About this Event
Join us for an evening with Booker Prize-longlisted author Francis Spufford, in conversation about his newest novel, Nonesuch, with best-selling author of Pagans, James Alistair Henry.
It's the summer of 1939, and London is on the brink of a catastophic war. Iris Hawkins, an ambitious young woman in the world of City finance, has a chance encounter with technical whizz, Geoff, and her whole world is turned upside down.
What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws Iris into an adventure of otherworldly pursuits - where time bends, spirits can be summonded, and history hangs by a thread. And only Iris can stop the fascist fantasist with a gun in her hand from changing the course of everything forever.
Francis Spufford is a novelist, writer of non-fiction, and Professor of Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His fictional novels have won a variety of awards, such as the Costa First Novel Award and the 2022 Encore Award, and have been shortlisted for just as many, such as the Booker Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.
James Alistair Henry is a novelist, screenwriter and editor. Beginning his writing journey whilst a Waterstones Bookseller, Henry then went on to write the BAFTA-award winning Green Wing, ITV comedy Delivery Man and cult hit Campus. His debut novel, Pagans, was an instant Times bestseller, and Waterstones Science Fiction & Fantasy Book of the Month in February 2026.
Event venue & nearby stays
Waterstones, 76 High Street, Chelmsford, United Kingdom
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