Nell Stevens & Sarah Winman: Hearing the Voices of Ghosts

Two novelists lead us across history and into the European sunshine. Sarah Winman’s Still Life brings us to a crumbling Tuscan villa where two strangers’ lives are entwined. Nell Stevens’s Briefly, A Delicious Life is set in a Mallorcan monastery where the soul of a murdered teen watches Frederic Chopin and George Sand build a simpler life. Join two authors to discuss witty works about breaking life’s conventions, set a century apart.

Book Festival News

Full 2025 Book Festival programme is announced with key theme of Repair Full 2025 Book Festival programme is announced with key theme of Repair
Tuesday 10 June

Enjoying this event? You can help us produce more like it.

Donate

Share

Watch more

Carol Ann Duffy: ‘You Danced On the Road, Blowing Kisses’ Carol Ann Duffy: ‘You Danced On the Road, Blowing Kisses’ ‘Your vacant room / is a still-life framed by the unclosed door; / read by sunlight, an open book on the floor.’ This plaintive cry will be familiar to many empty nesters who have seen a child grow up and leave home. Written by Carol Ann Duffy, it opens a… Meg Mason: Femme Fatalistic Meg Mason: Femme Fatalistic Meg Mason’s breakout bestselling novel of love, family and mental health, Sorrow and Bliss, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and dubbed ‘the book you have to read this summer’ by the Evening Standard. Comparisons have arisen to BBC’s… Caroline Moorehead: Mussolini’s Dangerous Daughter Caroline Moorehead: Mussolini’s Dangerous Daughter Where did power really lie in Fascist Italy? Not just with Benito Mussolini, according to Caroline Moorehead, but also with his favourite daughter. In the engrossing Edda Mussolini Moorehead the rise and fall of a woman whose husband, Galeazzo Ciano, was… Charlie Higson: Glamour, Gangs and Greek Islands Charlie Higson: Glamour, Gangs and Greek Islands On sun-soaked Corfu, fixer McIntyre thinks he’s got an easy job ahead of him – but he quickly finds that things are a lot shadier than they seem. Described as a ‘perfect read’ by the Guardian, Charlie Higson’s new novel, Whatever Gets You Through the… Wayétu Moore & Nadia Owusu: On Belonging Wayétu Moore & Nadia Owusu: On Belonging Meet two women who combine breathtaking life stories with an uncommon ability to write about them. Wayétu Moore joined us last year with her fictional reimagining of Liberia’s history, She Would Be King. Now she returns to tell her true life story and… Doireann Ní Ghríofa: A Ghost in the Throat Doireann Ní Ghríofa: A Ghost in the Throat The narrator in Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat is acutely conscious that she’s occupying a female body, and that her body is itself a kind of ‘female text’ that bears witness to her life experiences. But A Ghost in the Throat is also a female… Jessie Burton: Return to the Doll’s House Jessie Burton: Return to the Doll’s House More than a million readers have awaited the sequel to Jessie Burton’s bestselling debut novel. The House of Fortune revisits the address in Amsterdam where the events of The Miniaturist took place to meet Thea Brandt on her 18th birthday. Determined to… Ottessa Moshfegh: Power, Cruelty and Savage Faith Ottessa Moshfegh: Power, Cruelty and Savage Faith With her striking new novel Lapvona, Ottessa Moshfegh continues to prove herself as one of the most exciting contemporary literary fiction writers. Unbound by genre, unafraid of darkness and unparalleled in her ambition, Moshfegh transports us to a… UNBOUND: Dummy Jim UNBOUND: Dummy Jim Artist Matt Hulse and actor Samuel Dore enchanted with live music, readings, puppetry and elaborate knitwear, all devoted to the story of deaf cycling… Matt Haig (2017 Event) Matt Haig (2017 Event) Acclaimed writer of novels and screenplays for adults and children, Matt Haig’s new book, How to Stop Time, was so heavily anticipated that Benedict Cumberbatch signed up to play the key role in the movie adaptation well before its actual publication date…