A pic via Twitter of Alison Wong signing a copy of her book AS THE EARTH TURNS SILVER at the launch at Unity Books in Wellington last night. I was there but, sadly, had to rush away before Alison - or her 'launcher' Fiona Kidman - spoke.
I heard her publisher [and mine] Geoff Walker's speech, though [see twitpic below.] He was in 'super-proud-and-confident-of-major-prizes' mode - predicting Alison's novel would be one of the great novels of the year in this country and how it was being lapped up in the UK and France and other places .... and how her UK agent, the redoubtable Toby Eady, flew across the world to meet Alison after he read her MS - something he does once in a blue moon, or a silver earth...
It's Alison's astonishing poetic prose that made him book those tickets and should be enough to make the rest of us hand over a few crisp notes to own this one.
5 comments:
That is a beautiful cover, a lure for sure. I will look for it across the ditch
Looking forward to reading it! And I LOVE the cover.
I met Toby Eady when he came out for the AK festival a couple of years ago and he mysteriously said he was going to Wellington to meet a new author, who turned out to be Alison.
I agree...you should definitely judge this book by its cover: it's very evocative. Beautiful. One of the reasons why (if I ever get any of my books published :)) I want to have some part in designing my own covers. And I love poetic prose, so this book's sure to be on my wish list.
Thanks for linking to my blog, Mary, and I was glad to read Graham Beattie's review too. He's absolutely right about how Alison's characters come alive and get under your skin - there was a point in the book that I just wept.
It wasn't just the sadness of a sentimental story, it was an evocation of real tragedy, the stuff of literature.
Lucky you to live in Wellington and be able to tweet the launch!!
PC x
yes the cover is exquisite and alison wong is clearly a star = thanks for your review PC too - makes me want to read the book straight away - oh and I didn't tweet the launch Penguin did! clever them....
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