Sophie, Author at Allison & Busby

Get Sleuthing

16 May, 2014

Murder mystery is most definitely having a ‘moment’. With all the Sherlock mania lately, the nation is fascinated with cracking cases. And now everyone can have a go at sleuthing with UCL’s Museum Murder Mystery night tonight, as part of the Museums at Night programme of events. A murder has taken place in one of […]

Mr & Mrs Smith’s Social Book Salon

9 May, 2014

A social book salon with cocktails and canapes? That sounds like a great evening. And that’s just what The Reading Agency are doing. On Sunday 11th May, they are hosting an evening at The Zetter Townhouse with showgirl and author Immodesty Blaize, Richard Kilgarriff, and agent Laetitia Rutherford and more with drinks, canapes and ‘sparkling conversation’. Tickets are […]

The Pentonville Protest

28 April, 2014

Some news stories do nothing but frustrate. And this is one of them: Justice minister Chris Grayling has imposed a ban on books in prisons. I can’t think of anything more idiotic. I understand the need to prevent illegal materials from entering the prison but surely there must be another way instead of banning books. […]

Predictions for the Future

24 April, 2014

While literature can teach us about the world and ourselves, it can always make predictions for the future. Cue the father of science fiction, Isaac Asimov, writer of the classic Foundation and Robot series – one of which became with film I, Robot with Will Smith. In 1964, Asimov published an essay Visit to the […]

What could have been . . .

15 April, 2014

Sometimes I wonder how writers decide which chapters to keep and which to omit as a single changed chapter can drastically change a book. More often than not, an editor casts a critical eye over the manuscript and decides what needs to be cut. At other times, the author will choose to delete certain sections […]

Mo’s Marathon

10 April, 2014

Of all the great things happening in April, I think I’m most excited about the London Marathon. 35, 000 runners will descend upon the capital and complete a 26.2 mile course alongside some of Britain’s greatest landmarks. My favourite runner, Mo Farah, is making his full marathon debut, not only aiming to complete the race […]

Literary Ballets

3 April, 2014

After seeing the Shanghai Ballet’s production of Jane Eyre, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for more dance adaptations of literary works. And I didn’t have to wait long. A ballet based on the life and works of Virginia Woolf, titled Woolf Works will premiere next year, forming a central part of The Royal Opera House’s […]

A View from the Top

28 March, 2014

I recently put aside my fairly sizable fear of heights and ventured up The Shard, London’s latest tourist attraction. Everything in the building is very dark and glossy, and I felt uncouth just being in the reception. The viewing platform is on floor 69, with access up to floor 74 via stairs. I was a […]

How big is too big?

13 March, 2014

The other week I was catching with a good friend who happens to be a bookseller in Blackwells. The subject of conversation turned to The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton and mainly our astonishment at how young she is the have won the Booker. But my friend said something else that shocked me; people often come into […]

The Other Side of the Story

27 February, 2014

At the weekend I had some friends visiting so we played tourists and ventured out to see Wicked, the West End musical. While I’ve seen quite a few plays, this was my first musical and I wasn’t disappointed. The two female leads had incredible voices and their characters were quite hilarious as polar opposites. Acting […]

Dress Envy

19 February, 2014

This morning the jackets for Mary Nichols’ A Different World arrived from the printers: The woman holding her hat and looking up instantly makes me think of her searching the sky for planes – such a simple image that manages to convey quite a lot about the book. Not only is it a great image, but […]

A Literary Memory Lane

13 February, 2014

Last week I became an auntie for the very first time to a beautiful little girl called Rowan. With a new member of the family comes lots of things to look forward to: cute baby clothing, learning first words, birthdays and many more. But something I’m really looking forward to is story time. I can’t […]

The Shelf Help Reading List

4 February, 2014

I recently finished The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz – a book that has been following me everywhere for the past month or so. I kept seeing giant posters on the Underground and wondering what it was about. Grosz has been a psychologist for the past twenty-five years, over 50,000 hours spent listening and responding to […]

I’m looking for a book, I think it’s about a monster

20 January, 2014

I often read or hear about a book and then make a mental note to track down a copy. But sometimes, no matter how interesting the book sounds, I fail to remember the title or it’s author. This was the case recently with an illustrated book I was trying to find – all I could […]

Sale Shopping

14 January, 2014

Now that Christmas is over, the January sales are under way. There are several things I’ve had my eye on but in the run up to Christmas, it’s difficult to justify spending £30 on a quirky cushion for myself. But thankfully with the New Year comes more price slashing and I can finally afford to decorate […]

Maintaining those NY’s Resolutions

10 January, 2014

Every year I jump on the New Year’s resolution bandwagon and promise to make a few positive changes. I can’t even remember the ones I made last year which is a testament to how unrealistic or unimaginative they were. So this year I’ve resolved to keep up things I’ve already been doing such as attending […]

Conspiracy, anyone?

3 January, 2014

I’ve just been working on what will be A&B’s new edition of Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain, by Max Wallace and Ian Halperin (out March 2014) which is an investigation into the suicide of the rock legend. The two investigative journalists believe he was murdered and set out to prove it with […]

From the Page to the Screen

25 November, 2013

While most people dread January as it means the end of the holidays, I am quite looking forward to the New Year because with it comes the film release of one of my favourite books: The Book Thief, by Mark Zusak. The book follows nine-year-old Liesel in Nazi Germany, who lives with a foster family as […]

The Power of the Song…

19 November, 2013

So this week everyone’s talking about the Christmas adverts starting on television. Although they do stir some sort of childhood nostalgia, I think the music accompanying the adverts is what makes it special for me. Last year John Lewis gave us Gabrielle Aplin’s The Power of Love cover and the nation melted. For the rest […]

Book Spying…

11 November, 2013

Whenever I am on public transport I always have a quick look around the carriage to see what everyone is reading. Those people with pesky E-readers deny me the knowledge so I simply assume they are reading Fifty Shades of Grey and would rather not have the knowing glances. There’s often a lot of variety, […]

Live Theatre: Frankenstein

7 November, 2013

Earlier this week I saw a wonderful bit of theatre at the cinema. Yes, theatre at the cinema. As part of their 50th anniversary the National Theatre are showing Encore screenings of their best productions at cinemas around the UK. I went to see Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. Every […]