Working and its rewards

I'm continuing to work on the typesetting of Title 2 (Monica Redlich's Five Farthings). I don't exactly have a favourite part as I enjoy all stages from shortlisting to development, then on to editing and selling. However, there's nothing like a quiet afternoon trying out fonts and spacing. Yes, wider margins will make the book a little more expensive, but it will be easier to read when (please when, not if) the customer buys it. Hopefully, the fact that they aren't required to break the spine to turn a page or be able to read the first half of a line will ensure that the book lasts too. I'm now off to my reward for the work - another chapter from the proof copy of Natasha Solomons' new book. The Novel in the Viola deserves to be even more successful than Mr Rosenblum's List. I'm in the lovely position of enjoying the reread even more than the first read - it's in an odd space with echoes of Daphne Du Maurier and Eva Ibbotson.

Title 2 (again)

Simply put: Working on it and enjoying it immensely. Between making a new version of the text, I'm experimenting with typefaces and layouts. I think perhaps editing is the best part.

Title 2

I am excited and delighted to say that my second title will be Monica Redlich's Five Farthings which will be published in late 2011.

I also hope to republish her other novel Jam Tomorrow in 2012.

In a very quick edit - thank you for the interest and I'll keep you updated.

Streatfeild online

A very quick post today, just to mention Noel Streatfeild's enduring hold as a writer for children. One blogger is holding a Streatfeild challenge - to read as many of Noel's novels as she can in a year, so good luck. A second newish website on Ballet Shoes has been set up as a support to a US college course in children's literature. It could well be a modern version of the course reader with all the useful quotes and directions for further reading that you used to be given in a paper handout. I hope for the day that one of the many children's literature academics I've emailed does actually do a contrast between The Whicharts which contemporary reviews only recommended for the broad-minded and Ballet Shoes which only goes from strength to strength as far as popular and critical values are concerned.

Possible authors

I seem to have spent more time in the British Library reading rooms than anywhere else lately. The discovery of Paula Harris and Lorna Lewis has been entertaining, but both are more suited for the collector and social history enthusiast. I don't think they have quite the wider appeal needed to shortlist them for future titles. That said, anyone interested in novels about music (just sheer enjoyment of playing - no need for precocious talent) or working in hotels or factories should read both writers.

Mention in The Guardian

Ah. The sudden and welcome spike of interest in my website can be explained: "This is not based on anything by Noel Streatfeild" wrote Peter Bradshaw in his review of Black Swan on Thursday. The full review can be found here. Reactions to his Guardian article have been mixed, but it was interesting (and unexpected) to see The Whicharts mentioned in the comments.

Vintage reading

I had fun this week avoiding the rain and reading a more romantic version of To Serve Them All My Days - in the form of a Hutchinson romance. Elizabeth Carfrae's The Dividing Line is the story of a forward-thinking headmaster who inherits enough money to purchase his old prep school and set himself up in his dream job. With a meander around wealthy relatives, new and old friends, devoted school secretaries in serviceable wool and even more devoted matrons crackling with starch, this one's actually (very silly) and enjoyably readable. There's even a madness from monomania and overwork subplot with a sleepwalking schoolboy. I'd say it's Girls Own-ish fairytale - popular stalwart of the genre. Was it even possible in the 1950s to buy a small Van Gogh by selling an old family jewel? Wishing territory, I suspect.