Posted in: Interviews Season 3

The Book of Beginnings: interview with Sally Page

The Story Radio team interview Sally Page, best-selling author of The Keeper of Stories, whose new novel The Book of Beginnings has just been published by HarperCollins. We talk to her about stationery, fountain pens, romance and ghosts.

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The Book of Beginnings tells the story of Jo, who is hiding from her past when she agrees to run her uncle’s beloved stationery shop.

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Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble little notes and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from her bruised heart.

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When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian still finding himself, she suddenly realizes she isn’t alone.

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They each have a story that can transform Jo’s life… if only she can let them in.

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This episode was produced by Martin Nathan. Martin Nathan’s short fiction and poetry has appeared in a range of journals and his novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke award and the Woodward International Prize.

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After studying history at university, Sally Page moved to London to work in advertising. In her spare time she studied floristry at night school and eventually opened her own flower shop. Sally came to appreciate that flower shops offer a unique window into people’s stories and she began to photograph and write about this floral life in a series of non-fiction books. Later, she continued her interest in writing when she founded her fountain pen company, Plooms.co.uk.

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In her debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, Sally combined her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. In her second novel, The Book of Beginnings Sally draws on her love of stationery.

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Sally now lives in Dorset. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is studying to be a doctor and her younger daughter is the author, Libby Page. Both are keen wild swimmers.

Posted in: Podcast
Photo of Dia de los Muertos Greg Willis

St Esteban of the Children by E E King

Esteban, finder of lost things, awakes in his grave on November second to return home to his family for Dia De Los Muertos. But he overstays his allotted night and cannot find his way back. Time is running out, for if he stays out too long, he will be forgotten and fade away into nothingness. 

This story originally appeared in Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores in 2018.

E.E. King is a painter, performer, writer, and biologist – She’ll do anything that won’t pay the bills, especially if it involves animals.

Ray Bradbury called her stories, “marvelously inventive, wildly funny, and deeply thought-provoking. I cannot recommend them highly enough.” 

King has won numerous various awards and fellowships for art, writing, and environmental research.

She’s been published widely, most recently in Clarkesworld, Flame Tree, Cosmic Roots, and Eldritch shores and On Spec. One of her tales is on Tangent’s recommended reading 2019. 

Her books include Dirk Quigby’s Guide to the Afterlife, Pandora’s Card Game, The Truth of Fiction, and The Adventures of Emily Finfeather.

Check out paintings, writing, musings, and books at:

 www.elizabetheveking.com

www.elizabetheveking.com

https://twitter.com/ElizabethEvKing

amazon.com/author/eeking

Story copyright of the author E E King (all rights reserved).

Image copyright Greg Willis adapted with his permission. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Music used in this podcast is adapted (extracts used and fades applied) from:

La llorona by Trío La Aurora licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.