Thank you to everyone who came to my book launch last night and to Daunt Books in Marylebone for hosting it. I had a lovely time!

My book, Barbara Comyns A Savage Innocence, is published today. Many thanks to Matthew Frost, who commissioned it, and to the great team at MUP, who turned it into a reality!

Thrilled with all the positive reviews of my Comyns biography. Now looking forward to seeing it in the shops next week!

Bring on the Barbara Comyns revival 📚 I've wanted to write for a while about her strange, beguiling novels and why I can't believe she isn't better known. Avril Horner's excellent new biography gave me a great chance to do so:
independent.co.uk/arts-entertain…

In 1980 Barbara Comyns wrote: 'There may be a revival of interest in my books in the not so distant future. Remember Barbara Pym!' Let's hope that moment is now!

Thanks to Richard M, Lucy S, Claire F, Alexandra P and many others who have posted so positively about Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

Fantastic to see Avril Horner's biography of cult favourite author Barbara Comyns in the Independent Books best #nonfiction books for 2024 guide, as chosen by Jessie Thompson.

'The best novelist you've never heard of' - pre-order the book today, publishing March 2024!

Delighted to report that my biography of Barbara Comyns has been included in the Independent's list of the best non-fiction books to read in 2024. Lovely surprise!

Delighted to report that my biography, Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence, will be published in the autumn. Please spread the word!

Wonderful review article by Lucy Scholes in the TLS this week on Shirley Jackson’s letters.

Thanks for the interest in my vampire talk at Cricklitfest everyone. Due to family matters, I’ll now be giving this on 12th Dec at The Dragon Inn Crichowell when it will be darker and more spooky...

You can now listen back to the wonderful conversation between Avril Horner and #SarahPerry from last week's Iris Murdoch conference on Murdoch's Gothic, and Sarah's own fiction, here:

soundcloud.com/user-548804258…

“Just as more and more publishers have added Barbara Comyns to their lists, more and more people are recognizing the value of reanimating titles from the past.” theparisreview.org/blog/2021/07/1…

Looking forward to interviewing Sarah Perry about Iris Murdoch’s Gothic imagination this Thursday evening, 15th July. Tickets available until noon tomorrow at:
https//irismurdochsociety.org.uk/events/

During her own ‘wilderness years’, Barbara Comyns wrote: ‘There may be a revival of interest in my books in the not so distant future. Remember Barbara Pym! All the same, I shan’t be writing any more books’. But in 1983, three years later, she began work on The Juniper Tree....

‘I didn’t let him know how funny he looked rolling about because I know men don’t like being laughed at unless they are being funny on purpose; dogs are like that too.’
Barbara Comyns, Mr Fox

Cover of first edition of The Juniper Tree published in 1985 by Methuen. ‘It has just the Gothic and menacing look I hoped for’ wrote Barbara Comyns when she saw it.

This really is a wonderful cover. Another Comyns first edition coming up...

The TLS review Barbara Comyns this week, and there's a bonus feature on Comyns's friendship with Graham Greene as well. 'In life Barbara Comyns was something of a free spirit, and her novels flow in a similarly unrestrained manner.'

Really enjoyed writing these two pieces and have some more ideas for articles up my sleeve...