Joanne will be talking about her forthcoming novel Peaches for Monsieur le Curé, returning to , and ready to answer your questions on writing.

Here’s the link you will need which has more information: http://www.redonline.co.uk/red-women/red-chat/joanne-harris-red-book-club-red-chat

Peaches for Monsieur le Curé:

‘Her characteristic love affair with texture – scents, smells and sounds – immerses the reader in a bath of seductive imagery in a brave and grippingly confected story.’ – Sunday Times

‘Like Chocolat, this book is a feast for the senses. Every page of the book is steeped in scents, colours and tastes, without ever tipping into the pretentious or showy… Peaches for Monsieur le Curé is a wonderful return to form for Harris.’- Literary Review

‘A wide-ranging, powerful and very readable novel. I loved it.’ – Viv Groskop, Red

You can read more on her return to the world of ‘Chocolt’ on Telegraphonline

To order your copy now click here. Peaches for Monsieur le Curé is available to buy from 24th May 2012.

It is the fourth time Pratchett has been nominated for the prize, having previously been shortlisted for his novels Thief of Times (2002), Going Postal (2005) and Thud (2006). John O’Farrell appears on the list for a second time.

The five shortlisted novels are:

• Capital by John Lanchester

Described as having ‘a touch of Dickens’ by Clare Tomalin, this chronicle of London life post-financial meltdown follows a small cross-section of the inhabitants of one south London street. The Guardian calls the book ‘a brainy state-of-the-nation novel’

• Jude in London by Julian Gough

The sequel to his previously shortlisted Jude: Level 1, Jude in London follows penniless Irish orphan Jude as he walks the length of England on a quest to find his True Love, winning the Turner Prize and killing the Poet Laureate on the way. The book was shortlisted for The Guardian’s 2011 ‘Not the Booker shortlist’

• Snuff by Terry Pratchett (Doubleday, Transworld Publishers

‘As funny as Wodehouse and as witty as Waugh’ (Independent), Snuff is Terry Pratchett’s 50th book and the 39th in the Discworld novels. The book, which sees Commander Sam Vimes investigating a country house murder whilst on holiday, has become one of the fastest-selling novels since records began

• The Woman who went to bed for a year by Sue Townsend

‘An exquisite social comedy’ (Daily Telegraph), this is the story of Eva who, on the day her gifted twins leave home for university, climbs into bed and stays there

• The Man Who Forgot His Wife by John O’Farrell (Doubleday, Transworld Publishers)

‘A heart-warming comedy of marriage – and divorce’ (Guardian), this is the story of Jack Vaughan who, after an amnesiac episode on the tube, can remember nothing about his life, including his wife. But when he next sees his wife – to whom he’s getting divorced – it’s love at first sight and sets Vaughan on a mission to rescue his marriage

The judges of the prize are: James Naughtie, broadcaster and author; David Campbell, Everyman’s Library publisher and Peter Florence, Director of The Telegraph Hay Festival. Peter Florence comments on the shortlist:

‘It’s a really happy list which resonates with lots of the verbal wit, delightful characterisation and satirical edge of Wodehouse’s own work. There are three great comic writers on top form – O’Farrell, Pratchett and Townsend, John Lanchester’s masterly novel Capital that teems with humour and Julian Gough’s picaresque satire Jude in London.’

This year’s winner will be announced just ahead of the Hay festival in late May, followed by an audience with the winner during the festival.

To order a copy of this books click the links below:
Snuff by Terry Pratchett
The Man Who Forgot His Wife by John O’Farrell

“Six years after the idea crystallised and one year after winning the Terry Pratchett First Novel Award, my debut novel Apocalypse Cow is finally on the shelves, introducing social satire through the scandalously neglected medium of zombie cows to the unsuspecting, and possibly horrified, literary world.

It’s hard to escape the clichés when describing my emotions upon realising a lifelong dream. Of course, I am overjoyed, proud, excited and nervous, but I can’t shake of the sense of unreality. I wrote Apocalypse Cow largely for fun. I certainly never expected it to be published given the odd subject matter. In fact, I almost didn’t enter the competition, only doing so when my wife grabbed a firm hold of my ear and kept twisting until I pressed ‘send’ on my submission. I still have the deformed earlobe to prove exactly how much force she had to apply.

When I was shortlisted, I at first assumed it was practical joke as the email arrived on the eve of April Fools’ Day. Then, when I won alongside David Logan with his fantastic novel Half Sick of Shadows, I couldn’t shake the feeling it was an administrative error. For months, I expected to receive an email saying: ‘Can we have our award back, please?’

Now that the book is out there, I think I am ready to accept this is actually happening.

Getting here has been a long journey. I wrote my first short story – a 300-word sci-fi epic entitled ‘My Push-Button World’ – when I was nine. The trauma of failing to secure a five-book deal on the strength of this ground-breaking work – which involved a full-size football pitch that sprung up, complete with 21 robots to play with, upon my command – crushed my budding literary aspirations. I barely wrote a word, save for frequent punishment exercises, throughout the rest of school.

In fact, I didn’t really start writing again until ten years ago. Even then it was a case of squeezing it in between jobs, raising a young family, and glamorous international travel – if you count two weeks in Tajikistan nursing a dodgy stomach and being forced to wear a bracelet made from goat flesh in Northern Kenya as glamorous. I wrote literary short stories with some modest success, and a very serious novel focusing on sectarianism in Glasgow that I hid from the world, but when the zombie cows called, I had to answer.

And so, here we are. Apocalypse Cow is out there in the world. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.”

MICHAEL LOGAN

Novelist, Journalist and other things ending in -ist
APOCALYPSE COW OUT TODAY! 

Half Sick of Shadows is published today in hardback, a dark, dazzling, tragi-comic tale of childhood wonder, time-travelling poets and theoretical physics.

To celebrate the publication, we asked David to reveal a few of his top threes…

Top 3 authors

1.   Anthony Burgess

2.   Ray Bradbury

3.   Malcolm Bradbury

Top 3 books of all time

1.   The Sea, The Sea:   Iris Murdoch

2.   Death is a Lonely Business:   Ray Bradbury

3.   Dr Criminale:   Malcolm Bradbury

Top 3 tips for writers

1.   Foster an inquisitive mind. Find stuff interesting.

2.   Don’t just write every day; try to improve every day.

3.   Read critically.

Top 3 favourite ways to relax

1.   Sleep. Brains need sleep.

2.   Visit my mum and listen to her tales of aches and pains. My mum can talk forever.

3.   Travel. See new sights. Stroke a cat.

Top 3 foods

1.   Flavour: Spices: The holy trinity: chilli, garlic, ginger

2.   Rib eye steak (fried properly)

3.   Crunchy Nut cornflakes with fresh milk & blueberries

Top 3 places visited

1.   Venice

2.   Grand Turk

3.   Grenada

Follow David on Twitter @davidclogan

For further information, please contact Elizabeth Swain e.swain@transworld-publishers.co.uk @EKSwain

Giles was joined by a whole host of re-enactors sporting weaponry, armor and swords and spoke to members of the public, signed copies of The Bleeding Land and smiled for many a photograph from curious onlookers and press alike.  Giles was tweeting throughout his time in the window and will continue to do so for the duration of his stay; you can follow Giles on twitter @GilesKristian and look out for #thebleedingland.

Giles will be writing his second novel in his English Civil War trilogy whilst in the window so pop along and say hello, he will be there until Friday.

If you have any questions, please contact Elizabeth Swain at Transworld Publishers

e.swain@transworld-publishers.co.uk / @EKSwain / 020 8231 6738 / @WaterstonesRich

Captain Alistair North, Joe Remnant, Sam Nash and Thomas.

Sir Marmaduke Rawdon’s Regiment of Foote, English Civil War Society

Friday 18th May

7.15pm DERBYSHIRE LITERARY FESTIVAL
New Beetwell Street, Chesterfield Library, Chesterfield,S40 1QN
Tickets are £5 for adults. Now on sale and can be booked through any Derbyshire library or by contacting Call Derbyshire on 08456 058 058 or 01629 533190.

Thursday 24th May

7.00pm THE HUNGERFORD BOOKSHOP
The Corn Exchange at The Town Hall, High Street, Hungerford, RG17 0NF
Tickets are £5 from the bookshop (redeemable against ‘Peaches..’ on the night).

Monday 28th May

7.00pm PETERBOROUGH LIBRARY
John Clare Theatre, Peterborough Library, The Broadway, Peterborough, PE1 1RX
Tickets £3 (£2 concessions) available from Central Library and Waterstones.

Tuesday 29th May

7.00pm WATERSTONES, LINCOLN
297a High Street, Lincoln, LN2 1AF
Tickets £3

Wednesday 30th May

7.00pm URMSTON BOOKS
The Portico Library, 57 Mosley Street/corner of Charlotte Street, Manchester, M2 3HY
Tickets are now available £7.

Thursday 31st May

8.00pm HEXHAM LITERARY FESTIVAL
The Pavilion, Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, NE66 1NQ
Tickets can be booked directly through the Queen’s Hall box office (Phone: 01434 652477, Email: boxoffice@queenshall.co.uk) or online. £6 adults, £4 concessions.

Wednesday 6th June

2.30pm HAY LITERARY FESTIVAL
Hay-on-Wye
Tickets are £5.25 and available online or call the box office on 01497 822 629 quoting Event 262

Thursday 7th June

11.30am GOOD HOUSEKEEPING LITERARY LUNCHEON
The Swan Hotel, Church Street, Hay, HR3 5DQ

Sunday 17th June

5.00pm THE BIG BOOKENDS FESTIVAL
The Carriageworks, The Electric Press, 3 Millenium Square, Leeds, LS2 3AD
Tickets: £5.00. Book online at www.carriageworkstheatre.org.uk Or call (0113) 224 3801

Wednesday 11th July

8.00pm TOPPING & CO
The Paragon, Bath, BA1 5LS
Contact: Saber Khan (01225 428 111; bath@toppingbooks.co.uk)
Tickets £7 with £7 off Peaches for Monsieur le Curé when booked by phone  (01225) 428111 or £6 with £6 off when booking in person at the bookshop, before Wednesday 11th July.

Thursday 12th July

1.00pm DARTINGTON WAY WITH WORDS FESTIVAL
Dartington Hall, Dartington
For details Tel: 01803 86 73 73 or: www.wayswithwords.co.uk/festivals/the-telegraph-ways-with-words-festival-at-dartington-hall-24

7.30pm SHERBORNE LITERARY SOCIETY
The Butterfly House, Castle Gardens, Sherborne
Tickets £15 (£13.50 members) from Winstone’s Books, Chapter House Books, Winstone’s Books. For further details: www.sherborneliterarysociety.com

To find out more about Joanne, please visit her website

Follow Giles on Twitter @GilesKristian and join the conversation #thebleedingland

Lisa and photographer, Jonny Ring, worked tirelessly to get just the right shot for the jacket image and we all enjoyed a fun but tiring day of trying on hundreds of combinations of outfits and doing our best to make sure we accurately represented our respective characters.

Lynsey (Publicity) played Natalie, Elizabeth (Publicity) played Tina and Lucy (Digital Marketing) played Lucy!

Lucy knows exactly what she wants: her marriage to be a success, her children to be perfect, and to be the ultimate home-maker herself. Tina knows what she wants too: her journalism career to take off and to see her name on a national paper’s byline… and the illicit affair she’s started leaves her free enough to follow her dreams. Natalie just wants to be happy – happy with the boyfriend she’s dated since college, happy with the job she’s drifted into, happy with a life she thinks is enough – but is it really?

Ten years later, all three women have the lives they thought they wanted. But somehow, reality isn’t quite as neat and clean-cut as their dreams were…

Stop the Clock is a sharp, amusing and brilliantly observational novel about women’s lives and friendships.

After reading a section from the prologue of The Bleeding Land, Giles was interviewed by BBC Radio Leicester’s Ben Jackson about his transition from Vikings to the English Civil War and how he found the writing process as a whole.

If you want to get in touch with Giles, follow him on twitter @GilesKristian and join the conversation #thebleedingland.

Last night Cecil Court toasted to the publication of two historical fiction authors, Transworld’s Giles Kristian and Hodder’s Anthony Riches.

Goldsboro Books played host to a number of authors in addition to Giles and Anthony including Manda Scott, Ben Kane, Angus Donald, Henry Venmore-Rowland, Mike Arnold and Russell Whitfield as they all came out to celebrate the publication of The Bleeding Land and The Leopard Sword.

The event was also attended by Roman and English Civil War re-enactors as well as representatives from blogs such as Parmenion Books, My favourite Books, Geek Syndicate and Historical Novels Review.

Follow Giles on Twitter @GilesKristian and join the conversation at #thebleedingland
www.gileskristian.com

Captain Alistair North

Ensign Christian Towers

Goodwives Sharon Eldred and Micheline McAteer

Sir Marmaduke Rawdon’s Regiment of Foote, English Civil War Society