Join us for an evening with bestselling novelist Sebastian Faulks as he talks about his new memoir Fires Which Burned Brightly
‘The only dividend of the years’ vanishing, as far as I can see, is that it makes aspects of the past appear more interesting or humorous than they felt at the time.’
In Fires Which Burned Brightly, Faulks, a reluctant memoirist, offers readers a series of detailed snapshots from a life in progress. They include a post-war rural childhood – ‘cold mutton and wet washing on a rack over the range’ – the booze-sodden heyday of Fleet Street and a career as one of the country’s most acclaimed novelists.
There are not one, but two daring escapes from boarding school; the delirium of a jetlagged American book tour; the writing of Birdsong in his brother’s house in 1992; and memorable trips across the channel to France. Politics, psychiatry and frustrated ventures into the world of entertainment are analysed with patience and rueful humour.
The book is driven by a desire ‘to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.’ It ends with a tribute to Faulks’s parents and a sense of how his own generation was shaped by the disruptive power of war and its aftermath. Sharply perceptive and alive with a generous wit, Fires Which Burned Brightly is a work of subtle yet profound intelligence and warmth.
We’re delighted to be hosting this event with Sebastian Faulks, one of the nation’s finest novelists, and look forward to welcoming him to Oswestry to celebrate the publication of Fires Which Burned Brightly.
Sebastian Faulks has written nineteen books, of which A Week in December and The Fatal Englishman were number one in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. He is best known for his tour-de-force novel of the First World War, Birdsong, part of his French trilogy, and Human Traces, the first in an ongoing Austrian trilogy. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist on national papers. He has also written screenplays and has appeared in small roles on stage.
Reviews
‘A lovely memoir. Charming, intelligent, inventive, full of sly humour and unexpected connection. A wonderful portrait of an age, and of a writer.’ RORY STEWART #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Politics on the Edge
‘I gulped it down . . . Utterly fascinating. This will resonate with many people.’ DAVID KYNASTON Historian and author of The City of London
Tickets: £12 without book (Admits one, £10 redeemable against a signed copy of Fires Which Burned Brightly or £22 (Admits one, includes signed copy of Fires Which Burned Brightly)