Gliterary Lunches - Food For Thought

The Godless Boys
by Naomi Wood

The Author

Naomi Wood is 27 and lives in London. She studied at Cambridge and at the University of East Anglia for her Masters in Creative Writing. Originally from York, she has gone on to live in Hong Kong, Paris and Washington DC. When not writing, Naomi has worked part-time in lots of odd jobs, such as rolling the autocue for CNN morning news, nannying in Paris for a famous French actress, and darning the largest knitted poem the world has ever seen for The Poetry Society. The Godless Boys is her first novel. She is currently working on a second novel about Hemingway's four wives.

Praise for Naomi Wood

'The unfolding drama is narrated from several perspectives, which are deftly woven together into a gripping, well-crafted tale . . . an impressive debut'
Observer

'Wood's Island, a dank environment of anaemic despair, is compelling, though more fey than feral; the story constructed as a parable of betrayal and wonder.'
Guardian

The Plot

This tender, brutal tale focuses on God, love and violence in an alternative 1986. England has been a rigid theocracy for 35 years, ever since God 'came down like a cage'. The church-burning secular movement has been quashed and all free-thinkers expelled. However on a northern island, where religion is outlawed and a godless tribe inhabit an atheist enclave, a young girl arrives from the pious mainland. Sarah hopes to solve the mystery behind her mother's disappearance but meets Nathaniel, one of the zealots who hunt down 'signs of churchliness'. As she becomes caught up with a gang of vigilante boys, Sarah's life careens out of control.

The Pleasures of Men
by Kate Williams

The Author

A prize-winning history graduate of Oxford University, Kate went on to study Creative Writing at Royal Holloway. Her historical non-fiction works met with widespread critical acclaim including Book of the Year in The Times, The Independent (England's Mistress), The Spectator and Vogue (Becoming Queen). Her first work, England's Mistress was Radio 4's Book of the Week. Kate writes for a vast range of magazines and newspapers and regularly appears on radio and TV to comment on topical history and arts stories. Kate's BBC 2 Timewatch special on 'Young Victoria', based on Becoming Queen, was acclaimed by the Guardian as 'telly history at its best', the Times as 'excellent', and by the Radio Times as 'superb', it received over 2.2 milllion viewers and has been shown around the world.

Praise for Kate Williams

'Becoming Queen showcases an outstanding talent'
Matthew D'Ancona, Spectator, Books of the Year

'Kate Williams has excelled herself. She has perfected the art of historical biography...her pacey writing is underpinned by the most impeccable scholarship.'
Alison Weir

The Plot

This unnerving, unsettling yet beautifully written novel tells the story of a young girl's obsession with a murderer who is known to the public only as The Man of the Crows. The Pleasures of Men reveals the dark, beating heart of corrupt London during Queen Victoria's reign. Kate employs her academic specialism to perfection bringing the dark, dirty streets of an unsettled nineteenth century East End London to life. This book is incredibly evocative; allowing the reader to taste the grime in the air and to hear the shouting and noise of the busy streets.