Quorn Library News

"Turnham Malpas" comes to Quorn

About forty people braved the wind and rain in the middle of October, to meet the famous author Rebecca Shaw at Quorn Library. Rebecca is well known for her novels, which are set in the fictional village of Turnham Malpas, and is popular with young and older readers alike.

Rebecca has to date written eleven books. She came to writing after the last of her children had left home to go to university. With time on her hands she looked around for inspiration and considered evening school. A creative writing course caught her eye and captured her imagination. Rebecca began by writing short stories and soon moved on to novels.

Unsure what to write about initially, Rebecca soon had the idea of writing about a contemporary village - the now well-known village of Turnham Malpas. She began by drawing a map of the village (which can be found at the beginning of each book) and then the characters began to take shape. Her first character was the vicar in the novel 'The New Rector'.

It was particularly interesting to everyone in the audience to hear how Rebecca found a publisher. Rebecca sent off the first three chapters of her novel to seven publishers and six were returned.

One publisher, Orion, replied asking for the remaining chapters saying the chapters they had already read intrigued them and they wanted to know more. The publisher asked that certain elements of the book be changed - the name of the book, Rebecca's name and the end of the book. Needless to say Rebecca didn't change her name!! Rebecca took great joy in telephoning each of her children to tell them of lunch with her publisher! Rebecca made the suggested changes and her first novel was published in 1994.

One of the most frequently asked questions is how does Rebecca write? She has no real plan other than an idea of a beginning and an end but no journey plan. Rebecca can only write when she feels able to and must have a break between each book in order to refresh her imagination.

The ideas for her books comes from her own life. With her own children she has much material and Rebecca now reads a lot (but couldn't during the first two years of her writing). She also listens to people and watches them especially on buses and trains so if you feel someone watching you it may be Rebecca!!

Rebecca's latest books are centered on a veterinary practice. Her sons are both vets and so this seems like an ideal setting for yet another long running series.

If you would like to read one of Rebecca's books, go along to Quorn Library as they have a large selection to choose from. A large number of the audience braved the home journey with one of her books looking forward to an enjoyable read!

Thanks go to Quorn Library for arranging such an enjoyable evening in the village and to Rebecca for traveling in such inclement weather!!

Jill Coekin

Ed: Many thanks to Jill for writing this review at very short notice. And also congratulations to Quorn Library for organizing this event. Let's hope that it is but the first of many in the village.