Thriller writer, archaeologist and traveller
We see it every year. Christmas creeping ever earlier – cards in the shops by September, the first trees and tinsel appearing in October and those ‘catchy’ Xmas tunes of the 70s are playing by November. The Grinches of course complain; 12 days of Christmas, not 42 days, they say. My American readers may not... Continue Reading →
Whilst working on a new thriller, and editing the one I 'finished' earlier, I have a new project to keep me out of mischief. I'm teaming up with artist Peter Le Vasseur to produce a book on his life and work. In particular the book will feature Peter's later works with ecological and conservation themes.... Continue Reading →
Some of you will have seen shots of my time spent on the island of Alderney during July. It was probably the tenth time I’d been there to lead an excavation at the Nunnery, but time shifts and this year brought new experiences and new surprises. The Nunnery itself has been reconfigured as a Field... Continue Reading →
I’m one of those people who gnashes their teeth at historical travesties in movies, or novels for that matter, so I’ve held off seeing The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society until the initial excitement died down. The book raised some heckles in the island as the setting portrayed wasn’t 'Guernsey' enough. One handicap... Continue Reading →
Thriller writer Desmond Bagley has been commemorated by a blue plaque by the gate of his former home at Castel House in Guernsey. Bagley died at an unfairly early age in 1983 in Guernsey, where he had made his home with his wife Joan. He died just before I moved to the island, so... Continue Reading →
Another year, another Guernsey Literary Festival. On Thursday 10th May I’ll be introducing Duncan Barrett in the Festival Hub. Duncan is the author of a number of non-fiction books including GI Brides and Sugar Girls both based on first hand interviews. His latest project is Hitler’s British Isles, for which he spent three months in... Continue Reading →
So I’m trying something different, a Twitter Campaign. Mostly it is to test the water, see how effective it is. After all if the Russians can change the result of elections by mass tweeting, there must be some power in social media. Although it was my sixth novel Glint of Light on Broken Glass was... Continue Reading →
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is far and away the most successful novel set in Guernsey. Although there are easily two dozen works of fiction using the German Occupation of the islands as their background, this is the stand-out commercial hit. Curiously it was written by an American who had only made... Continue Reading →
The Story of Guernsey is published in German this week. It is an introductory history of Guernsey profusely illustrated with images from Guernsey Museums' collection, aimed at the general reader, visitors to the island and older children. The English and French editions of this book have already made it the Museum's best-selling non-fiction work. I'm... Continue Reading →
I’d like to continue the theme of my last blog, where I discussed established principles for writing text on a wall. These apply not only to museums and galleries, but other public spaces such as information boards. It goes without saying that the writing should be grammatically correct. Less obvious is that sentences need to... Continue Reading →