please do mention the war.

[ewein2412]

6 Feb 2012 Code Name Verity goes OPERATIONAL, so I'm posting a few pertinent Public Service Announcements.

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"This bloody radio interview. All lies, lies and damned lies."

I'm going to be on speaking live on Bookcafe, hosted by Clare English, on BBC Radio Scotland on Monday, 6 Feb. 2012 at 13.15 GMT. I'm not planning to lie but I MIGHT make a fool of myself. The programme is repeated on Sunday, 12 Feb. 2012 at 15.00 and is also available on Listen Again throughout the week. You can't listen on iPlayer from outside the UK, but I am told by a reliable source that you can download the podcast.

Monday's programme information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bmm32

Podcast downloads: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bookcafe

Bookcafe home page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0079gb9

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"I have told the truth. Isn't that ironic?"



It begins today at the Booktrust website, with me talking about the theme of 'friendship' in CNV. (Oh, how it tickles me to have the most mature and complex book of my 25 year career as a writer be called my "debut book". I only wish I'd made a debut like this. In a blue silk ball gown. Whatever it takes! It is my debut in the UK, at any rate.)

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/teenagers/blog/308

chachic's Book Nook over at Wordpress isn't officially part of the tour, but she's written a great review and has a fantastic blog. Check out the posts for her Queen's Thief Week celebration of the books of Megan Whalen Turner while you're over there!

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"You ignorant quisling b******, I am Scottish."

Yep, it's official... Books for Scotland called me (in a tweet) "American-born Scottish writer Elizabeth Wein." Delightfully, they've chosen CNV as their Children's Choice book for February 2012:

http://www.booksfromscotland.com/

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"It is a BRILLIANT photograph - totally convincing."

My friend Helen, aka the Best Roommate Ever, spotted this in an independent bookseller's in Dulwich, South London:



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And away we go! Watch this space, because I really really want to make a post about Mark's Year 7 class and their AMAZING BURNS SUPPER last week. At the moment I have rather too many balls in the air to do it justice.

Comments

[ewein2412]

The pullover is definitely still there!

Eugenides is a great example of someone who's probably MUCH OLDER than he should be in a YA novel by the time we get to the 4th book, but I don't think you notice aging characters as much in fantasy, either. Robin McKinley's books are often like that (the earlier ones are, anyway).

And that's another thing - the plausibility factor. That's the main reason I couldn't, and didn't, make the girls any younger than they are: I really wanted this to be as plausible as possible. I just didn't want them lying about their ages. So there was a lower age limit that I had to conform to.

I think that, were you to read it again (and I totally understand why you might not), you wouldn't really notice any difference. It would still feel grim in the grim bits and the characters would still be working in adult jobs.

But one of the things that gives this its YA feel is perhaps the lead characters' innocence - their trust in their superiors, the fact that ALL the people in charge are 20 years their seniors, and their relative lack of sexual experience or independent living (except for various barrack situations, both girls are still living at home) - stuff like that.

[estara.livejournal.com]

That makes a lot of sense to me. I'll own the print copy in... 3 days? I think Amazon.de said they were going to ship it to me on the 8th. I'm sure to compare to what I read in the manuscript - but I might not read all the way through for a while, true. I have to be in a calm state of mind to read books like this, because of the cost involved to the girls (and the World War IIness, of course).

When I was a kid and YA, I had already been reading adventure novels with grown-up heroes for years (and of course lots of books with child heroes) so I really didn't care about the age of the protagonists much as long as I could relate to them. I'm still happy reading certain kinds of school shoujo romance manga, after all.

On the other hand I am NOT going out of my way to read books about people who are 30 years older than me, and their aches and ailments. Hmm.

[ewein2412]

I have personally acquired a taste for middle-aged heroes. Our Man in Havana is rather fabulous on that score.

Estara, I am sending you an autographed copy, for goodness sake. You have earned that at least!

[estara.livejournal.com]

Aww that's so kind ^^ - I can always pass my own copy on to the library at the grammar school here and I want to boost your first week sales numbers personally!

I think the grammar school library has some English books (the two middle school libraries don't - but really the level of English would be to high for them).

ETA: Oh and I have a taste for middle-age heroines - like Martha Wells' Maskelle in Wheel of the Infinite, for example.

[ewein2412]

middle aged heroines too! (that was what I liked best about Agatha Christie's N or M)