Radio discussion and other news

The Radio Lancashire Book Club supported by the Blackburn with Darwen Library Authority, is currently reading The Red Necklace: a story of the French Revolution by Sally Gardner, to tie in with Pages Ago. Although ostensibly a teenage book, it can equally be enjoyed by adult readers - 'the drama moves from Paris to London and back, as the Revolution gathers momentum, and the hope of liberty and the dream of equality are crushed beneath the wheel of terror. Too many secrets, too many murders, and the blade of the guillotine is yet to fall .....'

Radio Lancs broadcasts across Lancashire and Blackpool as well as Blackburn, so other authorities may have some demand for the title. Some of our reading group members go along for the live broadcast and the discussion of The Red Necklace will be on Tuesday, July 20 from 11am - 1 pm so there is still time for readers/listeners to go along to their library for the book.


On 1st July Access Trafford Libraries were very pleased to welcome Anne O’Brien to Timperley Library to give a talk on her new historical novel as part of Trafford’s Wordfest and Pages Ago. Her book : ‘Virgin Widow: England’s Forgotten Queen’ is the story of Anne Neville, daughter of the Earl of Warwick (the ‘Kingmaker’). Caught up in the shifting fortunes of the Wars of the Roses, Anne was married first to Edward, the Lancastrian Prince of Wales, and then to the Yorkist Richard of Gloucester (later Richard III).

Anne O’Brien talked about her experiences as a writer – how she started out, getting an agent, as well as why she chose the subject for this novel. She gave background to the lives of women in powerful families at this time, and highlighted the careers of some particularly formidable ladies in the fifteenth century.

Anne is an excellent speaker, measured, informed and thoughtful, who provided our audience with an enjoyable and instructive event. We look forward to her next novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine.