Local author Sian Hughes, whose first novel Pearl was longlisted for the world-famous Booker Prize, will take part in a special launch event for the Wrexham Carnival of Words 2024.
The novel is set just over the border at Tilston in Cheshire and was described by the Booker judges as “an exceptional debut novel, both a mystery story and a meditation on grief, abandonment and consolation”. It tells the story of Marianne who is 8 years old when her mother goes missing. Left behind with her baby brother and grieving father in a ramshackle house on the edge of a small village, she clings to the fragmented memories of her mother’s love.
As Marianne grows up, she struggles to adjust until she finds solace in an old poem, Pearl, but will it help to heal her and will her own future as a mother enable her to find peace? Sian Hughes will talk about her novel with bookylicious podcaster Paul Jeorrett at Wrexham Library on Wednesday 27th March at 7.00pm.
The launch event will also feature the announcement of the winner of the 2024 Murder Mystery competition. The winning script will be performed during the Carnival week.
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The announcement will be made by the Mayor of Wrexham together with million selling British crime novelist Simon McCleave. His first book, ‘The Snowdonia Killings’, reached No 1 in the Amazon UK Chart and his subsequent novels in the DI Ruth Hunter Crime Thriller Series have all been Amazon Best Sellers and many have hit the top of the UK Digital Chart.
He has sold over 2 million books since 2020. The sixteenth novel in the series is, appropriately, The Wrexham Killings. The Ruth Hunter Snowdonia books are currently in development as a television series.
The Wrexham Carnival of Words is an annual literature festival and takes place during the week of 20th-27th April 2024. The full programme has now been published at www.wrexhamcarnivalofwords.com and, among the myriad of authors taking part, are Joanne Harris, Catherine Isaac, Simon McCleave and Katy Watson, Suzan Holder, Mike Parker, Elen Caldecott and Vaseem Khan.
Tickets for all events can be booked online or obtained from Wrexham Library. The special Festival Ticket is available at an ‘early bird’ rate until the end of March.
