How does it feel? Bethan Roberts discusses 'Mother Island'

The realities of motherhood and the sometimes difficult relationship of employing a nanny, together with fond memories of family holidays on Anglesey were the inspirations behind Bethan Roberts’ new book ‘Mother Island’, which she was at Mostly Books to talk about on Thursday.

Her first novel set in the present day, Mother Island is the story of two women – and one child. New mother, the assured and aloof Nula, thinks the perfect person to take care of her new-born is her cousin, Maggie, an Oxford drop-out, and a bundle of emotion just waiting for someone to love, who has drifted into childcare, and who thinks she knows what is best for Nula’s child.

The pair clash over parenting styles alongside the evolving backstory of how they first met in one summer full of family feuds and raging disappointments. Early on we know Maggie plans to take the child and what follows is a shifting tide of emotion that allows the reader to see both sides of this tug-of-love story as two woman's history bubbles long-buried resentments to the surface.

The distinctive cover gives an idea of the pattern of the story – the switching between the two voices – and a constant shift in where the reader’s sympathies lie between the two women.

Bethan - born and raised in Abingdon - started her published life at independent Serpent's Tail, a small but hugely respected publisher of edgy fiction and book in translation (who also have an enviable reputation for spotting new, young authors). After book 'The Pools' and 'A Good Plain Cook', she moved to Chatto & Windus. She talked a little about the difference in approach from two publishers that she has enjoyed working with.

Describing how she aims to improve with each novel, she particularly values the editing process at Chatto that goes into her novels, describing how the manuscript goes back and forth over several months as changes are made. 

‘I was really surprised when I saw the jacket as it looks like a thriller, although it isn't. I like writing about domestic situations and not in a fluffy way, but I am conscious of having a narrative that pulls people through. The reader deserves a cracking story.’

Bethan’s previous novel ‘My Policeman’ is a well-constructed tug-of-love story of a different kind – the fight between the wife and the lover of a gay man set in 1950s Brighton, which has earned her many plaudits, particularly for her skill in getting under the skin of what it was like to be gay at that time.

The idea of writing about early motherhood, she said, came from her own experiences and in looking to literature when she was pregnant to find out what it might be like to experience motherhood – and finding there were very few novels that had much to say on the subject (she has recently wrote an article on the subject for The Guardian).

‘Mother Island’ is Bethan's fourth novel, and you can read a few reviews here and our own review of it here.

Despite a weather scare (!) we were able to sit out on a lovely Summer evening in the garden. Thanks to Bethan for coming up from Brighton (you never really leave Abingdon of course) and thanks to everyone who came along to listen on what was another delightful event - one that kicked off our 'Vintage Summer' celebration througout August. If you were unable to make it along, we have signed copies of 'Mother Island' now in the shop.

(Brilliant blogger Gaskella has done a rather fabulous write-up of the event here - and she'll be reviewing 'Mother Island' as part of the next edition of Shiny New Books...)

A Vintage Summer: Mother Island with Bethan Roberts

It's going to be a Vintage Summer. And no, we aren't just talking about the weather...

For the whole of August, we will be celebrating Vintage Books, with competitions, activities and discovering the mixture of classic and contemporary writing that are the hallmark of one of our most successful publishing imprints.

And on Thursday, July 31 at 7.30pm - to launch the whole month - we will be welcoming Vintage author Bethan Roberts to talk about her new book 'Mother Island'.

Bethan grew up in Abingdon. Her first novel 'The Pools' won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers’ Award. Her second novel 'The Good Plain Cook' was serialized on BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime and was chosen as one of Time Out’s books of the year. She also writes short stories (receiving the Olive Cook short story prize from the Society of Authors in 2006) and has had a play broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

Her third novel 'My Policeman' - inspired partly by the private life of EM Forster - was the 'Brighton City Reads' choice for 2012, and one of our favourite books from that year.

'Mother Island' has two storylines and two voices - but one child. Controlling, career-minded new mother Nula employs her contrasting cousin, Maggie, to look after her baby. When their childcare approaches clash too much, Maggie decides to take the child. But has she misread how much Nula will care? A dissection of motherhood and how the lasting subliminal effects of your own parents can have on your approach to your own children.

Read more about the book here and its review in The Independent here.

Tickets for the event are £3 and include a glass of wine. And if we're really lucky, and it turns out to be a real vintage Summer, the event will be in the Mostly Books garden...email us if we can reserve you a space.

Chasing the past, a stolen child, and shadows in Sherwood Forest - the BBC Radio Oxford Afternoon Bookclub

My three picks for today's BBC Oxford Afternoon Bookclub were three books with strong local connections (authors or publishers), all by significant publishers, all with strong, bold or innovative covers.

This is the whole jacket laid out -
front and back mirror the different points of view.

 'Mother Island' by Bethan Roberts (Vintage, HB, £14.99) has two storylines and two voices - but one child. Controlling, career-minded new mother Nula employs her contrasting cousin, Maggie, to look after her baby. When their childcare approaches clash too much, Maggie decides to take the child. But has she misread how much Nula will care? A dissection of motherhood and how the lasting subliminal effects of your own parents can have on your approach to your own children.

Bethan - born and raised in Abingdon, now living in Brighton - is sublime in subtly showing how love can bring out the worst in people. But she also shows how it can act as a force for reconciliation and healing. We loved Bethan's previous book as well - 'My Policeman' - inspired in part by the personal life of EM Forster, and the lives of two people - one male, pne female - fighting over the same man.

'After I Left You' by Abingdon author Alison Mercer (Transworld, PB, £6.99) is another absorbing and powerful novel of love, friendship and secrets, following her critically acclaimed debut 'Stop The Clock'.

The story follows Anna, who has not been back to Oxford since her last summer at university, seventeen years ago. She tries not to think about her time there, or the tightly knit group of friends she once thought would be hers forever. She has almost forgotten the fierce sting of betrayal, and the secret she carries around with her, the last night she spent with them all. A chance meeting on a rainy day in London means Anna is forced to remember the events of that summer and the people she left behind.

(You can listen to Bethan Roberts at Mostly Books, at an event on July 31 - and Alison Mercer will be launching the paperback of 'After I Left You' at the shop on Thursday Aug 7.)

Finally, in 'The Shadow of the Wolf' by Tim Hall (David Fickling Books, HB, £10.99) you'll be forgiven for thinking you know nothing about Robin Hood, in this dark and dramatic re-imagining of a legend. This is an exciting debut by the newly-independent David Fickling Books, and reflects their aim to publish ambitious children’s books that have a strong appeal to adults as well.

Robin Loxley’s parents disappear when he is seven years old. Learning to fend for himself, and living on the outskirts of his village, he strikes up a deep and intense relationship with the Maid Marion – and then events wrench her from his life. Following an ever darker path in Sherwood Forest, his experiences there transform him, and the legend of Robin Hood emerges…

Nigel's choices included YA book 'Replica' by Jack Heath, Emma Chapman's 'How To Be A Good Wife' and a brilliant new voice from the wonderful Serpent's Tail 'After Me Comes the Flood' by Sarah Perry.

Click on the link, and fast-forward 1 hour 7 and a half minutes to listen to the show.

(If you start four minutes earlier, you'll hear Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street'. Coincidentally, this was a song inspired by a book: 'The Outsider' by Colin Wilson)

An evening with Bethan Roberts and ‘My Policeman’

Welcoming rising literary star, Bethan Roberts, to a Mostly Books evening to discuss her book ‘My Policeman’ was very much a celebration as well as a literary event, as she was born and brought up in Abingdon.

It was for the second of our Abingdon ‘Big Reads’, when book groups and others are invited to read the book in advance if they want to and come along and discuss it with the author. As well as a good turn out of book group members, it was fantastic to see so many of her family and old school friends in Abingdon Library on Thursday August 9, delighted to share in her success.

‘My Policeman’ is the story of two people in love with the same man and was inspired by novelist EM Forster’s relationship with a married policeman. Bethan has translated the story to 1950s Brighton and made it a much darker story.

Forster ended his days being nursed by the wife of his long-time lover, and this was what particularly drew Bethan to the story.

‘She was the one who was holding his hand when he died and that’s the scene I wanted to earn in the novel,’ she said.

The book has a dual narrative, that of Marian, the woman who has been in love with the gorgeous Tom her whole life and triumphantly marries him against the odds. But there is already a shadow in the long-term relationship in Tom’s life, and we also see the events unfolding from Patrick’s point of view.

It is mostly an utterly absorbing, doomed love story - but it’s also a dramatic portrait of the era and has a great rising tension through the whole story as the consequences of not facing up to reality begin to unfold.

It is the third of Bethan Roberts’ books, all of which have been inspired by real-life events.

‘The Good Plain Cook’ was set in the 1930s – and was inspired by a period in which Peggy Guggenheim lived in Sussex. In her first book ‘The Pools’ set in the 1980s, the action was a little closer to home, in a town not dissimilar to Abingdon. It is based on a murder that happened when Bethan was growing up and the influence and impact remained in her memory.

Having an historical setting helps her in imagining the story, she says, and ‘takes away the terrible fear of the blank page’.

‘I don’t actually think of myself as a historical writer,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t write about Medieval times, for instance, because I don’t feel a connection to them. But the fifties were my parents’ era and it’s a period I feel I know through family stories. It’s a case of it being an era mysterious to me, but familiar to people I know.’

‘My Policeman’ has just been nominated for The Guardian’s ‘Not the Booker’ (for notable books that didn’t make it to the 13 on the Booker Prize Longlist). It builds on her already growing reputation as a young novelist to watch.

‘The Good Plain Cook’ was a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. ‘My Policeman’, set in Brighton, where Bethan now lives, has been picked as the summer ‘City Read’ in the city – where it will be celebrated across the city. Local people won’t just read the book and meet up to discuss it, but will hold events such as recreating scenes from the book and vintage make-up parties.

With such a show of support from family and friends, there were plenty of questions about how she became a writer in the first place and what a writer's life is like.

Bethan said: 'I always knew I wanted to be a writer. But felt like it was a bit like saying I wanted to be an astronaut. I didn't know any writers and I felt it was an impossible thing to be. I thought it was beyond me and it wasn't until I was 30 I started writing seriously. I did a Creative Writing MA in Chichester and took a day off a week from work. I found the course very supportive. They give you readers and a support network and I thought maybe I can do it. I was very lucky. I won an awards scheme which was basically to win a mentor who helped me finish my first novel. So it was a combination of determination, luck and courses that got me there.’

'What is the best thing about being a writer?' she was asked.

'It's a bit like being a reader, but more intense. As a reader you imagine worlds in your head. You get lost in a novel and live their experiences. All of these things happen to writers, but you are in control of it. It makes life quite rich as you have real life and an imaginary life. I also like signing books.

'But the worst day is when you are at your desk and cannot think what to write. That happens and then writing seems a slog. It is a lot of hard work and some days you think you are rubbish.’

Her ambitions, she said, don’t tend to get ahead of worrying if the sentence she just wrote is good enough or whether her next book is likely to be taken.

With now three critically acclaimed books to her name and the amount of comments from the audience of how much they loved the book and are recommending it to friends (including a great review here from Gaskella), the view from here is definitely that we’re all awaiting that next book...

Huge thanks to Bethan for coming to Abingdon, for such an absorbing event, and also to Lynne and the team at Abingdon Library for such a brilliant 'Big Read' event.

3 4 Friday: Summer Events with Noël Janis-Norton, Bethan Roberts and Ann Cleeves

We have a few events coming up over summer to tempt you away from the sport (or perhaps you need no tempting?). Anyway, we have assembled three golden authors over the Summer in our own version of a cultural Olympiad...

On Monday 16 July at 7.30pm we welcome Noël Janis-Norton, author of 'Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting'. This takes place at Mostly Books, and Noël will be discussing her own approach to reducing the stress of parenting - and improving the relationship with your children at the same time. We only have about four places left for this event, and you must have a ticket (£4 to include wine). So if you would like to attend, details on how you can book can be found here.


Following the success of our joint 'Big Read' event with Abingdon Library earlier this year with author Rachel Joyce, we welcome rising literary star Bethan Roberts, author of 'The Pools' and 'The Good Plain Cook' to Abingdon Library on Thursday 9 August at 7.30pm.

Her latest book - set in Brighton in the 1950s - has just been selected for the prestigious annual Brighton 'City Reads' and we have been encouraging bookgroups to read the book over the summer for discussion in the autumn. Whether you come with your bookgroup, with a friend or on your own, it promises to be a lovely event, particularly as Bethan was born and grew up in Abingdon and worked in Abingdon library for a short time!


The book is, in part, inspired by the life of EM Forster, and has been critically acclaimed by a whole host of reviewers and readers. Read Nicki's review here, and find out how to attend the event here. Again, tickets are £4 and include a glass of wine.

Ann Cleeves looks poised to be the latest big name in crime fiction and we are pleased that she will be visiting Mostly Books in August. Her successful Vera Stanhope series has already made her a household name since being televised with Brenda Blethyn in the title role.

In September Ann Cleeves's Shetland series will be making its television debut. This new murder-mystery series is set against the stunning Scottish backdrop of the Shetland Isles and centres on Detective Jimmy Perez (played by Douglas Henshall). If you want to discover these books before seeing them on the television, come along and meet Ann at Mostly Books on Weds 15th August, 7.30pm. Full details can be found here, but pop in to see our offer to try her book 'Raven Black' for 99p when you spend £20 or more.

My Policeman by Bethan Roberts - review and the Abingdon 'big read'

This ill-fated love story focuses on the painful triangle between a naive woman married to a man who is having an affair with another man, set in 1950s Brighton.

It’s a sensitively told tale of people facing up to uncomfortable truths – and also the dangers of having any sort of satisfying relationship if you were a homosexual in 1950s Britain.

Marion falls in love with her best friend’s gorgeous older brother, Tom. A strong and muscular figure of a man, with the face and physique of a Greek god who joins first the army, then becomes a policeman. She never forgets about him, never meets anyone else who comes close to replacing him in her heart. And after several years they start a long friendship that leads eventually to marriage, ignoring her friend’s subtle warnings that Tom ‘is not like that’.

‘Tom’s father’s budget didn’t quite stretch to a sea view. Our room was at the back of the hotel, overlooking a courtyard where the staff gathered to gossip and smoke. Once inside, Tom wouldn’t sit down. Instead he stalked the place, plucking at the heavy crimson curtains that covered most of the window, stroking the liver-coloured eiderdown, exclaiming over luxuries (‘They’ve got a mixer tap!), just as he’d done when we were in your flat, Patrick. After a struggle with the catch and a terrible squeal of wood, he managed to get the window open, letting in the afternoon whine of the seagulls.

‘Are you all right’ I asked. This wasn’t what I’d meant to say. Come away from the window and kiss me, was what I’d wanted to say. I’d even thought, briefly, of saying nothing at all; of just beginning to undress. It was still early; not past five in the afternoon, but we were newly-weds. In a hotel. In Brighton. Where things like that happen all the time.’

Schoolteacher, Marion, is uneasy from the start about Tom’s close relationship with Patrick, an educated man who works at the town’s gallery. But Patrick has a way of sweeping them both along with glimpses of a different, cultured life of trips to the ballet and exotic home cooked dinners of foreign food.

But Marion, who has led a narrow life with little expectation and no-one to really talk about her hopes and her fears tries to believe that her love can change Tom.

It’s the undercurrents that are so well handled in this third novel from Bethan Roberts. In ‘The Good Plain Cook’ she explored sexual mores through the eyes of a naive girl who is brought in to work for a Bohemian household and tries to focus on learning how to cook the food they want to eat and ignoring the growing extreme antics of a careless mother and communist-poet lover.

‘My Policeman’ is underpinned with its period setting and the perils of choices faced by homosexuals of the time and is a novel of simmering tension as we watch the pressure mount. Marion’s grim determination explodes in both humiliation and shocking retaliation, which we only fully understand right at the end of the novel, even though it is told mostly in flashback.

What is particularly clever and intriguing about the way that the story is told is that although we get both Marion and Patrick’s perspective on the situation, we never see the action from Tom’s point of view, so are left to imagine how he is feeling, torn between his passion for Patrick and coming to terms with that irrepressible side of him, and his desire to fit in and be respectable and make a marriage work.

There is also a lot here about the consequences of not facing up to reality and how a whole life can pass you by because of not being able to look uncomfortable truths face to face, particularly in a marriage that isn’t working.

From our point of view at Mostly Books, one of the most exciting and rewarding aspects of bookselling is when you have watched an author grow from a promising debut - and Bethan's first novels 'The Pools' and 'The Good Plain Cook' garnered impressive reviews and a definite 'most promising newcomer' status.

The fact that Bethan grew up in Abingdon is extra special for us, and she is most definitely one of the brightest new stars on the literary scene. Her recent move to publisher Chatto and the quality of ‘My Policeman’ makes us very excited about what might be yet to come.

So we are particularly delighted that Bethan Roberts is to be the guest author for Abingdon's second 'big read' (following the success of our event with Rachel Joyce and 'the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' earlier this year - and particularly as 'My Policeman' has been selected for the annual Brighton 'City Reads 2012' this year).

Bethan Roberts will be talking about 'My policeman' on Thurs Aug 9 at 7.30pm and we would love you to come along (click here to learn more).

And if your bookgroup would like to join in and read the book we would be delighted to welcome you along too. Please email us for more details about getting the book before the event.