Blog
Going…going…GONE!
28 October, 2015
Abebooks revealed last week what they think of as their most unusual item on their site: Edith Wharton’s baby rattle. £10,500 and it’s yours! It’s just a rattle. The Guardian describes it as simply a ‘sterling silver and coral’ rattle, engraved ‘Edith’ which Wharton even gave away to her friend’s daughter. For those looking for a pricier […]
Have my cake and eat / read it
21 October, 2015
As a mum to a toddler (toddler – when did that happen?!), my reading this past year has been more Julia Donaldson than Julian Stockwin. (See my last post here before starting maternity leave – ha! So many left unread…) Basically, if you find yourself in need of a slightly frazzled person to recite children’s […]
A week with the Editorial Department
14 October, 2015
Want to know what goes on behind the scenes here at A&B? Here’s a snapshot of a week in the editorial department… MONDAY While Sophie, our editor, travels to Ely to see our lovely author Mary Nichols, discussing future projects and consuming lemon meringue pie, looking très chic… …Kelly is stuck on the Saw ride […]
Rail’s Golden Age
7 October, 2015
In light of Birmingham’s main station reopening after a £750m makeover, the National Railway Museum in York is using its latest exhibition to celebrate the architectural styles from the past and the Golden Age of train stations. Most of our current railway stations favour a futuristic design on the outside, with a bright and spacious […]
‘Freedom is a powerful drug’: A&B author Sarah Grazebrook talks Suffragettes
30 September, 2015
Next month sees the release of the eagerly anticipated Suffragette movie starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham-Carter, Meryl Streep and many more names of note. It inspired us to ask A&B author Sarah Grazebrook, who wrote about the suffrage movement in her novel Crooked Pieces, what is so inspiring about this moment in history. ‘Man is […]
Licence to thrill – our love affair with spies
23 September, 2015
Next month I will be embarking on an international adventure, living the high life with an attractive partner by my side and infiltrating the shady goings-on in an illicit sinister organization with only my wits and trusty Walther PPK to help me… OK, so that’s a ‘bit’ of a tall story, what I mean of […]
Discovering London’s Time Ball
10 September, 2015
Despite being born and raised in London, frequenting the capital’s many attractions is something I have been woefully neglectful of. Prompted by the arrival of American cousins however, I took it upon myself to become a tourist in my own city – and it was then that I discovered the concept of the Time Ball. […]
Inspiration and writing practice with A&B author Alanna Knight MBE
20 August, 2015
Inspiration? The answer to that most-asked question is more like perspiration, constantly fighting time with six months to write one historical crime novel a year, excluding the research involved, meanwhile no coffee mornings for the novel’s duration, and my friends know the rules so it’s a quiet time. A computer at 9 a. m. is not […]
Across the Pond . . . Simplified English?
23 July, 2015
Technically speaking, we Brits and our friends across the pond, the Americans, speak (and read) the same language. However, anyone who has ever crossed the Atlantic in either direction can tell you that isn’t quite the case. Somewhere along the way, after they dumped our tea into Boston harbour, declared their independence and grew into […]
Colouring Craze
9 July, 2015
Five adult colouring books currently occupy Amazon’s top 20 bestseller’s list, with Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom – A Colouring Book Adventure beating Harper Lee’s anticipated Go Set a Watchman to second place, only to be outdone by Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as told by Christian. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry . […]
Disobedient Commuters
17 June, 2015
Unused to the London commuter routine I was blown away by the queue when I stepped off my train at Vauxhall and headed for the underground, the whole of one side of the entrance was blocked by people and overflowing out of the station. The other side had sensibly been left free for passengers leaving […]
The Cheese Sloth and Other Curiosities
12 June, 2015
The other week I went to the Embankment summer fair and spent a lovely few hours wandering around in the sunshine perusing the various stalls. One stall in particular caught my attention: Jimbobart – which is London-based designer James Ward who creates ‘a range of ceramics and illustrations centering on his expressive animal drawings.’ His charming […]
Missing Manuscripts
10 June, 2015
Last night we heard the news that the new Fifty Shades of Grey manuscript was stolen just days before the book’s release. Police have launched an investigation amid fears that copies of the manuscript could be made and sold on the black market, or that extracts could be sold off to media outlets ahead of […]
Feline Fiction
8 June, 2015
I spotted this article, discussing the lack of animals in adult fiction, on BookRiot, today. It’s an interesting time to stumble upon it, as we’re gearing up for the publication of the first in Mandy Morton’s delightful The No. 2 Feline Detective Series, next month. Following in the tradition of Watership Down, Black Beauty and the author’s favourite, Wind […]
Word On The Water
5 June, 2015
I’d heard about Word on the Water – the London Bookbarge bringing you a great selection of second-hand books to buy – long before I saw them. The barge travels along the canal, which runs from west London to Hackney and east London – and so finding them isn’t always easy (although if you are more […]
150 Curious Years of Alice
3 June, 2015
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was first published in 1865. It has never been out of print since. Carroll first wrote it for Alice Liddell, a child who was the daughter of a family friend. In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a little girl named Alice tumbles down a rabbit hole and finds the […]
Joining the Club
1 June, 2015
After nearly three years of working in publishing, I have finally got round to joining The Society of Young Publishers. It’s been on my to-do list for some time and I’m glad I finally did. Established in 1949, the SYP is open to anyone and ‘caters especially for those with fewer than ten years’ publishing experience. Run […]
Reading on the Road
29 May, 2015
Our author Emily Winslow told me, last week, about a brilliant and dedicated group of book lovers – ‘Books Afoot’. The Books Afoot group are part of the Book Group at Minnesota Women’s Press. They believe, quite rightly, that literature and travel make a rewarding combination. Reading the literature from a place illuminates your exploration of it, and […]
New Old Fairy Tales
28 May, 2015
Last month saw the publication of a new collection of fairy tales: The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth. But considering they were first recorded in the 1800s, ‘new’ may not be the best way to describe them… Franz Xaver von Schönwerth was a civil servant in Bavaria. […]
Literary Homes
22 May, 2015
It was announced this week that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s home is now up for sale in Long Island. The manor home is twenty miles outside New York and Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda are believed to have lived there between 1922 and 1924. The Mediterranean style home features seven bedrooms, six bathrooms, a music room and […]
Whose Line is it Anyway? LIVE!
20 May, 2015
This year is proving itself to be full of delightful arts-related news. First, it was announced that a sequel of To Kill a Mockingbird has been discovered and will be published in July (yes, I have already pre-ordered my copy), and now my dreams have come true: Whose Line is it Anyway?, a hilarious improvisational […]
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