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 | Yorkshire Times A Voice of the Free Press |
Mike Tilling
Arts Correspondent
1:03 AM 17th June 2023
arts
Books By The Beach 2023
First up on this year’s Books by the Beach was this session with James Fox. From an enigmatic title, James conjured up a fascinating story of how colour has influenced our behaviour, even to offering advice as to which are the best colours for a football team to wear (apparently, teams with a dark strip get penalised more than those in lighter colours). Which colours are considered lucky in which countries? A fascinating insight.
Perhaps more familiar as the author of the Killing Eve novels and writer of the first TV series, Luke Jennings’ new novel follows the fortunes of four characters all from different countries,. On the run from the police, Russian Mafia and political extremists. Their connection to each other is via the Internet. Luke Jennings himself took a trip through the Southern States and found a depressing world of misery and frustration, an apocalyptic vision of a dystopian future.
Catherine Curzon’s book is an historian’s analysis of this massively popular TV series. Some things they have got right, others she was more dubious about. The Regency Period (1811 – 1820) has fascinated her since childhood and Jane Austen is one of her favourite authors. Details she discussed included the social expectations that women would change dresses as many as three times per day and the farce that surrounded George 1V’s wedding day.
Maureen Fry is a novel about grief, and then finding way forward. It can now be enjoyed in paperback. Her earliest experience of writing was the biography she wrote at age six. As part of her session she gave valuable advice to a novice writer: imagine you are in a wood and discover a remote and shuttered mansion. Your job is to find a way in and then describe what you see. Her own methodology involves multiple drafting and redrafting.
Madeleine Bunting’s research into the state of forty seaside town’s is clearly relevant to Scarborough and the audience listened with rapt attention as she detailed her findings. It makes a depressing list: lower life expectancy, poverty, educational underachievement and a declining infrastructure. How do we survive? However, childhood memories of holidays on the beach become part of who we are and cement our affections for these towns at the margins of our nation.
Before explaining what his latest thriller is about. Alan Johnson gave a less than flattering portrait of the current state of British politics. Having dispensed with the question of his relationship with his namesake Boris, he explained that his new thriller calls on his experience as a politician and features Louise Mangan who surfaced in his first novel: The Late Train to Gypsy Hill. Now a familiar face on TV shows, he answered questions on his writing techniques and questioned why no writer of thrillers has ever been nominated for the Booker or Nobel prizes.
After an amusing and self-deprecating hour with interlocutor Gerry Foley, Rev Butler-Galle was subjected to one of the most rigorous series of questions of any of the participants of this year’s Books by the Beach. He welcomed this fact that a) questions had come so freely and b) that they had been so challenging. He explained why he had become a priest; how he had dealt with some of his personal demons and what kept him going in some difficult situations. Judging by the queue at the book signing afterwards, most of audience were in the mood to learn more.
The title of Ben Jacobs’ book gives away his determination to outflank landowners and Developers who casually destroy our heritage, specifically plant life, by circumventing conservation laws. This is a political act, but Ben also has a mission to rescue our fifty plus species of orchid. He has travelled to countries where the popular imagination would expects orchids to grow, but has found a mission in doing what he can to protect our indigenous varieties of these elusive plants. Ben Jacobs is impressive as a crusader who sometimes comes into conflict with the law.
Linda Green – In Little Stars
Interviewed collectively under the title of The Power of Love, Helen Boaden opened by asking Jenny about the flying element of her latest novel. The inspiration came through reading a pilot’s memoirs and then giving her lead character an obsession with flying. Linda had two points of departure: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (set in The North) and the murder of politician Jo Cox. Obviously, a Romeo and Juliet story is going to deal with pressure on teenagers. Both writers agreed that the pressures now are considerable.
Machine gun Maconie dazzled the largest audience of the entire festival with his rapid fire delivery, wit and considerable erudition. The Full English traces the same route as J. B. Priestley’s English Journey in a quest to take the temperature of England now. In a similar vein to Alan Johnson earlier in the day, he mourned the quality of current politicians and commented that Priestly would be appalled at the collapse in the quality of our public servants. Despite the fun, audience members heads were nodding in agreement, but left feeling uplifted by this final hour of intellectual challenge.