by Gudrun Bowers | 9, May 2016
We are delighted to announce that Peter James is back in Steyning to introduce the 12th novel in his addictive Roy Grace series – ‘Love You Dead’.
Peter James is a one of the nation’s most treasured thriller writers – recently voted ‘The Best Crime Author of All Time’ by WH Smith readers. The Roy Grace series of novels have sold more than 17 million copies and been translated into over 36 languages, bringing the seamy underbelly of Brighton alive to a worldwide audience!
Peter is always a very entertaining speaker, having a wealth of fascinating stories that he has picked up while researching with the Sussex Police, so we can promise an evening of thrills, spills, and the occasional raised eyebrow!
Ticket price includes a hot-off-the-press hardback copy of ‘Love You Dead’, which Peter will, as always, be happy to sign for you after his talk.
7.30 -10 pm Tuesday 24th May.
Tickets available from http://www.steyningfestival.co.uk/
or from The Steyning Bookshop, festival box office.
by Gudrun Bowers | 4, Apr 2016
A welcome return to longer picture books from Emily Gravett, after her delightful series for toddlers featuring Bear and Hare, ‘Tidy’ tells the story of Pete the badger, a slightly OCD woodland character who gets a bit carried away when he starts to tidy up the forest, with disastrous but amusing consequences! Sumptuously illustrated and with a resounding environmental message, this book is a real treat for 3-5 year olds.
Emily will be at the bookshop on the launch date of the book – April 7th, tickets priced £2 per child.
by Gudrun Bowers | 4, Apr 2016
Sunjeev Sahota’s first novel Ours Are The Streets gained him a place on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list of 2013 and this his second novel was longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker prize. Pertinent in view of the situation in Calais and Greece, this novel, set in Sheffield, is a brilliant depiction of the aspirations and daily struggles of three Indian men sharing accommodation with a group of other migrant workers and, in another part of the city, a devoutly Hindu Indian woman trapped and compromised by her marriage of convenience. The novel moves skilfully between India and England, initially taking the form of short stories and novellas about the characters in childhood and in the present day, and then as the main protagonists’ lives intermingle, the narrative gains further strength and opens still more the question of Western responsibilities to those less fortunate. An engrossing and humane read.
by Gudrun Bowers | 4, Apr 2016
Yasmin is fifteen, fat and in her words “a freak”, compulsively drawn to beautiful Alice Taylor whom she feels compelled to protect from afar, with far reaching consequences. An unsettling but at times comic portrayal of an obsession, this debut novel by former film editor Tasha Kavanagh grips and disturbs.
Published as adult fiction but could be read by older teenagers.
by Gudrun Bowers | 4, Apr 2016
Anne Jaccob is the daughter of a well-to-do family, though material comforts do nothing to soften a life pinched by misery and neglect. Her father cares nothing for her, her mother is exhausted and absent through her many confinements, and they are all grieving in their own ways for Anne’s baby brother. Denied emotional solace at home and desperate to escape the suitor her father has picked for her, Anne starts to look outside for excitement and affection. She settles on Fub, the butchers’ boy, hardly a suitable match for a young lady. Hardened by grief and made reckless by desire, Anne pushes herself off on a course there’s no turning back from…
Don’t let Janet Ellis’s cosy demeanour fool you, this is a dark, twisting tale of grief, lust and violence in Georgian London, and one unforgettable heroine’s warped attempt to escape the stifling claustrophobia of the female sphere.
by Gudrun Bowers | 18, Mar 2016
On Thursday April 7th at 2.30pm, come and join Emily Gravett in the bookshop garden marquee as we celebrate the release of her charming new picture book ‘Tidy’ – a very funny rhyming woodland tale about the perils of being too tidy.
Pete the badger likes everything to be neat and tidy at all times, but what starts as the collection of one fallen leaf escalates quickly and ends with the complete destruction of the forest! Will Pete realise the error of his ways and set things right? ‘Tidy’ delivers a timely environmental message which children will appreciate, with subtlety and humour, and is sumptuously illustrated in Emily’s unique style.
Emily will share stories and badger-y craft activities with children aged 3-8 (suggested age only)
Tickets just £2 entitle the bearer to £2 off one of Emily’s books.
Includes free refreshments.
Emily has visited our bookshop many times before so should need no introduction – but just to remind you – she is an author/illustrator of unique talent and tremendous skill who has a host of critically acclaimed books to her name, including Wolves, Meerkat Mail and Again! She is also twice winner of the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal and the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Bronze Award for Wolves and Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears.
Tidy by Emily Gravett
by Gudrun Bowers | 17, Mar 2016
On Thursday 21st April at 7pm join TV presenter and novelist Janet Ellis for supper at The Sussex Produce Cafe. Janet will be talking about her hotly tipped debut novel The Butcher’s Hook – a dark and bewitching historical novel with a truly unforgettable heroine.
Janet Ellis is a broadcaster, an agony aunt for a national newspaper, and now a novelist. She lives in west London with her husband, and has three children, among them the singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
‘The Butcher’s Hook doesn’t read like a first novel – it is a high-finish performance… You need to be braced for violence to rival any Jacobean tragedy: The Butcher’s Hook will hook you’
Observer (New Faces of Fiction 2016)
Tickets priced at £27.50 include a delicious 2 course meal and a copy of The Butcher’s Hook.
Book in advance from The Steyning Bookshop.
The Butcher’s Hook
by Gudrun Bowers | 11, Feb 2016
Local writer and illustrator Sam Watkins, author of the very funny and popular ‘Creature Teacher’ series, published by Oxford University Press, will join us on Friday 19th February at 11 am to help kids create their own comic-strips, and offer general story-writing advice, too.
£2 per ticket, advance booking essential as places for this workshop are limited to 15.
Ideal for ages 7-11, ticket entitles the bearer to £2 off one of Sam Watkins’ books.
Free Refreshments will be served.
creature teacher
creature teacher science shocker
creature teacher goes wild
by Gudrun Bowers | 21, Jan 2016
Published last March, this exciting and contemporary thriller follows the fortunes of Dan, a young boy worried that his father is returning to a life of crime, and Aliya, who has escaped with her family from Afghanistan to a run-down housing estate in London and finds her brother implicated in what appears to be a terrorist plot.
Aliya manages to persuade Dan to help her try to prove her brother’s innocence but their investigations become increasingly complicated and dangerous, affected also by Dan’s secret concerns that his father may be involved. A really well written and involving tale, with convincing and sympathetic lead characters and a tense and at times quite frightening plot.
Recommended for age 11 upwards.
by Gudrun Bowers | 21, Jan 2016
Creative collaborators Alexis Deacon and Viviane Schwarz were behind the wonderful ‘A Place to call Home’ plus many other clever picture books. ‘I am Henry Finch’ is a funny and original take on the philosophy of Descartes… ‘I Think Therefore I am’.
One day, the repetitive rhythm of the Finch flock’s existence is turned upside down. Little Henry Finch is suddenly struck by A Thought. The Thought changes everything… in fact, Henry’s Thought saves the day, and before long, the whole flock are buzzing and chattering with Thoughts!
Fabulously funny, quirky and intelligent picture book, perfect for 3 to 6 year olds, whether budding philosophers or not!
