ABSOLUTE PROOF BY PETER JAMES CHOSEN AS A SUMMER READ IN THE LATEST RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB

Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan yesterday launched their latest Book Club summer selections, exclusive to WH Smith. We are delighted to announce that Peter James’s striking international thriller ABSOLUTE PROOF is one of Richard and Judy’s picks this Summer. Judy describes ABSOLUTE PROOF as ‘fascinating and often funny... Thought-provoking, thrilling, funny and challenging…Peter James’s most ambitious novel yet.’ A Number One bestseller in hardback earlier this year, ABSOLUTE PROOF is out in paperback from Pan Macmillan this week.

The Richard and Judy Book Club launches with another series of podcasts, providing a fantastic introduction to all the featured titles as well as an exclusive interview with each of the authors. WH Smith customers can enjoy exclusive special editions of the Book Club titles filled with added bonus content, including book club discussion points, author Q&As and more recommended reads.

Investigative reporter Ross Hunter nearly didn’t answer the phone call that would change his life – and possibly the world – for ever.

‘I’d just like to assure you I’m not a nutcase, Mr Hunter. My name is Dr Harry F. Cook. I know this is going to sound strange, but I’ve recently been given absolute proof of God’s existence – and I’ve been advised there is a writer, a respected journalist called Ross Hunter, who could help me to get taken seriously.’

What would it take to prove the existence of God? And what would be the consequences? This question and its answer lie at the heart of ABSOLUTE PROOF, an international thriller from bestselling author Peter James.

The false faith of a billionaire evangelist, the life’s work of a famous atheist, and the credibility of each of the world’s major religions are all under threat. If Ross Hunter can survive long enough to present the evidence…

Peter James is the international bestselling author of many award-winning novels. His Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, set in Brighton – translated into thirty-seven languages with worldwide sales of over twenty million copies – has given him fourteen consecutive Sunday Times Number Ones. In 2015 WH Smith customers voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he was awarded the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger, a lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence. In 2018 he received a Specsavers Honorary Platinum Bestseller Award.

The audiobook of ABSOLUTE PROOF, read by Hugh Bonneville, was shortlisted for a Specsavers National Book Award.

Praise for Peter James

‘Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business’ – Karin Slaughter

‘Probably the closest we’ll get to a British Stephen King’ – The Financial Times

‘Peter James is one of the most fiendishly clever crime fiction plotters’ – The Daily Mail

‘In my thirty-four years of policing, never have I come across a writer who so accurately depicts “The Job“’ – Detective Investigator Pat Lanigan, Office of the District Attorney, NYPD

Praise for ABSOLUTE PROOF

'Sensational – the best what-if thriller since The Da Vinci Code' – Lee Child

‘Peter James is the thinking man's Dan Brown.' — Barry Forshaw, Radio 5 Live

‘ABSOLUTE PROOF is a thriller that grips from the outset but it’s also incredibly thought-provoking, asking some of life’s biggest questions about science and faith, setting big pharma and high church on a collision course that could change the world. I was thrilled when Peter asked me to provide the narration for his latest, most compelling book.’ – Hugh Bonneville

'With ABSOLUTE PROOF, the King of Crime is now a miracle worker.' – Jon Coates, Sunday Express

‘We are in Dan Brown blockbuster territory, but both atheists and believers will find food for thought in this globe-trotting epic.' – Barry Forshaw, Guardian 

Visit the official Peter James website.

Like Peter James on Facebook. 

Follow Peter James on Twitter. 

Follow Peter James on Instagram. 

Watch Peter James TV.

Kaite O'Reilly Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize

richard III redux [OR] Sara Beer [is/not] Richard III by Kaite O’Reilly has been shortlisted to win £10,000 in the reputable James Tait Black Prize at the Edinburgh Fringe. The play was written with Phillip B Zarrilli and produced by The Llanarth Group. The play was part of a three-piece shortlist, selected from 80 worldwide submissions.

The play is a riotous one-woman piece promoting inclusivity in the arts and written from a radical disability perspective.  It challenges Shakespeare’s representation of the disabled monarch and the creation of ‘the twisted body/twisted mind’ trope, satirising the non-disabled actors who have ‘cripped up’ to play the part in the past.

You can book tickets to the awards ceremony in Edinburgh here.

Read more.

Headline to publish LOVE IN COLOUR, a collection of representative love stories by Bolu Babalola

Headline Publishing Group has announced the acquisition of LOVE IN COLOUR by debut author, Bolu Babalola, that will be publishing in hardback in April 2020. Katie Packer, Assistant Editor, acquired world rights to the creative partnership project from Hattie Grunewald of Blake Friedmann, whilst Juliet Pickering is on maternity leave.

LOVE IN COLOUR is a collection of representative love stories from mythology and history, retold by the wonderful Bolu Babalola. From magical Nigerian folktales, to homoromantic Greek myths, to the ancient stories of South Asia, Bolu brings new life to tales that truly show the vibrance and colours of love around the world.

The anthology is a step towards decolonising tropes of love, and celebrates in the wildly beautiful and astonishingly diverse tales of romance and desire that already exist in various cultures and communities.

Bolu Babalola is an incredibly talented London-based writer who, in 2016, was shortlisted in 4thEstate's B4ME competition for her short story 'Netflix & Chill', a hilarious teen romance. Whilst writing scripts for TV and film, she also works as a TV and Culture columnist for Dazed.

Katie Packer said: ‘I am so unbelievably excited that this spark of an idea has grown into a fully fledged book. There are so many incredible love stories out there, full of magic and mystery, and Bolu Babalola is the perfect person to breathe life back into them.’

Bolu Babalola said: ‘It's a privilege and honour to be able to re-work these beautiful tales of romance and magic from around our world for our times. Love binds humanity, strengthens and propels and in re-telling and amplifying these stories I hope I can help shine light on how humanity - like love - comes in technicolour.’

RIGHTS TO KAREN POWELL'S THE RIVER WITHIN SOLD TO EUROPA EDITIONS AT AUCTION

Europa Editions UK has secured Karen Powell's "extraordinary" novel at auction.

Director Christopher Potter has acquired rights for two titles from Samuel Hodder at Blake Friedmann following a two-publisher auction. As well as UK and Commonwealth, Potter bought rights for United States and Italy “such was the strength of our feelings and commitment”. Europa will publish the first novel, THE RIVER WITHIN, in 2020.

“I was bowled over by the poetic intensity of this extraordinary novel,” Potter said. THE RIVER WITHIN is as evocative of place and landscape as any novel I can think of. I believe THE RIVER WITHIN will immediately find its place as a classic in a tradition that includes the novels of Thomas Hardy and Graham Swift.”

Powell said: “I am delighted to be working with an editor of Christopher’s calibre and with Europa Editions – they’re passionate champions of European literary fiction and the quality of their list is ridiculously good.”

For both titles, audio rights for the UK and British Commonwealth (excluding Canada) were sold to WF Howes.

THE RIVER WITHIN is a piercing and evocative novel set in 1950s Yorkshire. On a summer’s day in the village of Starome, the body of young Danny Masters emerges from the river. It’s found by Danny’s three teenage friends: Alexander, the volatile heir to Richmond Hall, the country estate that neighbours Starome, and sister and brother, Lennie and Tom, whose father is secretary to the Richmond family. The friends’ responses to Danny’s death are strange. Why does Alexander seem oddly stimulated, excited even, and why is Lennie so keen for everyone to move on? How did Danny die? Did he fall in, or jump? Or worse?  In an interweaving narrative that moves across the months before and after Danny’s death, the secrets of the village begin to surface.

Powell left school at 16, but returned to education as a mature student to study English Literature at Cambridge University. She lives in Yorkshire, and an early draft of THE RIVER WITHIN was awarded a Northern Writers’ TLC ‘New Fiction Reads’ prize, which seeks to support work-in-progress by new, emerging and established writers across the North of England. She subsequently attended the ‘New Writing North’ Summer Talent Salon in 2018, where she secured agent representation from Hodder.  

Trailer released for SUPERVISED written by Andy Briggs

The trailer for the new film SUPERVISED has been released, watch it here!

SUPERVIZED tells the story of an elderly group of international superheroes retired to Dunmanor nursing home in Ireland. Ray is the once world renowned ‘Maximum Justice’ who as his nom de plume suggests will fight bad with good till the cows come home. He finds it hard to accept that his hero days are over and now it’s bingo games and blanket baths. His old team consisting of trusted sidekick Ted AKA ‘Shimmy’, old flame Madera ‘Moonlight’ and rival at everything Pendle ‘Total Thunder’ are far more accepting of their undignified destiny. When Jerry, ‘Rainbow Warrior,’ dies after having his superpowers ‘downwardly managed’ for the safety of others, a federation sectioned procedure, Ray suspects foul play and decides to investigate. The rest of the gang is not so convinced, and Ray finds himself battling against not only his enemies, but the stigma and restrictions of old age.