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Join us in the shop as we meet Leeds based author Sarah Brooks and talk to her about her debut nostalgic fiction novel The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands.‘A woman on the platform with a borrowed name. A disgraced naturalist determined to discover miracles. A child with a dangerous secret.’
Filled with wild imagination, and a fantastical twist, this piece of gloriously nostalgic fiction takes you on a wild and thrilling ride on the Great Trans-Siberian express during the golden age of steam.
It is the 19th Century and the world is awash with marvels. But there is nothing so marvellous and terrible as the Wastelands: a vast terrain that lies between Russia and China. Nothing touches this deadly wilderness except the Great Trans-Siberian Express: an impenetrable train built to carry precious cargo across continents, but which now also transports anyone willing to cross the irresistible Wastelands. The train is never short of travellers. After all, the train is completely safe.
Except . . . something happened on the last journey. No can remember exactly what, not even Weiwei, the famous ‘child of the train’ who was born on the Express. The Trans-Siberia Company insist everything has been fixed. But the old rules are changing at a remarkable speed, and as secrets and stories of this curious cast of characters begin to unravel, something uncontrollable appears to be breaking in . . .
Sarah Brooks won the Lucy Cavendish Prize in 2019. She works in East Asian Studies at the University of Leeds where she also helps run the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing. She has a PhD on monsters in classical Chinese ghost stories. She is also co-editor of Samovar, a bilingual online magazine for translated speculative fiction. Originally from Lancashire, she now lives in Leeds.
Doors open 6:30pm event starts 6:45pm
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
95 Town Street, Farsley, LS28 5HX Leeds, United Kingdom, 95 Town Street, Leeds, LS18 4, United Kingdom,Leeds
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