by Gudrun Bowers | 4, May 2018
We are very lucky and super-excited to have bagged a visit from best-selling novelist Robert Goddard!
Robert Goddard, aka ‘The world’s greatest storyteller’ (The Guardian) will be introducing his 27th novel, Panic Room, a contemporary thriller set in Cornwall, which sees him at his nerve-shredding best. Robert will be in conversation with Sussex thriller writer William Shaw.
We are looking forward to hearing about the background to Panic Room, his research and inspiration, his array of past best-sellers, and just how he achieves such mastery in the art of suspense and plotting!
Tickets include a delicious 2 course meal, and a copy of ‘Panic Room’. Robert’s other novels will also be on sale for signing.
Robert Goddard is the author of 27 novels, many of which are Sunday Times Top Ten Best-sellers, including The Wide World Trilogy, Fault Line, and Past Caring.
He was born in Hampshire in 1954. He was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge where he read History. He unsuccessfully pursued various career options, finally spending ten years as a local government officer. Frustrated with a lot of contemporary fiction, he set out to write a novel that did what he wanted more novels to do: tell a tightly constructed and densely plotted story engrossingly and satisfyingly. The result was Past Caring (1986) and when it became a success he realised that he had, in fact, always been a writer.
‘I was a writer, in the sense of being a storyteller – an avid elaborator and re-fashioner of events for my own and others’ entertainment – from my childhood on. I was also an eager student of history, spending every Saturday I could in the local reference library poring over history books in a bid to understand the world I grew up in. These two impulses – to alter reality and also to master it – are the foundations of my fiction. It’s become an addictive occupation and it’s not an addiction I
have any intention of trying to kick. I’m in it for life.’ – Robert Goddard
‘For 30 years Goddard has been my go-to guy for a certain kind of storytelling, full of
easy charm blended with sinister menace, propulsive pace with twisty plotting,
and likeable characters in bad situations. If you’ve read him, join the discussion: is
this his best yet? If you haven’t read him, start here and work backwards.’
– Lee Child
by Gudrun Bowers | 7, Mar 2018
On Thursday April 19th at 7.30pm, join us for an intimate evening at the bookshop with novelist Catherine Chanter, who will be discussing her second novel The Half Sister.
Catherine visited us in Steyning to talk about her first novel The Well, which received widespread critical acclaim and was much enjoyed by all at the bookshop, and by our book groups. The Well was Winner of the Lucy Cavendish Prize in 2013, was a Richard and Judy Book Club Pick for Autumn 2015, and was long listed for the CWA John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger 2015.
So we are very pleased to welcome Catherine back to hear about The Half Sister, a compelling story of loss, grief, revenge and redemption. The novel follows estranged half sisters Diana and Valerie, who are reunited for their mother’s funeral but quarrel in bitter recrimination over past rivalries, setting off a tragic chain of events. It is a dark and finely nuanced study of moral uncertainties, and we are all looking forward to discussing it with her! Both novels are published by Canongate.
Catherine is a novelist and poet. She won a scholarship to read English Literature at Oxford and went on to work as a lobbyist, both in the UK and the USA. Somewhat disillusioned with the political process, she returned to England where she re-trained as a teacher and has since led education provision for vulnerable and excluded young people in a wide range of settings. She currently works for a charity which seeks to re-engage children with mental health problems with education.
Catherine has written for Radio 4 and had short stories and poetry published in many anthologies and publications. Her novella and short story collection Rooms of the Mind was published by Cinnamon Press in 2011. She has a Masters, with Distinction , in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes University.
The event price is £8, which will include wine, nibbles, and a voucher towards purchasing the novel (£14.99 hardback)
by Gudrun Bowers | 24, Mar 2017
On Thursday 4th May at 7 for 7.30pm we are thrilled to present a very special author supper with natural historian, writer, palaeontologist and TV presenter Richard Fortey.
Richard will be talking about his book ‘The Wood for the Trees’ which tells the story of the four acre beech and bluebell wood, nestled deep in the Chiltern Hills, which he purchased after retiring from his position as senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum. What began as an ‘escape into the open air’ after a lifetime locked away in dusty museums, became a deep analysis of the wood, its inhabitants, and its history, through diverse moods and changing seasons. Fortey’s remarkable scientific knowledge, intense curiosity and deep love of nature bring the habitat to life, from the flint substrate, the dormice, woodpeckers and deer, the mosses and liverworts, and the 300 species of fungi, to its role through human history.
Richard Fortey has published numerous popular science books, including ‘Fossils: The Key to the Past’, ‘The Hidden Landscape’, ‘Life: An Unauthorised Biography’, ‘A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth’, ‘Trilobite!: Eyewitness to Evolution’, ‘The Earth: An Intimate History’, and ‘Survivors:The Animals and Plants that Time has Left Behind’.
He has also presented the BBC 4 series ‘Survivors: Nature’s Indestructible Creatures’ and ‘Fossil Wonderlands: Nature’s Hidden Treasures’, as well as individual BBC 4 programmes about fungi, islands and rock pools. And alongside all of this, he had a long career at the Natural History Museum as a palaeontologist, studying trilobites and graptolites.
Tickets at £28 include a delicious 2 course meal, a copy of ‘The Wood for the Trees’ in paperback, and of course, a fascinating talk, plus a chance to pose the palaeontological/ natural history question of your choice to one of the world’s most eminent natural historians!
The Wood for the Trees
Dry Store Room No 1
Survivors
18th December, 2025, Steyning Bookshop