Author: Cole Sullivan

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A message from our Publisher, Karen Sullivan

Welcome!

We are absolutely thrilled to unveil our new website and to offer you a host of new and better ways to get to know our authors and their books. We’ve filled this new site with everything you need to keep up with all of our inspiring new publications, to find out what our brilliant authors are up to, plus information about our exciting events and all the latest news from Team Orenda.

A new online bookshop

The first thing you’ll notice is that you now have the opportunity to buy physical copies of our wonderful titles directly from Orenda Books. Having our own online bookshop means we and our wonderful authors benefit from a better profit margin on every book we sell. But you, the reader, benefit, too, as selling you books directly means we’re able to offer you special deals, signed copies and book bundles that will allow you to immerse yourself in some truly wonderful international reads, whatever your budget.

We continue to support ethical retailers, of course, and we’re hugely grateful for the passion and enthusiasm with which they sell our books. You’ll find a list of links to our preferred and much-valued stockists here.

Audiobooks

Almost all of our books are available in audiobook format, and we’ll be selling audio CDs, where available, in the coming months. Downloads are available from all of the usual retailers, including Audible, Amazon, The Reading House, Storytel, Bookbeat, Apple and Google.

Newsletter

The very best way to keep abreast of our latest news, deals and publications is to subscribe to our newsletter. It provides loads of exclusive subscriber-only content, plus special offers and giveaways. By signing up, you’ll not only become an important and invested part of #TeamOrenda, you’ll receive a free ebook of Agnes Ravatn’s breathtaking, award-winning psychological thriller The Bird Tribunal, translated by Rosie Hedger. Go to the home page for details on how to sign up.

Subscription boxes

We now have a subscription box!

We’ve teamed up with our friends, Bert’s Books, to put together a variety of subscription packages to fit all budgets, and every month Bert and his team will send out our exclusive signed copies with special treats! Click HERE to find out more.

Merch!

We’ve put together a (very) small collection of #TeamOrenda merchandise, which we’ll be adding to across the next couple of months. If there’s something you’d like to see in the collection, don’t hesitate to let us know.

Author content and online events

Over time, our authors will be contributing stories, insights and their own recommended reads to the site. We’ll also showcase the latest book trailers (at the bottom of the home page) and we’ll alert you to upcoming events and deals. If you miss one of our online events, you’ll find the recording on our YouTube channel.

Get in touch

We are committed to bold, imaginative publishing, and aim to bring you the finest, unforgettable international fiction in the most beautiful way we can. You, our readers, are the reason why we publish books, and when you buy an Orenda book, or sign up for our subscription box or newsletter, you are becoming part of #TeamOrenda, and you’ll be investing in our wonderful authors and making it possible for us to do what we do.

Any other questions? Check our handy FAQs.

If you think there’s something missing from the site, or you want to see more of something, we’ll be more than happy to hear your ideas! Get in touch with us via our contact page.

Thank you so much for visiting, and for becoming part of the team. We love what we do, and we are absolutely thrilled to have this opportunity to share our fabulous books with you.

 

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Simone Buchholz and Vanda Symon in conversation with Craig Sisterson to launch Hotel Cartagena and Bound

Orenda Books is delighted to celebrate publication of ‘Queen of Krimi’ Simone Buchholz’s Hotel Cartagena (translated by Rachel Ward) and award-winning New Zealand crime writer Vanda Symon’s Bound with an online launch.

Hotel Cartagena is the fourth in the international, bestselling Chastity Riley series, and it sees our protagonist trapped in a hotel bar, high above Hamburg Harbour, as gunmen take its occupants hostage. Buchholz is one of Germany’s finest literary crime writers, and her crackling prose and modern take on Noir have attracted legions of fans, including Graeme Macrae Burnet, who says, ‘‘Reading Buchholz is like walking on firecrackers … a truly unique voice in crime fiction’ and The Times: ‘Disgraced state prosecutor Chastity Riley chases round the dive bars of the port city pursuing and being pursued by a beguiling cast of cops, criminals and chums, delivering scalding one-liners as she goes’.

Bound is the fourth instalment is the unforgettable Sam Shephard series, shortlisted for the prestigious Ngaio Marsh Award in Vanda Symon’s native New Zealand. Set in Dunedin, this whip-smart, emotive thriller sees Sam go vigilante when her instincts tell her that her colleagues have got the wrong suspects behind bars in the case of a murdered local businessman. Sam’s personal problems drive her to act uncharacteristically, adding depth to this exceptional thriller. 

Simone Buchholz and Vanda Symon will be in conversation with New Zealand author and reviewer Craig Sisterson. Translator Rachel Ward will tune in for questions from guests.

This event is free to attend, however we do encourage you to support the authors in any way you can and Hotel Cartagena and Bound are available to order online now. Signed copies are available EXCLUSIVELY from our partner independent bookshop, Four Bears, in Reading: FourbearsBooksUK@outlook.com

To register for the event email: cole@orendabooks.co.uk

You will receive a confirmation email once you register, and on the day of the event itself will be sent details for attendance. Please ensure you have downloaded Zoom. We will be taking questions on the day of the event via the chat function.

Simone Buchholz

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied philosophy and literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award and was runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. e next in the Chastity Riley series, Beton Rouge, won the Radio Bremen Crime Fiction Award and Best Economic Crime Novel 2017. In 2019, Mexico Street, the follow-up in the series, won the German Crime Fiction Prize. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son. Follow Simone on Twitter @ohneKlippo and visit her website: simonebuchholz.com.

Vanda Symon

Vanda Symon lives in Dunedin, New Zealand. As well as being a crime writer, she has a PhD in science communication and is a re- searcher at the Centre for Paci c Health at the University of Otago. Overkill was shortlisted for the 2019 CWA John Creasey Debut Dagger Award and she is a three-time nalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. Vanda produces and hosts Write On, a monthly radio show focusing on the world of books at Otago Access Radio. When she isn’t working or writing, Vanda can be found in the garden, or on the business end of a fencing foil.

Rachel Ward

Rachel Ward is a freelance translator of literary and creative texts from German and French to English. Having studied modern languages at the University of East Anglia, she went on to complete UEA’s MA in Literary Translation. Her pub- lished translations include Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang andRed Rage by Brigitte Blobel, and she is a Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting. She has previously translated Simone Buccholz’s Blue Night, Beton Rouge andMexico Street for Orenda Books. Follow Rachel on Twitter @FwdTranslations, on her blog www.adiscounttickettoeverywhere.wordpress.com, and on her website: www.forwardtranslations.co.uk.

Craig Sisterson

Craig Sisterson is a lapsed lawyer from New Zealand who now lives in London and writes features for magazines and newspapers in several countries. In recent years he’s interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at books festivals on three continents. Craig has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the McIlvanney Prize, is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His first non-fiction book, Southern Cross Crime, was published in 2020 by Oldcastle Books.

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Toronto International Festival of Authors presents NORDIC NOIR – with Agnes Ravatn & Thomas Enger

Agnes Ravatn and Thomas Enger will be taking part in ‘Nordic Noir with TIFA’ as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors. The details and how to watch are below:

When:24th March – 7PM

How to sign up:Click HERE

What: Norwegian author and journalist Agnes Ravatnexplores her latest psychological thriller, The Seven Doors, in conversation with Canadian author Elisabeth de Mariaffi. Six years after the success of The Bird Tribunal, Ravatn’s eagerly awaited new book follows the story of Nina, a university professor, and her disturbing investigation into the disappearance of her tenant. Seven Doorsis a harrowing novel of dark secrets and dangerous curiosity. Its quirky mystery and clever twists firmly establish Ravatn as a powerful new voice in Nordic Noir; a voice you won’t want to miss.

TIFA Presents: Chillingly Brilliant Nordic Noir

Uncover the secrets of Norwegian crime writing, in conversation with two of the genre’s best contemporary novelists. Agnes Ravatn and Thomas Enger will join the Toronto International Festival of Authors for two intriguing conversations about the fiercely popular genre, and what to expect from their latest books.

Dubbed “Nordic Noir” by fans outside of Scandinavia, the popular subgenre of Norwegian literature has been a growing fascination of readers around the world since the 1990s. Distinctive for its bleak landscapes, direct writing style and complex yet realistic protagonists, the genre contrasts the traditional “whodunit” murder mystery styles with chilling brilliance.

Today, Nordic Noir storytelling is well entrenched in popular culture, demonstrated by its ubiquity on bookshelves and on screens. Films and television series inspired by the genre include Shetland, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Bridge and many more.

 

When:25th March – 7PM

How to sign up:Click HERE

What:International bestselling journalist-turned-author Thomas Engerpresents Smoke Screen, the second instalment in the award-winning Blix and Ramm series, co-written with Jørn Lier Horst, in conversation with Canadian novelist Giles Blunt. When the mother of a missing two-year-old girl is seriously injured in a suspected terrorist attack in Oslo, crime-fighting duo Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the case. Settle in for an evening of crime fiction entertainment with one of Norway’s most exciting crime writers.

TIFA Presents: Chillingly Brilliant Nordic Noir

Uncover the secrets of Norwegian crime writing, in conversation with two of the genre’s best contemporary novelists. Agnes Ravatn and Thomas Enger will join the Toronto International Festival of Authors for two intriguing conversations about the fiercely popular genre, and what to expect from their latest books.

Dubbed “Nordic Noir” by fans outside of Scandinavia, the popular subgenre of Norwegian literature has been a growing fascination of readers around the world since the 1990s. Distinctive for its bleak landscapes, direct writing style and complex yet realistic protagonists, the genre contrasts the traditional “whodunit” murder mystery styles with chilling brilliance.

Today, Nordic Noir storytelling is well entrenched in popular culture, demonstrated by its ubiquity on bookshelves and on screens. Films and television series inspired by the genre include Shetland, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Bridgeand many more.

Get cosy, brew a hot drink, and join us for these must-see virtual conversations.

 

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Matt Wesolowski in conversation with Catriona Ward to celebrate publication of Matt’s dark, thought-provoking new thriller Deity

Orenda Books is delighted to celebrate publication of Matt Wesolowki’s dark, thought-provoking new thriller Deity with an online launch.

The fourth in the critically acclaimed, award-winning Six Stories series, with a ‘true crime’ podcast-style narrative, Deity sees online journalist Scott King investigate mega popstar  Zach Crystal, who died in a suspicious fire at his northern Scottish retreat. Allegations of sexual abuse against young girls were levied at him before his demise, and yet his many legions of fans refuse to believe them. As always, the story veers into supernatural territory, in an exciting, genre-busting thriller. 

Titles in the Six Stories series have been longlisted for countless awards, including the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and Beast won the Capital Crime Independent Voice of the Year Award.

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Early praise for Deity includes:

A captivating, genre-defying book with hypnotic storytelling’ Rosamund Lupton

‘A chilling, wholly original and quite brilliant story. Deity is utterly compelling, and Matt Wesolowski is a wonderful writer’ Chris Whitaker

‘Matt Wesolowski taking the crime novel to places it’s never been before. Filled with dread, in the best possible way’ Joseph Knox

‘A gripping exposure of the underbelly of celebrity and obsessive fandom with lashings of supernatural horror  – Daisy Jones and the Six gone to the dark side. I couldn’t put it down’ Harriet Tyce

‘Matt Wesolowski is boldly carving his own uniquely dark niche in fiction’ Benjamin Myers

‘Dark, twisty and incredibly clever. Matt Wesolowski is an author to watch!’ C L Taylor

‘A dark, twisting rabbit hole of a novel. You won’t be able to put it down’ Francine Toon

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Matt Wesolowski will be joined by Catriona Ward, whose highly anticipated thriller, The Last House on Needless Street, will be published later this year, and the event will be masterfully guided by Dr Noir, Jacky Collins, crime-fiction expert and founder of Newcastle Noir.

This event is free to attend, however we do encourage you to support the authors in any way you can and Deity and The Last House on Needless Street are available to order online now. Signed copies of both books are available EXCLUSIVELY from our partner bookshop, Forum Books: HERE

To sign-up for the event, email – cole@orendabooks.co.uk

You will receive a confirmation email once you register, and on the day of the event itself will be sent details for attendance. Please ensure you have downloaded Zoom. We will be taking questions on the day of the event via the chat function.

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Matt Wesolowski

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror ction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies, such asMidnight Movie Creature, Sel es from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, e Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013.

Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and lm rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller.Changeling, book three in the series, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the eakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Book four, Beast, won the Amazon Publishing Readers’ Independent Voice Book of the Year award, 2020.

Follow Matt on Twitter @ConcreteKraken and on his website: https://linktr.ee/MattJW.

Catriona Ward

Catriona Ward was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the US, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. Her debut Rawblood won Best Horror Novel at the 2016 British Fantasy Awards, and was a WHSmith Fresh Talent title. Little Eve won the Shirley Jackson Award, was a Guardian best book of 2018 and won the Best Horror Novel at the 2019 British Fantasy Awards. She lives in London and Devon

Dr. Noir (Jacky Collins)

Dr Jacky Collins, formerly Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University in Literature, Film & TV and Spanish Language & Culture, currently based at Stirling University, is also known as Dr Noir. In 2014 Jacky established the International Crime Fiction Festival that is Newcastle Noir. More recently, she has been venturing into local radio, co-hosting a fortnightly crime fiction programme on SpiceFM, hosting on-line literary events with the Honey & Stag events team, and is part of the Corylus Books team, a new indie publisher of crime fiction in translation: from Romania, Iceland and beyond

 

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Ragnar Jónasson in conversation with Ian Rankin, to launch Winterkill, the next instalment in the multi-million-copy bestselling Dark Iceland series

Orenda Books is delighted to announce an unforgettable night of international crime fiction – Iceland Noir meets Tartan Noir – to celebrate the launch of Ragnar Jónasson’s Winterkill, the next instalment in the multi-million-copy bestselling Dark Iceland series, translated from the French edition by David Warriner.

Ragnar Jónasson will be chatting to the one and only Ian Rankin, whose Song for the Dark Times is currently topping bestseller lists in the run-up to Christmas! The evening will be expertly chaired by Dr Jacky Collins … Dr Noir!

This event is free to attend, however we do encourage you to support the author in any way you can and Winterkill is available to order online now. Signed copies are available EXCLUSIVELY from our partner bookshop, Goldsboro Books: HERE

To register, email cole@orendabooks.co.uk

You will receive a confirmation email once you register, and on the day of the event itself will be sent details for attendance. Please ensure you have downloaded Zoom. We will be taking questions on the day of the event via the chat function.

Ragnar Jónasson is author of the international bestselling Dark Iceland series, which has sold over 1.5 million books worldwide and is published in over thirty countries. His debut, Snowblind, went to number one in the kindle charts shortly after publication, and Nightblind (which also won the Mörda Dead Good Reader Award at Harrogate), Blackout, Rupture and Whiteout soon followed suit, hitting the number one spot around the world. Ragnar’s Hulda series has recently been optioned for the screen by CBS and has topped bestseller lists around the world. Ragnar was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, where he continues to work as a lawyer, and is co-founder of the Reykjavík international crime-writing festival, Iceland Noir. From the age of seventeen, Ragnar translated fourteen Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic. He has appeared on festival panels worldwide, and still lives in Reykjavík, with his wife and young daughters.

Ian Rankin is the multimillion-copy worldwide bestseller of over thirty novels and creator of John Rebus. His books have been translated into thirty-six languages and have been adapted for radio, the stage and the screen. Rankin is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards, including the Diamond Dagger, the UK’s most prestigious award for crime fiction. In the United States, he has won the celebrated Edgar Award and been shortlisted for the Anthony Award. In Europe, he has won Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and the German Deutscher Krimipreis. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from universities across the UK, is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature, and has received an OBE for his services to literature.

Dr Jacky Collins, formerly Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University in Literature, Film & TV and Spanish Language & Culture, currently based at Stirling University, is also known as Dr Noir. In 2014 Jacky established the International Crime Fiction Festival that is Newcastle Noir. More recently, she has been venturing into local radio, co-hosting a fortnightly crime fiction programme on SpiceFM, hosting on-line literary events with the Honey & Stag events team, and is part of the Corylus Books team, a new indie publisher of crime fiction in translation: from Romania, Iceland and beyond

Winterkill

‘The engaging Ari Thór returns in this darkly claustrophobic tale. Perfect mid-winter reading’ Ann Cleeves

‘A world-class crime writer’ Sunday Times

 ‘Jónasson is an automatic must-read for me … possibly the best Scandi writer working today’ Lee Child

‘Winterkill is a stunningly atmospheric story. Ari Thór Arason returns in this pitch-perfect, beautifully paced crime novel set in the blizzards of Icelandic springtime. Chilling and addictive. Ragnar Jónasson is at the top of his game. A master of the genre’ Will Dean

A Song for the Dark Times

‘He’s gone…’

When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it’s not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days.

Rebus fears the worst – and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect.

He wasn’t the best father – the job always came first – but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective?

As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast – and a small town with big secrets – he wonders whether this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn’t want to find…

‘Genius … Only great novels capture the spirit of the age. This is one of them’ The Times

‘This is Rankin at his best, Rebus at his best, storytelling that meets the moment and transcends all genres and expectations.’
Michael Connelly

In association with the Icelandic Embassy, London.

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Online launch of Roxanne Bouchard’s breathtakingly beautiful and dark thriller The Coral Bride – TUESDAY 17 NOVEMBER – 7PM

Orenda Booksis delighted to celebrate publication of the ‘Queen of Quebec Suspense’ Roxanne Bouchard’s breathtakingly beautiful and dark thriller, The Coral Bride, translated by David Warriner, with an online launch.

Number One Bestselling Book in Quebec 2020!

Roxanne will be in conversation with Orenda Books editor and author, West Camel.

This event is free to attend, however we do encourage you to support the author in any way you can and Roxanne’s book is available to order online now. Signed copies are available EXCLUSIVELY from our partner bookshop, Berts Books: HERE

You will receive a confirmation email once you register, and on the day of the event itself will be sent details for attendance. Please ensure you have downloaded Zoom. We will be taking questions on the day of the event via the chat function.

Roxanne Bouchardis an award-winning French-Canadian playwright and author. Ten years or so ago, she decided it was time she found her sea legs. So she learned to sail, first on the St Lawrence River, before taking to the open waters off the Gaspé Peninsula. The local fishermen soon invited her aboard to reel in their lobster nets, and Roxanne saw for herself that the sunrise over Bonaventure never lies. Her fifth novel (her first to be translated into English) We Were the Salt of the Sea – first in the Detective Moralès series – was published in 2018 to resounding critical acclaim. Roxanne Bouchard lives in Quebec.

West Camel is born and bred in south London – and not the Somerset village with which he shares a name – West Camel worked as an editor in higher education and business before turning his attention to the arts and publishing. He has worked as a book and arts journalist, and was editor at Dalkey Archive Press, where he edited the Best European Fiction 2015anthology, before moving to new press Orenda Books just after its launch. He currently combines his work as editor at Orenda Books with writing and editing a wide range of material for various arts organisations, including ghost-writing a New-Adult novel and editing The Riveter magazine for the European Literature Network. He has also written several short scripts, which have been produced in London’s fringe theatres, and was longlisted for the Old Vic’s 12 playwrights project. Attend is his first novel.

The Coral Bride

In this beautiful, lyrical sequel to the critically acclaimed We Were the Salt of the Sea, Detective Moralès finds that a seemingly straightforward search for a missing fisherwoman off Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula is anything but … ‘A haunting murder mystery about how human nature is every bit as dangerous and inscrutable as the sea … draws out its suspense to the very last moment’ Foreword Reviews

In conjunction with the Canadian Embassy, London and Quebec Reads.

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Online launch of Gunnar Staalesen’s seminal, award-winning Varg Veum thriller Fallen Angels – TUESDAY 24 NOVEMBER – 7PM

Orenda Books is thrilled to announce that one of the Fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen, will be ‘going live’ to celebrate publication of his seminal, award-winning Varg Veum thriller Fallen Angels, published in English for the first time.

Staalesen will be joined by his translator Don Bartlett, with proceedings led by Dr Jacky Collins (Dr Noir).

This event is free to attend, however we do encourage you to support the author in any way you can and Fallen Angels is available to order online now. Signed copies are available EXCLUSIVELY from our partner bookshop, Forum Books: HERE

You will receive a confirmation email once you register, and on the day of the event itself will be sent details for attendance. Please ensure you have downloaded Zoom. We will be taking questions on the day of the event via the chat function.

One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four coun­tries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, star­ring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour). Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted for the award in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen.

Don Bartlett completed an MA in Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia in 2000 and has since worked with a wide variety of Danish and Norwegian authors, including Jo Nesbo and Karl Ove Knausgaard. He has previously translated The Consorts of Death, Cold Hearts, We Shall Inherit the Wind, Where Roses Never Die, Wolves in the Dark, Big Sister and Wolves at the Door in the Varg Veum series.

Dr Jacky Collins, formerly Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University in Literature, Film & TV and Spanish Language & Culture, currently based at Stirling University, is also known as Dr Noir. In 2014 Jacky established the International Crime Fiction Festival that is Newcastle Noir. More recently, she has been venturing into local radio, co-hosting a fortnightly crime fiction programme on SpiceFM, hosting on-line literary events with the Honey & Stag events team, and is part of the Corylus Books team, a new indie publisher of crime fiction in translation: from Romania, Iceland and beyond

Fallen Angels

When Bergen PI Varg Veum finds himself at the funeral of a former classmate on a sleet-grey December afternoon, he’s unexpectedly reunited with his old friend Jakob – guitarist of the once-famous 1960s rock band The Harpers – and his estranged wife, Rebecca, Veum’s first love. Their rekindled friendship is thrown into jeopardy by the discovery of a horrific murder, and Veum is forced to dig deep into his own adolescence and his darkest memories, to find a motive … and a killer. Tense, vivid and deeply unsettling, Fallen Angels is the spellbinding, award-winning thriller that secured Gunnar Staalesen’s reputation as one of the world’s foremost crime writers. ‘‘One of the finest Nordic novelists – in the tradition of Henning Mankell’ Barry Forshaw, Independent

In conjunction with the Norwegian Embassy in London, Norla and Norwegian Arts.

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Avoiding Plane Crashes, in Slow Motion, by Eve Smith

18thNovember marks the start of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week. Health workers, scientists and global institutions like the World Health Organisation will be doing their best to increase awareness of global antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and urging policy makers to take swift and firm action to avoid the ongoing emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.

I have similar calls for action in my novel, The Waiting Rooms, in the decades leading up to the antibiotic crisis. Calls that, despite the very real evidence of an impending disaster, fall on deaf ears. As one of my characters, Mary, says: ‘It’s like watching a plane crash, in slow motion.’

Of course, the misery that coronavirus has inflicted on so many people over the past year has highlighted the cataclysmic impacts of health emergencies, that even our advanced technologies and sophisticated minds cannot overcome. And those impacts will continue, long after the virus has gone. Which gives me hope that governments worldwide may be a little more receptive to calls for action on other health emergencies, like AMR, as opposed to focusing on the next short-term vote-winner or burying their respective heads in the sand.

Because we do need action. Now.

As I have said in previous blogs, the coronavirus pandemic is unfortunately accelerating the rise of antimicrobial resistance. The huge volumes of antibiotics and other drugs being prescribed to treat primary and secondary infections in COVID-19 patients are giving bacteria and viruses the opportunity to develop resistance, spread further and leach into our waste water systems, rivers and oceans.

What’s more, the disruption to health services caused by the pandemic, and delays in the diagnosis and treatment of other infectious diseases are allowing those diseases to spread too, including that age-old foe that triggers a pandemic in my novel: Tuberculosis.

Before COVID-19, over 4,000 people were dying from TB every day. According to new estimates published in the European Respiratory Journal, that number could rise significantly if there is substantial health care disruption and social distancing measures aren’t adequate. Models predict between 100,000 and 200,000 additional TB deaths over the next five years in India, China and South Africa alone, undoing the good work that has been painstakingly achieved to stem the growth of this increasingly drug-resistant disease.

TB has always been an opportunist, taking advantage of compromised immune systems, and natural disasters since the Ancient Egyptians. As Mary says, in The Waiting Rooms: ‘Let’s face it, anything that can flourish for three million years must be pretty adept at survival.’

Current thinking is that having pulmonary TB does not make you more likely to contract COVID-19, but if you do fall ill, the severity of the infection is likely to be worse because of existing damage in the lungs. And if your treatment for TB is disrupted, especially if it’s a drug-resistant strain, then the predicted outcomes are not good.

I appreciate this isn’t very cheery. But then, if you have read The Waiting Rooms, you wouldn’t expect it to be. After all, the realm I inhabit is dystopian thrillers. But at least this one hasn’t happened. Yet.

By illustrating the very real horrors of a world where antibiotics no longer work, the hard choices inflicted on society when infections run rampant, and showing just how easily that could happen, I am hoping that, in its own small way, The Waiting Rooms will contribute to awareness about antimicrobial resistance, and may even nudge a few of those actions further along. Because this story needs to remain fictional. We’ve got more than enough dystopia to cope with in our lives.

Eve Smith is author of The Waiting Rooms.

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Louise Beech’s Favourite Spooky Reads

OoooOooooh, it’s that time of year. Witches. Warlocks. Wizards. Wizened old hags. Ghost. Ghouls. Maybe goblins? To be fair, this sounds like first thing in a morning at my house, but yes, Halloween is upon us. I never thought I’d write a ghost story. But I did. Last year. And this year I Am Dust hit the shelves. But what are my favourite spooky reads? Do I enjoy being scared? Well, yes I do. But only if I’m not alone in the house. If my husband is away, I won’t even think about a scary book, let alone open one. So, here are my top five spooky, scary reads…

Matt Wesolowski – Hydra

I made the abject mistake of reading this while staying alone in an apartment for the night. I kept trying to put down this dark and chilling book, but I couldn’t; I was dragged kicking and screaming into a world of deadly forbidden ‘games’, online trolls, and these mysterious black-eyed kids, whose presence seems to extend far beyond the delusions of a murderess. If these children come knocking on your door, you mustn’t let them in. So when someone knocked on the apartment door at midnight, and there was no-one there, I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night.

The Shining – Stephen King

I also made the mistake of reading this one alone, back when I was fifteen. My family were away and I was hooked. But then I had to sleep with the light on for weeks. It was the weird woman in the hotel room. It was the menacing sense of claustrophobia at the Overlook Hotel where Jack and his family are isolated one long winter, and where a man previously butchered his entire family. It was the description of a slow descent into madness. This one is a classic.

Rosemary’s Baby – Ira Levin

I got this one for Christmas when I was a thirteen. What a dark child I must have been. It was part of an anthology of three well-known horror stories. Anyway, I devoured it under the covers with a torch when I was supposed to be sleeping. In the book Rosemary and her husband Guy move into a historic, Gothic building in New York. The neighbours are odd to say the least. It turns out they are devil worshippers. And they want someone to give birth to a living, breathing Satan. You can well imagine the rest. Somehow, I still wanted kids when I grew up….

The Chalk Man – CJ Tudor

This was Tudor’s debut – and what a debut it was. There’s a real feeling of nostalgia in this one. It’s old school, proper chills and thrills horror. Main character Ed receives a stick of chalk  and a drawing of a figure, in the post one day, and is dragged back in time, to a body, to the Chalk Man. I had learned my lesson well with this one and read it with my husband very close to me. I might still have needed the lights on though.

The Entity by Frank De Felitta

This is the super-scary tale of a young single mum, Carlotta, who is violated in her bed each night by a spectral rapist. It sounds pretty sordid but it’s cleverly written, smart, tense, and it’s more about when no one believes you – the true horror of that. In many ways, it’s a great and terrifying metaphor for when real-life assault victims aren’t believed. This is particularly disturbing because it’s inspired by real-life events. It’s an occult classic and will satisfy anyone who enjoys the paranormal.