A Day in the Life of Camilla Grebe – author of The Ice Beneath Her

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Frost is delighted Camilla has found the time to write A Day in the Life for our readers. Her books is excellent, and her advice to aspiring writers, is too. Read on.

I’m equally fascinated and amused by the misconceptions about life as a writer. You know, all the talk about creative anxiety, the booze and the glamorous lifestyle. To be honest, my life is nothing like that, although I consider myself extremely privileged to be able to work with what I love. And yes, I get to travel a lot and meet really cool people.

As a mother-of-two (and a dog owner), I wake up quite early to prepare breakfast and walk my nine-year-old Dalmatian, Ella. We live by the sea in downtown Stockholm – a beautiful location. As we walk pass the old ships we often stop for a coffee on one of the piers and watch people (me) and bark at dogs (Ella).

I mostly work from home, although I sometimes visit the Royal Library to write, surrounded by thousands of books – the library’s collection includes all works published in Sweden since 1661.

Before lunch I’ll go for a quick run or hit the gym – sitting in front of a computer all day can be really tough on your neck and back, so I need to work out. Also, I’ve discovered that the best way to solve a creative problem is to go for a run, as it really clears your thoughts.

I usually have lunch with a friend. Writing is solitary work, so I need to socialize during lunch or dinner, or else I fear I might turn into a hermit.

After lunch I spend another four to five hours working. Apart from the actual writing, I work on plots and do research into all kinds of strange subjects. For The Ice Beneath Her

I talked to a medical examiner about beheading (!), read articles on Inuit mythology and had a long e-mail correspondence with a man in Greenland to find out exactly how one would dig a grave when the ground is frozen solid. If someone should overhear me on the phone when I did research, chances are they’d think I’m a serial killer.

I have dinner with my family and always end up watching TV on the sofa afterwards. I’m a big fan of British and Scandinavian crime series and movies. If someone disturbs me in the middle of a movie, I’ll calmly explain that, hey, I’m working, not just relaxing in the sofa (since I need to watch TV in order to be a good writer!).

It is, at least partly, true.

Before I go to sleep I always read for an hour or two in bed. When it comes to books, I don’t exclusively focus on crime. I try to read different genres – everything from historical novels to horror and biographies. In fact, that would be my best advice to anyone who wants to become a writer: Read a lot. Read all kinds of books, good ones and bad. And learn to tell the difference.
The Ice Beneath Her is available now. Published by Zaffre at £12.99 E-book available.

The Stylist by Rosie Nixon Book Review

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Absolutely the novel for all those who love a really good romp with a bit of an edge.

Written by Rosie Nixon, the Editor-in-Chief of HELLO! The Stylist is the Cinderella story for our time. Amber Green is an ordinary sales assistant in an exclusive London boutique – so admittedly she doesn’t slog away in a kitchen, but the girl needs a few princes in her life.

Then lo! Amber is mistakenly offered a job with Mona Armstrong who seems to exist on coffee, water and champagne, with not a morsel of food passing her lips. Mona is a ‘stylist to the stars’.

Written in the first person, Rosie Nixon whooshes Amber into the exotic world of the glamorous and famous where she has to style some of Hollywood’s hottest celebrity stars at the LA Award Season. (Though she travels in economy while Mona doesn’t, of course)

The pace of The Stylist must replicate the frenetic life of just such a stylist, and Rosie Nixon with her experience of women’s glossy magazines, will know all about that. I thought the juxtaposition of Amber, unspoilt by her life with the stars, longing to be home, the Eastenders theme tune playing through her mind as she struggles to sleep on her return to Britain, was touching amongst the glitz. This normality does actually keep us empathising with her. Clever, I thought.

The Stylist is a serving of sun, fun and a real look behind the scenes. But it is a novel that doesn’t ignore the core of the protagonist.

Does Amber find her prince? Ah well, read it, enjoy the ride, and find out for yourselves.

A really fun read. A success.

Keep your eye on Frost Magazine next week, because Rosie Nixon’s A Day in the Life will be published. See if the glitz extends into this extraordinary young woman’s every day life. Crikey, she’s busy, and quite lovely. Life ain’t fair, says Granny Graham.

The Stylist available now, published by HQ in paperback £7.99.

The Grantchester Mysteries by James Runcie Review By Margaret Graham

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Margaret Graham

I feel a bit of a fraud saying that this is a review. It is really a ‘I could kiss your feet, James Runcie, I enjoy these so much.’ And I’m not really a devotee of feet.

Honestly, for a lilting evocation of a gentler time, the early 1960s,this is the series for you. Though there are murders, but somehow they’re rather charming too.

I stumbled across Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by accident, but from the first page, I loved it. It’s not just because I can picture James Norton in his television role of Sidney, or Robson Green as Inspector Keating, but it is the life it evokes, the mysteries, the profound insights into Sidney’s world as a man of God, at times a slightly doubting one (?). They are uproarously funny, or so I have found The Problem of Evil, but also moving. His love for his wife is touching, his confusion as a male living with a female, hilarious.

I find myself pondering them, wondering if the books are actually about friendship: he and Keating, he and his wife. Then there’s his feelings of compassion, at times sorely tried, his confusion at the behaviour of people,his beloved dog who dies… Arghh.

Do try them, enjoy them. They will remind you of good things, good people, and you will continue to picture Sidney and Keating playing their weekly backgammon, and sorting out the problems of the Cambridge area. I am reading them out of order, I’m sure, but it doesn’t matter. I still guess at who dun it, and each stands on its own. I think I prefer the series to coffee creams, and that’s saying something.

I now have The Perils of the Night, and The Forgiveness of Sins to read. I do hope there is another on the way, or I might sulk. It has been known.

James Runcie is the son of former Archbishop Runcie. He is novelist, documentary film-maker, television producer and playwright. He is Commissioning Editor for Arts on BBC Radio 4, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and visiting professor at Bath Spa University. (where my daughter went to university and loved every minute)

The Grantchester Mysteries published by Bloomsbury. Read them, I insist.

Pink Ribbon’s 3rd breast cancer forum

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Pink Ribbon’s 3rd breast cancer forum will be held on:
16-17 September 2016; in association with the Royal Society of Medicine. Venue: 1 Wimpole Street, London W1G 0AE.

Friday 16^thSeptember 9 – 5, with time for networking afterwards. The speakers will concentrate on cancer in the young, the pregnant and with family history. These sessions are primarily for GPs, breast specialists in oncology, pharmacology, surgery, plastic surgery, brow bone, radiology, screening, nursing and general health planning

Saturday 17^th September 10 – 4 is designed for patient and patient support groups. Frost’s medical correspondent, doctor and patient, Kathleen Thompson is amongst the speakers and will be talking at 11.15 on Reactions to diagnosis: getting the treatment you want. Kathleen’s award winning and hugely successful book From Both Ends of the Stethoscope, charts not just her own, often hilarious, journey through diagnosis to treatment, but also how to get the right treatment.

The force of nature behind Pink Ribbon is Gerard Dugdill who read medicine initially and then philosophy at Cambridge. He moved on to study journalism at Cardiff and worked as a journalist and publisher for a number of years. He owns two magazines, Credit Today and Pink Ribbon, and is one of those people who rolls up his sleeves and sets off in pursuit of his dream: in this case, to help eliminate breast cancer.

A very few tickets are still available – from: gd@pinkribbon.co.uk

www.pinkribbon.co.uk

The Cockney Sparrow By Dilly Court Review by Jan Speedie

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Margaret Graham

An enthralling and gritty saga which highlights the poverty and deprivation seen in London at the turn-of-the-century.

Clemency Skinner is gifted with a beautiful voice which will help her leave behind the appalling life she leads with her mother and crippled brother. Abandoned by her father the family exist in a damp hovel in Stew Street paid for by working on the streets. Each day Todd Hardiman, an evil, unscrupulous pimp, threatens their daily existence. Escape to a better life comes for Clemency when she joins Augustus Throop and his troupe of street buskers and through her singing is asked to join the cast at the Strand Theatre – stardom beckons. Life is looking up for Clemency and her family but then Jared Stone enters her life and everything changes but maybe not for the better…

Dilly Court is a well published author of 20 titles – her research into the setting of the story and the depth of her characters makes this an interesting and enjoyable read.

Dilly Court began her career writing commercial scripts for television. She grew up in North East London but now lives in Dorset with her husband and Archie, a large yellow Labrador. She has two grown up children and three grandchildren.

Published by Arrow on 8^th September 2016, £5.99

Young Voices

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Frost is delighted that Megan Cannell has agreed to be the editor of Young Voices. Megan is fifteen. She aspires to be a Forensic Scientist and loves reading and writing. After a holiday sailing off Greece, she has added that sport to her list of likes. Megan lives near London and hopes that more young writers will add their voices to Frost magazine’s new column. Just send to Frost@margaret-graham.com

For our first contribution we are excited to have Rowan’s story of his Chinnor six-a-side team’s success.

Perhaps this sport should make the Olympics? By Rowan Evans aged 12

Our manager thought it would be a good idea to put me in the top team for our annual Chinnor six-a-side football tournament. But was it?

We’d already played in the Risborough Tournament, and hadn’t been successful. In fact neither of the Chinnor teams made it past the group stages. What made it doubly disappointing was that we had won the Risborough Tournament for the past three years. All right, the weather hadn’t been good for training, but it had been much the same for everyone. So would we do any better this time?

As the six-a-side tournament was only a week away it was going to be tricky. The manager chose his team, and the coaches chose theirs. We had time for just one more training session. The day arrived. It was raining but by now we were used to it. We had to play four matches as there were five teams in our group. We won two, drew one, lost one, which brought us to second place.

We were so pleased as we were through to the quarter-finals. Now we had to play the group leaders from another group. The score at the end of the game was… 2-0 to us! We were in the semi-finals.

Our manager gave us a team talk, and told us to keep on doing what we were doing – so we did.

We played a Risborough side – and it was the side we could never beat. Believe it or not, Chinnor Six a Side Team were into the final. Another team talk, the same advice as last time – keep doing what you’re doing. So yet again – we did.

We played Chalfont. The weather was cloudy and a bit cold. The game was nerve wracking. We scored first but they equalised one minute before the final whistle. Arghhh. It was a draw, which meant we had to go into extra time. Extra time didn’t alter the score, so it would go down to penalties. But not before I was subbed off in favour of a good penalty taker with a rocket of a left foot.

But would this late substitution be enough?

Chalfont scored their first penalty, but we equalised. Chalfont took again… but our goalkeeper made a great fingertip save. If we scored with out next penalty kick we would win the tournament… Goal. Yes, yes. We’d done it.

The trophy was ours. We were soaked, muddy but the winners of the Chinnor Six-a-Side tournament 2016. We were sprayed with champagne as we celebrated – what could be better.

National Trust ‘opens’ the Danish, Portuguese and French London embassies to celebrate Heritage Open Days

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Friday 9th– Saturday 10th September 2016

Yesterday Frost Magazine’s Margaret Graham and Dr Kathleen Thompson had a treat– a look behind the scenes of the Portuguese Embassy in London, as part of the National Trust’s Europe & Us programme. I must declare a particular interest: my uncle and aunt, and their numerous children lived in Lisbon for much of their lives, (something to do with the trams) and some are still there. They love it, even those over here.

The Portuguese Ambassador’s home is situated in Belgrave Square, an area that was bomb damaged in the war. No 12 was no exception, but walking around, as you can all do tomorrow and Saturday, you would never guess. Entering through imposing double doors we were faced with an airy hall into which led graceful marble staircase and a ceiling imported from a church – just like that, as Tommy Cooper would have said. It was impressive, but not too large or ostentatious. What was particularly marked was the silence. Behind these doors the bustle of London was just a memory.

Margaret Graham in the Catherine Room
We were able to look around the Catherine of Braganza room. Catherine was married to Charles II; it is often said that their marriage would lead to Britain becoming the largest empire in history because, as part of Catherine’s dowry, Charles was given the seven islands in Bombay, which he would later rent to the East India Company.Even more importantly, dare I say, Catherine liked her cup of tea, and soon, so did the British. So when any of us next sit down to tea and buns, let’s give a heartfelt vote of thanks to Catherine .

There was to be no toddling up the wooden hill as they say in children’s books, but instead we swanned up the marble staircase, the walls of which were hung tapestries. How on earth were these physically worked? I mean, how did they get to the middle? Something to ask on your own tour.

In all the rooms interesting art hung, and my own love, ancient globes, were in evidence: I love to see how the world has changed.
The tour opened my eyes to the inner sanctums of diplomacy, just as the blurb said it would. The strictly limited openings, as part of Heritage Open days, will indeed allow you insights into how these important government buildings are used to allow envoys to entertain while promoting their countries’ interests to the ‘Court of St James’. Visitors will get to explore these fascinating buildings on guided tours and view the furniture and decorative art that reflects each nation.

National Trust Creative Director Ivo Dawnay comments, In this year when our relationship with Europe has been front and centre of our thoughts, the National Trust is running a programme, dubbed ‘Europe & Us’, that seeks to gain insights into our long relationship with the continent.

Hurry. Make sure you visit one of these Embassies. It really is fascinating. To be honest, I could live in the Portuguese Embassy: it managed to be a home, as well as a showpiece. Sadly, this is unlikely but so glad I managed to get behind the double doors.
For security reasons applicants will be asked to apply with their full names, addresses and contact details and will be admitted only with photo ID.

Tickets are available by application at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/embassy-openings.

The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe Review by Margaret Graham

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Does anyone out there enjoy the plethora of Scandinavian noir on the television? Or is enjoy the wrong word? After all, noir is not an idle threat. If you do, or even if you don’t, you should try this novel.

Grebe has been compared with Jo Nesbo – you know the thing ‘if you like Jo Nesbo you’ll love this’. Well, I think that Swedish Camilla Grebe stands alone.

With The Ice Beneath Her, we have a craftswoman at work. Camilla Grebe’s clarity of language reminds me of my friend Nikki Gemmell’s writing, who reworks, and reworks to present a vivid empathy that is almost too inclusive, because all that happens to her characters, happens to the reader. I use her regularly as an example of an author for those aspiring to write. I think I will now add Grebe.

Now, I’m not comparing Grebe with Nikki but I am saying that I felt her writing to be as finely tuned as Nikki’s. Perhaps while waxing lyrical I should include Elizabeth Clark Wessel, who translated the novel from Swedish to English, and in so doing, faithfully stayed as close as anyone could, to the author’s vision.

So, what is this vision? What is this novel about, the one that is already making waves with film rights sold to Warner Brothers’ New Line Cinema, and international rights that have already sold in 20 territories?

A thriller, or perhaps crime novel, that introduces us to Emma, a mousey sales assistant who is swept off her feet by a charismatic CEO and whose life is opened up to love. But life ceases to be peachy after her lover runs off (perhaps). It is then that the mouse transforms into a welter of furies. A murder is then lobbed into the mix, the detectives use a brilliant criminal profiler who is in the early stages of dementia. Soon Emma, the transformed mouse and the detectives are on the heels of the mystery man and it is clear their paths will cross.

I know, I know, I’m not making this easy to follow, but it isn’t. It’s complex, and as you read it, it is hard to even guess at what’s going on under the surface. This isn’t a weakness, it’s just a puzzle, and the power of the writing. plotting and general structure is such that you more than stick with it, sure the writer is leading you somewhere. It was disturbing, and exercises the grey matter, but was unputdownable. I didn’t read it before I needed to go to sleep. BEcause I would be tossing, turning, and fretting.

A must read book about obsession, betrayal and of course, love. Highly recommended.

Published on 8th September by Zaffre at £12.99 E-book available.

Next week, Camilla Grebe will be telling us of A Day in her Life. Make a date to be with us.

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