Thursday, 26 May 2011
The Spanish Trailer
The book's also out in Spain (where it's called "No Confíes En Nadie" in Spanish and "Desconfia de Tothom" in Catalan). I've also found a trailer that my Spanish publisher has put together - take a look here. Great, isn't it?
Dutch publication
Before I Go to Sleep is published in The Netherlands today, where it is called Voor ik ga slapen. You can watch the trailer here, and this is the jacket. I love it - I think it's very striking without any text. What do you think?
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
BESTSELLER!
I'm incredibly excited to share the news! We've just heard that Before I Go to Sleep is a bestseller! Official figures place it at number 7 in this week's list!
Sunday, 15 May 2011
A real-life case of amnesia.
I'm occasionally asked how medically authentic Before I Go to Sleep is. I was very careful during the writing of it to make it as true as possible to real cases of amnesia - but, I thought, that my one concession was that my character is able to retain memories for a day, which are then wiped.
This was necessary for me to tell the story from her point of view, but I didn't think it was possible. My understanding of amnesia (or anterograde amnesia, at least) is that people can find themselves unable to code short-term memory as long-term memory, and these people would lose their memories every few minutes (as in the film 'Memento'). They wouldn't retain a whole day's worth of memory, only to lose it overnight.
But, as we were sending the book out to editors, I came across a story in a national newspaper. A woman reported exactly the same symptoms as my character - symptoms I thought I'd invented - and, chillingly, she was exactly the same age. Reading her story was odd for me - I felt in some way vindicated, but by far the bigger emotion was a profound sadness. During the writing of the book I had come closer to understanding just how terrible it must be to lose our memory, to have no sense of who we are, but I had consoled myself that, unlike my character, people who really suffer with anterograde amnesia must have only a limited understanding of what has happened, and is happening, to them. Scant comfort, but some comfort nonetheless. It was chilling to discover that someone really did have to live through the fictional situation that I had created for my character.
You can read the story here.
This was necessary for me to tell the story from her point of view, but I didn't think it was possible. My understanding of amnesia (or anterograde amnesia, at least) is that people can find themselves unable to code short-term memory as long-term memory, and these people would lose their memories every few minutes (as in the film 'Memento'). They wouldn't retain a whole day's worth of memory, only to lose it overnight.
But, as we were sending the book out to editors, I came across a story in a national newspaper. A woman reported exactly the same symptoms as my character - symptoms I thought I'd invented - and, chillingly, she was exactly the same age. Reading her story was odd for me - I felt in some way vindicated, but by far the bigger emotion was a profound sadness. During the writing of the book I had come closer to understanding just how terrible it must be to lose our memory, to have no sense of who we are, but I had consoled myself that, unlike my character, people who really suffer with anterograde amnesia must have only a limited understanding of what has happened, and is happening, to them. Scant comfort, but some comfort nonetheless. It was chilling to discover that someone really did have to live through the fictional situation that I had created for my character.
You can read the story here.
Friday, 13 May 2011
Simon Mayo's show, 50 First Dates, Sufjan Stevens.
What a bizarre - yet great - week! On Monday I went to BBC R2 to 'appear' on Simon Mayo's drivetime show. It was a lovely experience - he and his colleagues had read the book and liked it. It felt like a nice little chat, and I almost forgot about the microphones and headphones and banks of computers between us! I was particularly chuffed that he played Tom Tom Club's 'Wordy Rappinghood' half way through the interview, too. I've always loved that song.
I enjoyed the webchat, too. It was nice to be asked some really perceptive questions. A few people did mention the film 50 First Dates, though, and I answered their point as well as I could (considering I was typing as fast as I could, on an unfamiliar keyboard, with a not-quite-healed finger!). The truth is I didn't watch that film until well after I'd finished the book - in fact it wasn't until commenters on various websites started to compare Before I Go to Sleep with 50 First Dates (commenters who hadn't read the book, I hasten to add) that I rented it and watched it.
I can see the similarities. The basic premise of the protagonist's condition, the fact that she keeps a journal. But the similarities end there, I think. 50 First Dates is a romantic comedy. Before I Go to Sleep is about love, on one level, but it's not romantic, and it's not a comedy. In 50 First Dates the family of the amnesiac pretend that nothing has happened, that her injury never occurred - they can do this because her amnesia began recently and so everyone and everything around her appears more or less unchanged, as it was on the day of her accident. To my mind my novel looks at what might happen to Drew Barrymore's character in 20 or 30 years time, when she looks different, when the people around her look different, when her world had changed immeasurably and her family can no longer fool her into believing that nothing is wrong by ironing the newspaper and resetting the calendar. I think they're very different pieces of work, and interestingly no one (to my knowledge) who has read my book has compared it to 50 First Dates.
Last night I took a trip to the South Bank to see Sufjan Stevens perform live. What a show! I wasn't sure what to expect, having until now only a peripheral interest in his music, but he was amazing. Musically perfect - his dense, textured songs translated brilliantly to the live setting - but for me it was visually that the show really stood out. He, his band and their equipment were all plastered in neon strips that fluoresced under the ultra-violet lights so that, at times, it felt like we were all sitting inside a video game, he performed songs wearing, variously, swan's wings, a sort of bacofoil headdress and a costume that might have been rejected from the Notting Hill Carnival for being too flamboyant. It might sound OTT but it all worked perfectly, and it was a glorious, joyous, exuberant show that I thoroughly recommend.
I enjoyed the webchat, too. It was nice to be asked some really perceptive questions. A few people did mention the film 50 First Dates, though, and I answered their point as well as I could (considering I was typing as fast as I could, on an unfamiliar keyboard, with a not-quite-healed finger!). The truth is I didn't watch that film until well after I'd finished the book - in fact it wasn't until commenters on various websites started to compare Before I Go to Sleep with 50 First Dates (commenters who hadn't read the book, I hasten to add) that I rented it and watched it.
I can see the similarities. The basic premise of the protagonist's condition, the fact that she keeps a journal. But the similarities end there, I think. 50 First Dates is a romantic comedy. Before I Go to Sleep is about love, on one level, but it's not romantic, and it's not a comedy. In 50 First Dates the family of the amnesiac pretend that nothing has happened, that her injury never occurred - they can do this because her amnesia began recently and so everyone and everything around her appears more or less unchanged, as it was on the day of her accident. To my mind my novel looks at what might happen to Drew Barrymore's character in 20 or 30 years time, when she looks different, when the people around her look different, when her world had changed immeasurably and her family can no longer fool her into believing that nothing is wrong by ironing the newspaper and resetting the calendar. I think they're very different pieces of work, and interestingly no one (to my knowledge) who has read my book has compared it to 50 First Dates.
Last night I took a trip to the South Bank to see Sufjan Stevens perform live. What a show! I wasn't sure what to expect, having until now only a peripheral interest in his music, but he was amazing. Musically perfect - his dense, textured songs translated brilliantly to the live setting - but for me it was visually that the show really stood out. He, his band and their equipment were all plastered in neon strips that fluoresced under the ultra-violet lights so that, at times, it felt like we were all sitting inside a video game, he performed songs wearing, variously, swan's wings, a sort of bacofoil headdress and a costume that might have been rejected from the Notting Hill Carnival for being too flamboyant. It might sound OTT but it all worked perfectly, and it was a glorious, joyous, exuberant show that I thoroughly recommend.
Saturday, 7 May 2011
More publication days!
Life's pretty busy right now, but by way of a quick update - Before I Go to Sleep is now available in Australia and New Zealand (since Monday 2nd May) and, since Thursday, in France.
Plus don't forget I'm appearing on Simon Mayo's drivetime show on Monday (May 9th) at 6pm on BBC Radio 2. It's his bookclub, and I'll be discussing the book, then answering questions in a webchat.
I'll try and blog about this next week!
Details on my website here.
Plus don't forget I'm appearing on Simon Mayo's drivetime show on Monday (May 9th) at 6pm on BBC Radio 2. It's his bookclub, and I'll be discussing the book, then answering questions in a webchat.
I'll try and blog about this next week!
Details on my website here.
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