I’m a huge fan of Philip K Dick, the visionary writer whose work influenced Blade Runner, and whose Man In The High Castle was adapted for Amazon Prime. His interest in the nature of reality, the dangers of authoritarianism, and the threats to human identity produced some stunning, prescient fiction which has had a lasting influence on our culture. So I’m honoured and delighted that Widowland has been nominated for the award given in his name!

It was fabulous to sign this stack of Queen High at Goldsboro Books this week. They produce a beautiful edition with a special sprayed edge. How cool is that! Though my C.J.Carey signature still comes less easily than my own name, I’m certainly getting the hang of it. According to Harry, the bookseller in Goldsboro’s treasure trove shop in Cecil Court, some authors are on a par with doctors for the legibility of their signatures…

I’m thrilled that Widowland has been published this week by Sourcebooks, and isn’t the jacket just gorgeous? Already we’ve had some great reviews and comments, and I’m looking forward to visiting several cities at the end of October to meet readers in person. (Dates to follow.) To be honest, I can hardly remember what it’s like to interact with real, live readers! Meanwhile, for book clubs and readers’ groups, click below for some question and answers that expand on the novel’s themes….

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/1-july/audio-video/podcast/book-club-podcast-c-j-carey-on-widowland?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1656596282

It seems like forever, but at last my first pseudonymous novel, Widowland, is out in the world! In the time between completing it and publication, a pandemic has swept the world, and astonishingly (depressingly), some of the dystopian ideas that feature in my alternative Britain actually came to pass. The closing of borders, the ending of foreign holidays and the general atmosphere of fear and vigilance could all be seen to some degree in the UK of 2020/21. I decided to write this novel under a pen name because the alternative history genre is quite different from straight period fiction. In the Clara Vine series I am always careful to observe historical events and dates as accurately as possible, but in Widowland I took liberties to see how history might have turned out. For the pen name I chose my mother’s maiden name and my own initials reversed and I’m quite enjoying my alternative persona. I’ll keep writing the Clara Vine series under my own name, but I’ll be writing more thrillers under the name C.J.Carey too. I wonder which you’ll prefer?

There’s nothing that cheers up a dreary November morning more than thinking that in January I’ll be going to NYC to launch this. Even if it’s cold and snowy, it’s going to be fun!

I’m delighted to post the cover of my new novel, out in January 2020 from Ballantine Books. For readers of the Clara Vine series, it will be different, because it’s a standalone, but somewhat familiar too. It’s a split time narrative set between the present day, and tumultuous years between 1936 and 1945. It was conceived at a time of political turbulence, with Brexit in the UK and the election of a controversial president in the US, when, for first time in decades, political choices divided families and set friends against neighbours. That idea of ideological rifts bitter enough to separate families ignited my story of two sisters, Irene and Cordelia Capel, who follow very different paths in the run up to WWII. Irene marries a rich German and lives in Berlin, Cordelia becomes a journalist in Paris. Both of them face great moral choices, which are not easy or obvious, and the reverberations of those choices stretch into the present day. Love, espionage and war. And a typewriter!

http://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9781524796594/siteID/8001/retailerid/7/trackingcode/randohouseinc29378-20

I’m a huge quiz fan, so I’m much looking forward to taking part in the Oxford Literary Festival’s book quiz. It’s good humoured, rather than cut throat, and tickets are still available…https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2019/april-3/festival-literary-quiz

And on the last weekend in June I’ll be at the Felixstowe Festival, talking about Clara Vine and the Nazi wives, as well as my new novel, The Words I Never Wrote. It would be lovely to see you there!

Jane Thynne – Clara Vine: Life of women in the Third Reich

So it’s almost here. I’m in the last meticulous, but nerve shredding moment of publishing, reviewing the uncorrected galley proofs for my new standalone novel from Ballantine. It’s quite emotional for me, editing this novel, for a number of reasons (of which more later). But plunging back into the worlds of its two protagonists, Irene and Cordelia, is glorious, and I think it’s going to be a wrench to leave them. The story alternates between the present and the period between 1936 and 1945, and it ranges from New York, to London, Berlin and Paris. It follows the story of two sisters, amid love, espionage and war. And at its core is a heart-rending moral dilemma. I hope you’re going to enjoy it and I’ll post the publication date as soon as I have it….

One part of Autumn I love is the plethora of literary festivals. There’s nothing better than breaking out of writing confinement to talk for an hour to a captive audience. Future events include:

20th September: Riverside Book Circle, Sunbury.

29th September: Cranbrook Literary Festival www.cranbrookliteraturefestival.com

October 1st: interviewing Louis de Bernieres at the Henley Literary Festival

October 5th: interviewing Sebastian Faulks at the Wimbledon Bookfest

October 17th: Spies, Seduction and the SS at the Surrey WI literary lunch