushman explores fiction (both genre and literary), poetry in its various forms, creative nonfiction, memoir, and so much more.

There’s a remarkable breadth of writing examples on show, and this has to be commended.

Commercial vs Academic Readership

There is one glaring issue with How to Read Like a Writer – and that’s that it isn’t immediately clear who the audience for this book actually is.

On the one hand, it’s published by Bloomsbury Academic, and certainly priced like an academic textbook with an RRP of £19.99 for the paperback and an eye-watering £59.99 for the hardback. Plus, with a bevy of post-chapter activities, the book appears to be designed for formal creative writing classes.

Why Academic Books Cost So Much

Author Katie Beswick explains why academic books are so expensive...
Find out more

But here’s the thing – if you’re an established writer, you probably won’t need this book.

On the other hand, an aspiring writer who doesn’t have access to a university library is unlikely to drop a significant amount of money just to read this book. Especially when Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer and Stephen King’s On Writing are available on the shelf for the price of a regular paperback.

Comparisons with Reading Like a Writer

Purely because of the near-identical title, it’s inevitable that Pushman’s book will be compared with the veritable monolith of creative writing 101, Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer.

What is apparent from the beginning is that Erin Pushman’s tone and writing style is far more approachable and open-minded to different kinds of writing. Whereas Prose’s book comes at writing from a purely literary stance (and frequently comes across as hostile towards genre fiction), Pushman embraces writing of all stripes.

That’s one of the great things about this book – it’s designed to elevate the writer, not tell them that they’ll never be James Joyce. It’s inviting, convivial, and encouraging for a budding writer – if you can afford it.

And herein lies the issue. This is a book commercially aimed at the more costly academic market, and yet the content is more aimed at creative writing beginners. Meanwhile, Prose’s book – an arguably more reliable academic text – can be picked up for under £10.

Conclusion

How to Read Like a Writer is a solid primer on teaching readers how to read like a writer. It breaks down the various aspects of writing into digestible chunks and includes some brilliant exercises to reinforce the lessons in each chapter.

But with the average reader priced out of the market and an academic writer not requiring a book to teach them how to read like a writer, who is How to Read Like a Writer actually aimed at? It’s not entirely apparent.

And yet, whilst it’s a little repetitive in parts, Pushman’s book is undoubtedly a useful point of reference for those looking to improve their writing craft.

Rated 3 out of 5
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Full disclaimer: A review copy was kindly provided by the author and publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Step Forward, Harry Salt by Ross Lowe Book Review

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Step Forward, Harry Salt Book Review
Step Forward, Harry Salt Book Review

Step Forward, Harry Salt is a bit bonkers.

And by this, I mean that there’s a character called Royds Spittoon and a horse drop-kicks a car.

Following the equally bonkers Seven Nights at the Flamingo Hotel, Bearded Badger Books’ second published novel – and author Ross Lowe’s debut – sees the titular Harry Salt drawn into a Hot Fuzz-esque conspiracy amongst the hills of Derbyshire.

It’s sinister at times, tremendously daft, and a lot of fun.

Step Forward, Harry Salt
Overview

‘The Change’ is coming.

Millions of people voted for it but nobody really knows why – or what The Change even is for that matter. But the will of the people is to be enacted, whatever that will might be.

Caught up in the middle of this moment of national celebration/crisis (delete as appropriate) is Harry Salt.

He’s a regular guy – pretty nondescript and bumbling through life – though far from dull. He’s your Martin Freeman-esque everyman and therefore the ideal protagonist for a novel like Step Forward, Harry Salt; a book packed with zany hijinks, set against the backdrop of Britain floating in a Brexity soup.

It’s a parody, though not a particularly subtle one. The novel re-treads familar arguments from the Brexit referendum and dials them up to eleven, pouring scorn and ridicule upon the pro-Brexit argument. 

Sometimes hilarious, other times a little on-the-nose, one thing is certain – Step Forward, Harry Salt is a brilliant novel, packed to the rafters with witty observations, brilliant characters, and a marvellous mystery.

Parental Poignancy & Parody

Step Forward Harry Salt uses a past/present twinned narrative, pinging the reader back and forth between Harry’s years as a child – his memories with his Father in particular – and the present day.

These memories feature some of the best writing in the novel. It’s often highly poignant, other times disarming – even troubling perhaps – but these passages feel reminiscent and personal; transposing Harry’s memories onto the reader in a nostalgic manner.

Meanwhile, in the modern day, the Ministry of People where Harry works, presents an almost Pratchett-like parody of Orwell’s ministries in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Whilst highly secretive, The Ministry of People is less overtly sinister than Orwell’s depictions of government – rather more bureaucratic and somewhat odd.

This ability to traipse the line between being disconcerting and humorous is disarming as a reader – it’s alienating, making for an interesting read.

Conclusion

Lowe has a lovely style of writing. It’s simple, cheerful, and witty – the sort of writing you really appreciate reading after a book like Dune Messiah; a novel with so much word salad, you could launch a vegan restaurant.

But truly, Step Forward, Harry Salt is a pleasure to read. It’s also fascinating insofar that it defies genre. 

There are Sci-Fi elements, political satire, fantasy, speculative fiction, and magic realism. It’s extraordinary, because the novel holds these elements together in a really authentic way, never feeling mismatched.

And because of this, the novel will appeal to a wide range of readers. 

It’s off-beat, but in the best kind of way. Great stuff.

Rated 4 out of 5

Step Forward, Harry Salt can be purchased directly from Bearded Badger Publishing.

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YA Fiction Snobbery Needs to Stop. Right now.

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YA Fiction Snobbery Needs to Stop Blog Header
YA Fiction Snobbery Needs to Stop Blog Header

In spite of wild commercial success, it’s fair to say that YA fiction snobbery has lingered on the horizon for quite some time now. Sometimes it comes from the more literary circles, other times simply from trolls, which is what Beth @ Booksnest experienced recently.

Even Samantha Shannon, author of the highly successful Bone Season trilogy addressed the very-real topic of snobbery towards YA fiction only a few years ago.

Trumped perhaps only by so-called ‘chick lit’, YA is probably one of the more frowned upon genres of fiction, despite – or perhaps because of – an enormous readership and commercial success.

But why exactly is this?

Why YA Fiction Snobbery Exists

Ageism

There’s a bizarre shibboleth, expressed more often than not by our wizened peers, that certain hobbies or types of media are designed exclusively for a particular age range. 

Once you’ve passed the arbitrarily designated threshold, you’re no longer allowed to read said books, or play video games, or consume certain kinds of media that are deemed too ‘childish’ by the enlightened.

The inherent absurdity of this position is laid bare once you ask the accuser who they think creates these types of media. 

Are video games designed by a focus group of seven-year-olds? No, they’re designed by highly qualified developers and graphic designers, with soaring OSTs composed by actual, well, composers. 

Likewise, books for all ages are written (mostly) by adults passionate about their craft. It’s therefore time that we let go of this vacuous framing of overtly ‘children’s books’ vs ‘adult books’.

Here I must call upon our old friend CS Lewis, one of the fathers of fantasy and an author who, if writing today, would certainly be considered a YA author. 

Addressing the notion of perceived childishness, Lewis wrote this stinging rebuke:

“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence...

CS Lewis hates YA Fiction Snobbery
CS Lewis hates book snobbery. Totes. For reals.

...But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

CS Lewis, On Three Ways of Writing for Children Share

This perception of being ‘grown up’ from those who engage in snobbery against YA fiction seems, to me, to be a vacuous one.

Literary Pretence

I’m not sure that this group is nearly quite as large as others make out, but it’s certainly a rather vocal sect. There is an element of snobbishness in self-proclaimed literary circles about genre fiction and, by extension, YA fiction.

Ruth Graham, for example – a correspondent for the New York Times – once wrote that adults who read YA fiction ought to ‘feel embarrassed’ for reading books ‘written for children’.

Fascinating.

The general cut-and-thrust of the article, which (to be fair) isn’t without some fair points, is that YA fiction is largely simplistic in comparison to more ‘adult’ books and that readers of YA are stunting their reading growth. 

However, I’m not sure that this is particularly solid ground. 

I’m no scholar of YA literature, and indeed I personally get a lot more enjoyment from classics and literary fiction, but to take The Hunger Games as just one popular example – it’s hardly a simplified, ‘childish’ novel. And I don’t just mean the murder. Suzanne Collins’ trilogy raises a wealth of moral, ethical, and social issues in a fairly mature manner.

It’s intellectually dishonest to claim YA fiction has no depth, in the same way that it would be absurd to claim that James Joyce’s writing is nonsensical drivel. Perhaps it appears to be so on the surface, but if you’re a half-decent reader, you’re presumably capable of reading between the proverbial lines.

Is it more beneficial to read different kinds of genres? Sure. Confining yourself to only certain kinds of writing limits your perspective – and you’re missing out on some really great literature.

But ultimately, we read for pleasure, right? And there’s a vibrant community of readers who derive an enormous amount of pleasure from YA fiction. 

Life’s too short to worry about what other people are, or aren’t, reading.

'Tropeyness'

Yes, YA fiction is quite tropey.

Whether it’s ‘the chosen one’, ‘enemies to lovers,’ or the dreaded love triangle – it’s not unfair to point out that YA fiction has its fair share of tropes. 

But here’s the thing – some people like these tropes. And quite a lot of people really like them. Goodreads has entire shelves dedicated to trope fiction because, ultimately, they’re comfort-reading for a certain type of reader.

YA fiction helps its readers navigate the often complex landscapes of identity and belonging – more so than other types of writing. And no matter the age of the reader, this is pretty important. After all, one doesn’t cease learning about one’s self purely by passing the vague threshold of adulthood.

And of course, it’s still reading. I’m not sure it’s anyone’s place to doubt or ridicule another’s preferences.

So, own your love of YA fiction and enjoy what you enjoy reading – you don’t owe anybody anything and it’s nobody else’s business.

Juvenility lies purely at the door of the accuser.

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