Louise Doughty – Without Warning & Only Sometimes
Louise Doughty is the author of ten novels, most recently A Bird in Winter, published by Faber & Faber in August of last year. Her previous books include Platform Seven, filmed for ITVX and broadcast on 7th December 2023; Black Water, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; the bestseller Apple Tree Yard, adapted for BBC One; and Whatever You Love, nominated for the Costa Novel Award and the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She has been nominated for many other prizes including the Sunday Times Short Story Prize and the CWA Silver Dagger, along with creating and writing the hit BBC drama Crossfire. Her work has been translated into thirty languages.
“Kit de Waal doesn’t tell her story in retrospect, like most memoirs – the whole book is told in the present tense, the immediate now, as de Waal relates her upbringing as the daughter of an Irish mother who worked as a cleaner, nurse and childminder and a Caribbean father who loved a smart car and an expensive suit.
De Waal is an award-winning novelist, author of My Name is Leon and The Trick to Time, and editor of the anthology of working class writing Common People. She brings all her story writing skills to her own childhood and young adulthood where in a crisis, her life is saved by reading. ‘I start to think I might not die. I might find a way to live through books and other people’s lives.’ It will remind you, if you need reminding, what solace can be found in books.”
Thank you to Louise for recommending this book!
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Photo Credit: Charlie Hopkinson