Today is release day for Tom-All-Alone's (Solitary House in the US edition) and I'm glad to feature this interview with its talented author, Lynn Shepherd, (her debut novel was Murder at Mansfield Park) who accepted to answer some questions after I read and reviewed her upcoming book.
Celebrate Dickens Bicentenary with us, read through Lynn's interview and about her love for Bleak House, leave your comment + e-mail address to take part in the giveaway contest open internationally for 1 copy of just released Tom-All-Alone's (copy provided by UK publishers, Corsair & Random House). The winner will be announced on February 28.
Writing a second novel after a successful debut one is never an easy task for a writer. What was your journey from Murder at Mansfield Park to Tom-All- Alone’s like?
In my Senecan attempt not to waste my time ("Life, if well lived, is long enough"), I usually watch my favourite movies and DVDs while ... ironing. Due to the fact I live with three sports boys (husband and sons), I have got a huge pile of clothes to be ironed at the end of the week. So I've transformed this time consuming - but boring - house activity in an occasion to improve my English (since I try to watch movies and TV series in the original version) and to entertain myself. While sweating on my husband's shirts and trousers or my sons T-shirts and jeans, I've recently re-watched BLEAK HOUSE (BBC 2005). I had already seen it as soon as I got the DVDs from Amazon UK, but it is such a complex but exciting mystery story I wanted to see it once more.
The 15-episode series is based on Charles Dickens's mature novel published in 19-20 instalments between 1852-53. His long, well-narrated, exciting stories published in monthly journals substituted , in the Victorian Age, our modern TV drama and made Dickens widely-popular and extremely rich. London theatres were crowded of enthusiastic readers who paid to see and listen to Dickens reading his novels on stage. He was a VIP in the 40s and 50s of the 19th century.
This is - very briefly - the story you find in the book and in the TV series. Bleak House is a mystery story in which its heroine Esther Summerson, discovers the truth about her birth. She is brought up as an orphan by her aunt whom she believes to be her godmother; Mr John Jarndyce, the middle-aged hero of the novel, becomes her guardian and pays for her education. Once she's grown up Mr Jarndyce brings her to his home, Bleak House, as a companion to Ada Clare, his ward and one of the heirs and heiress to the Jarndyces' will.
There are lots of characters and sub-plots in this complicated novel which make it so gripping. But, since it deserves to be read - if you love reading, there are more than 1,000 pages waiting for you - or at least to be watched as a TV series, I don't want to give you too many spoilers. Well, just a hint more...The question of whom Esther will marry contributes to the plot interest and her illness (smallpox) which leaves her face disfigured - but her moral beauty unimpaired - provides one of the story's dramatic and sentimental crises. I MUST STOP NOW, otherwise I'm going to tell you too much!
If you want to know more about Dickens's novel CLICK HERE . If you are interested in the TV series CLICK HERE. If you want to buy the DVDs CLICK HERE.
Now I'll leave you with a nice video made up of the several proposals Esther Summerson receives by different wooers: a funny clerk, Mr Guppy, generous mature Mr John Jarndyce and charming Dr Allan Woodcourt. If you see it till the end, you'll find out who the winner is. Do you agree with Esther's choice?
Warning: Of course, there are spoilers in this video.
Today is release day for Tom-All-Alone's (Solitary House in the US edition) and I'm glad to feature this interview with its talented author, Lynn Shepherd, (her debut novel was Murder at Mansfield Park) who accepted to answer some questions after I read and reviewed her upcoming book. 
