Christmas release from Quartet Books 

Today we celebrate the publication of Nine Love Letters by Gerald Jacobs…

NINE LOVE LETTERS by Gerald Jacobs 

A HEART-RENDING TALE OF TWO FAMILIES FLEEING THE HORRORS OF THE HOLOCAUST

As violence and hatred sweep across Europe and the Middle East under the Nazis, this novel tells the story of two Jewish refugee families whose lives unexpectedly converge in post-war London. 

Praise for Jacobs’ Previous Work

‘There’s a deceptive matter-of-factness about Gerald Jacobs’ writing which masks an exquisite sadness. His is the art of the refined miniaturist…’  Howard Jacobson

 ‘Everybody should read this book.’     Sunday Telegraph

‘Works like Sacred Games make it possible for generations born after the Holocaust to come face to face with its reality.’       Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Financial Times

 Gerald Jacobs is the literary editor of the Jewish Chronicle. His book Sacred Games was published by Hamish Hamilton in 1995, Penguin in 1996 and re-issued by Faber in 2011. He lives in Muswell Hill, London.

Get your copy of Nine Love Letters by Gerald Jacobs here today!

Read the Radio Times double spread piece on forthcoming Radio 4 programme on Phyllis Bottome here: radio-times

Radio 4 programme The Woman Who Invented James Bond? is on this Saturday 10th December at 10.30am.

The Constant Liberal: The Life and Work of Phyllis Bottome was published in 2010. You can get your copy of this fantastic biography here today.

‘On the surface, Invisible Threads is a novel about an English woman on a personal journey to India, and comes with many of the trappings we’d expect … The deeper issue of Invisible Threads is the terrible position of girls and women in India, and Beresford skilfully weaves visceral examples of their plight into Sara’s experience while she is there investigating her husband’s death … The book’s great strength is the plurality of the title’s Invisible Threads. These allude to the marital bond that pulls Sara along in her quest to discover how her husband died, and also to her links with the abused women of India she tries to help on the way. Beresford’s novel is both enjoyable and eye-opening, alluring and appalling; it is a call to respect the ties that bind us all’

The Spectator on Invisible Threads by Lucy Beresford. As a special Christmas offer, Invisible Threads by Lucy Beresford is only 99p for your kindle today! Get it here now…

‘Pam Hirsch, author of The Constant Liberal: The Life and Work of Phyllis Bottome, says the title of The Life Line was emblematic of her relationship with the young Fleming.”Phyllis and her husband Ernan were a lifeline for a deeply troubled young man who might not have actually survived if he hadn’t had all their care, their love, and their writerly attention as well.” Hirsch is reluctant to suggest Phyllis “invented James Bond”. But she does say “she sort of invented Ian Fleming the writer”.’

The BBC News on whether Phyllis Bottome inspired Ian Fleming’s James Bond. The Radio 4 Programme is out this Saturday at 10.30am. To read the full BBC news piece, go here and get your copy of The Constant Liberal by Pam Hirsch here today.

Jeffrey Weeks is interviewed on the Moncrieff Show on Newstalk in Ireland. You can listen to the full podcast here and get your copy of Coming Out by Jeffrey Weeks here.

‘Thanks to Simon Courtauld, in his new book Footsteps in Spain, for the most interesting fact I have yet heard about Castro. When Spain’s right-wing caudillo, General Franco, died in 1975, the leftist Castro ordered a week of mourning for him in Cuba. This was chiefly because Castro’s father, like Franco, came from Galicia. He left Spain to fight in the Cuban war of independence (against the revolutionaries), and stayed on, but he passed on his proud galleguismo to his son.’

Charles Moore on Footprints in Spain by Simon Courtauld for The Spectator. Read the full article here and get your copy of Footprints in Spain here.

‘I am in awe of Vanessa. The amount of research she must have painstakingly carried out to execute this project with such poise and detail is beyond impressive. The historical novel is without a doubt one of the trickiest works of art. Not only do readers expect a pacey tale filled with obstacles and protagonists, near-misses and short-lived triumphs, they also expect to learn something of the period; they also expect to swoon over some delicious writing, and they also expect to develop an instant empathy with the characters whose sub plots should effortlessly intertwine. Vanessa delivers on all of the above.’

The Glass House Girls gives a fantastic review of Summer’s Grace by Vanessa Hannam. Read the full review here and get your copy of Summer’s Grace here today.

‘Pam Hirsch, Miss Bottome’s biographer, said: ‘They loved him like a son. Her ability to be a bestseller, the page-turning quality, I think he learnt that from her.’

The Daily Mail on Radio 4 programme The Woman Who Invented James Bond? out on 10th December. Read the full article here and to find out more about Phyllis Bottome, get your copy of The Constant Liberal: The Life and Work of Phyllis Bottome by Pam Hirsch here.

 ‘I would cast Rufus Sewell as the admiral, Gabriella Wylde as Grace, Catherine Zeta Jones as Conseulo, Orlando Bloom as Peter and Jim Broadbent as King George!’

Vanessa Hannam does a fantastic Q&A with Jera’s Jamboree blog where she discusses writing Summer’s Grace. Read the full feature here and get your copy of Summer’s Grace here today!

‘Naim does not do anything by halves and the wine he served which was consumed by the bucket load was of a calibre we would only serve of celebratory occasions. This evening was a testament to a remarkable man. To have a publisher like him is beyond a writer’s dreams.’

Read Vanessa Hannam’s blog post here and get your copy of Summer’s Grace here.

Hiroko Sherwin’s book is a ‘well-written, if ultimately disturbing book. The first half recounts the military experiences of nine Japanese in various theatres of the wars. Some are as harrowing as any similar accounts by Western veterans: young men – and it is all you g men – who were forced to fight in appalling conditions or, in the case of Kamikaze pilorts or human torpedo crews, went to certain death or would have done so if the war had not ended in August 1945.’

The Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs gives a fantastic review of Japan’s WWII Legacy: Interviews with Japanese Veterans. Get your copy of the book here today.

‘James also wields a vivid pen. He makes the hidden wiring of Whitehall buzz.’

The Stonyhurst Record reviews The Making of an Immigration Judge by James Hanratty. Read the full review here: immigration-judge-review-stonyhurst-record and get your copy of the book here today.