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In Conversation with Susan SandonSunday Times bestselling authors S J Parris and Kate Summerscale discuss the nuances of writing fictional thrillers versus true crime stories. S J Parris’s latest historical novel, Traitor’s Legacy, the first in a new series, sees former spy Sophia de Wolfe investigate the murder of a young heiress. Although a work of fiction the descriptions of Tudor London are real, and many of her characters did exist. Kate Summerscale’s The Peepshow is a gripping account of the murders of at least eight women at 10 Rillington Place, a notorious crime of the 1950s, committed by Reg Christie. Written in her award-winning novelistic style, Kate has mined the archives to uncover the lives of the victims, the tabloid frenzy that their deaths inspired, and the truth about what happened inside the house.
About the Authors:
S J Parris is the pseudonym of Stephanie Merritt. It was as a student at Cambridge that Stephanie first became fascinated by the rich history of Tudor England and Renaissance Europe. Since then, her interest has grown and led her to create the series of historical thrillers featuring Giordano Bruno, as well as her latest novel focussing on former spy, Sophia de Wolfe. Stephanie has worked for a variety of newspapers and magazines as well as radio and television. She currently writes for the Observer and the Guardian and lives in Surrey with her son.
Kate Summerscale is the author of the number one bestselling The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2008, winner of the Galaxy British Book of the Year Award, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and adapted into a major ITV drama. Her first book, the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, won a Somerset Maugham award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread biography award. Kate has been a judge for various literary competitions including the Booker Prize, and in 2010 she was appointed a fellow of The Royal Society of Literature. She lives in north London.
About the Interviewer: Susan Sandon is former MD at Penguin Random House and a Festival Trustee.
Photo credit: Kate Summerscale - Robin Christian
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Skern Lodge, Skern Lodge,Bideford, Devon, United Kingdom
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