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Category Archives: The Absolutist
‘The Absolutist’ interview
Here’s 2 parts of a long television interview from Canadian television in which I discuss The Absolutist and my writing in general.
Part 1
Part 2
The US and Canada
I’ve been in North America for the last 2 weeks – 2 weeks! – on promotional duties for THE ABSOLUTIST, which will be published in the USA by The Other Press in July but is published in Canada by Doubleday this week.
At the Random House offices in New York
The trip started in New York, where I hosted a lunch for 30 reviewers / bloggers / literary types at the Museum of Modern Art. A great afternoon and fascinating to hear of all the amazing writing websites which are online now. So much brilliant new writing out there.
On to Washington DC then for something similar before making my way to Canada to begin a book tour in Toronto. I’d read at the Authors at the Harbourfront series 2 years ago while promoting The House of Special Purpose. A real delight to be back as it’s a great reading space, where the audience sit around tables drinking rather than in formal theatrical seats.
Toronto: Authors at the Harbourfront
Next up Calgary, my first trip there, for some media interviews and now finally to Vancouver for more media and the festival of international writers. I’ll be reading this coming Wednesday night before heading home – at last! – before the weekend.
Canadian Edition
US Edition
Amsterdam Manuscripta
I’ve been in Amsterdam for the last few days promoting the Dutch language version of THE ABSOLUTIST, published in Holland and Belgium by Boekerij as DE WITTE VEER (‘The White Feather’).
Alongside the interviews, I took part in Manuscripta, an annual book festival that celebrates the launch of a new book season in Holland.
Radio interviews
Some radio interviews from the last few days, discussing THE ABSOLUTIST.
Publication Day: The Absolutist
Today marks the publication of my 9th novel, THE ABSOLUTIST. Here’s what it’s about:
September 1919:20 year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver some letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian’s brother Will during the Great War but in 1917, Will laid down his guns on the battlefield, declared himself a conscientious objector and was shot as a traitor, an act which has brought shame and dishonour on the Bancroft family.
But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He holds a secret deep in his soul. One that he is desperate to unburden himself of to Marian, if he can only find the courage.
As they stroll through the streets of a city still coming to terms with the end of the war, he recalls his friendship with Will, from the training ground at Aldershot to the trenches of Northern France, and speaks of how the intensity of their friendship brought him from brief moments of happiness and self-discovery to long periods of despair and pain.
UK Book Tour
I’m on the road in England over the next 2 weeks, reading from my new novel THE ABSOLUTIST. Here’s the dates and places:
May 2011
8th, 7:00 pm: Core Theatre, Corby, Northamptonshire (with novelist Joe Dunthorne)
10th, 7:00 pm: Waterstone’s Deansgate
11th, 7:00 pm: Pritchard’s Bookshop, Formby
12th, 2:00 pm: Nottingham Central Library
12th, 7:30 pm: Chesterfield Central Library
13th, 10:00 pm: RADIO: BBC Radio 2, The Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman
16th, 7:30 pm: The Drill Hall, Chepstow
17th, 8:00 pm: Topping’s Bookshop, Bath
18th, 2:00 pm: Walsall Central Library
18th, 6:30 pm: Birmingham Central Library
19th, 1:00 pm: Peterborough Central Library
19th, 7:00 pm: Cambridge Union Society, 9a Bridge Street, Cambridge
20th, 6:00 pm: Charleston Literary Festival (with David Nicholls, Judith Kerr & Jill Dawson)
Lots more readings and festivals coming up soon too. All listed here
The Absolutist on Book at Bedtime
In advance of publication of my new novel THE ABSOLUTIST on May 12th, BBC Radio 4 are dramatising the novel in 10 parts over the next 2 weeks, starting tonight, April 25th.
You can listen to it on your wireless sets or listen back on the Book At Bedtime website.
You can also pre-order the novel from Amazon.
The Absolutist
My new novel, THE ABSOLUTIST, will be published on May 12th 2011.
It’s my seventh novel for adults and my ninth overall and will be published by Doubleday in the UK & Ireland, with foreign editions to follow.
I’m returning to the subject of war in this book, specifically the First World War.
Here’s the inside jacket summary:
September 1919: 20 year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver some letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian’s brother Will during the Great War but in 1917, Will laid down his guns on the battlefield, declared himself a conscientious objector and was shot as a traitor, an act which has brought shame and dishonour on the Bancroft family.
But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He holds a secret deep in his soul. One that he is desperate to unburden himself of to Marian, if only he can find the courage.
As he recalls his friendship with Will, from the training ground at Aldershot to the trenches of Northern France, he speaks of how the intensity of their friendship brought him both happiness and self-discovery as well as despair and pain.
The Absolutist is a novel that examines the events of the Great War from the perspective of two young soldiers, both struggling with the complexity of their emotions and the confusion of their friendship.
There’s a couple of nice endorsements on the jacket from writers who have read advance copies of the book. Costa and IMPAC Award-winner Colm Toibin has called it “A wonderful, sad, tender book. There are some amazing things about this novel – one is the simplicity and purity of the narrative line; another is the sort of complexity within the characters and the emotions and the motives; another is the sense of the period, with all its restrictions. The book is going to have an enormous impact on everyone who reads it.”
Carlo Gebler, author of A Good Day For A Dog and Father & I, has said “Extraordinary…The narrative is by turns surprising and tragic in equal measure while its troubling conclusion will stay with readers long after they’ve closed the book. The Absolutist is an important work because although it is set mostly in the past the dilemma it explores – how is one to be good in the midst of catastrophe – is completely contemporary.”
The book will be published on 12th May and I will be reading from it over the course of the summer and autumn at various events. Keep an eye on the Events page on my website for more on this.
You can pre-order it from Amazon here.
