March book of the month: Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave. Join author webchat on Monday 27 March, 9-10pm

[RachelMumsnet]

We’re delighted to announce March book of the month is Chris Cleave’s Everyone Brave is Forgiven. We have 50 free copies up for grabs and Chris Cleave will be joining us to discuss the book on Monday 27 March, 9-10pm.

Impeccably researched, Chris Cleave's latest novel shines a light on the untold stories of the second world war. He looks at the plight of the unwanted children who remain in London during the blitz, at a small community of black inhabitants, working in theatres in London throughout the war and he draws on the experiences of his own Grandfather when describing the plight of soldiers stationed in Malta, besieged by horrific attacks from both Italian and German troops.

These fascinating stories are explored through three characters, dealing with complexities of love, alongside the dangers of war. With emotion and humour Cleave looks at and their capacity for humility and courage both on and off the battle-field.

Find out more about the book and apply for a free copy before Monday 27 February and put the date in your diary to join the discussion and chat to Chris Cleave on this thread on 27 March.

Thanks so much for your time Chris!

One last question if I may.
I particularly loved that line in your author’s note: Don’t be afraid to show someone you love, a working draft of yourself. I understand the regret behind it. How would you explain it to a wannabe writer, whose worst nightmare is: the reader will not like the story?

@Clawdy

Hi Chris, loved your book, my favourite sentence was "Expect me at around five past the end of the war..." How long did it take you to write the book? Wish there was a sequel to come !

@Clawdy Thanks you! I'm glad you like that. My favourite bit was writing the dialogue. I am a slow person in real life - I'm someone who will come up with the perfect response three hours after the conversation is over. And so when I write, I enjoy the way it compresses time and lets me come up with dialogue the way I wish I could speak it. The book took me four years, all told. 2 years of research, a year of writing and year of rewriting. I do want to write a sequel one day. I have it all planned out. It's set in the aftermath of the war, in the rubble. With the same cast of characters. It's a joyful book about the generation that was tasked with putting the world back together. Let's not forget: they didn't just win the war, they also elected a socialist government and gave us, among other things, the NHS. They were heroes of peacetime, too. The sequel is called EVERYTHING SAD IS FORGOTTEN. It will take me years, I'm afraid, but I will write other novels between now & then.

Thanks Chris and Thanks Mumsnet for sending me a copy of this Everyone Brave.

It's the first WW2 history I've read in a while and I particularly enjoyed the raw descriptions of race and class that seem to be romanticised in other works on the period.

I especially enjoyed the relationship between Tom and Alistair. The wit and affection between the two is so fresh and enjoyable to read and it left me wondering how the men left behind from action really did feel?

It also left me wondering about the 'Blitz Spirit' that supposedly ran through London at the time - the humour that sparks between so many of the characters is reminiscent of some of the stories my grandparents told me of their experiences.

Finally, I wondered if you would be tempted to return to the period. As the novel finishes before the end of the War, could you see yourself returning to Mary and Alistair?

Thanks again

Thank you for my copy of Everyone Brave is Forgiven. I enjoyed it and will be suggesting it as a future book club read.
I would like to ask Chris Cleave which authors he enjoys reading and which book he has most recently recommended as a good read.

@mom2010

Thanks so much for your time Chris!

One last question if I may.
I particularly loved that line in your author’s note: Don’t be afraid to show someone you love, a working draft of yourself. I understand the regret behind it. How would you explain it to a wannabe writer, whose worst nightmare is: the reader will not like the story?

@ mom2010 I always think as a writer my job is to love & respect the reader, not to worry whether they'll like the story. It's different strokes for different folks, it really is. You might write a stone cold masterpiece about the industrial revolution and a bunch of people would hate it because they don't like spinning jennies. You can't please everyone so you just have to go with your own curiosity and joy. If you're head-over-heels into the book, it's infectious and readers will come with you on the journey. Conversely, if you're just phoning in your performance, readers are smart & they can detect phoniness. As a guideline I just think to myself: can I genuinely say that this novel is worth ten hours of the reader's time? Can I really say that this paragraph will make an intelligent reader curious to read the next paragraph? And so on. The more you respect and trust the reader, the more those nightmares assume their proper proportions.

@gailforce1

Thank you for my copy of Everyone Brave is Forgiven. I enjoyed it and will be suggesting it as a future book club read. I would like to ask Chris Cleave which authors he enjoys reading and which book he has most recently recommended as a good read.

@ gailforce1 Thanks! Book I've read most recently that I LOVE and think everyone should read immediately: A MANUAL FOR CLEANING WOMEN by Lucia Berlin. Out in PB from Picador.

Well put, Chris. Much appreciated.

Yes, Just noticed EmLH

@KTD1230

I'll be honest I had never heard of you before I was given this book - I normally read crime books. I just want to say a massive thank you to Mumsnet for introducing me to you. I really enjoyed this book. My favourite book as a child was Goodnight Mr Tom and this reminded me of this so much - but an adults version. As someone mentioned previously I too found the racism really uncomfortable, but it does show how far times have moved on. I plan to read your other books now. Thanks Chris.

@KTD1230 Thanks for giving the book a chance - I'm really glad you liked it. I found the racism upsetting too. I didn't go looking for it in the research, but it kept jumping out at me. It was hard to strike the right balance: you don't want to judge the people of then by the standards of now, but at the same time you don't want to whitewash them. As you say, if it's shocking to us now, it's because - thank goodness - we are perhaps starting (just starting, I think) to make some progress. Thanks again and I hope you will enjoy the other books.

@Hygellig

Can I ask which bits of the novel you found hardest to write? Was it particularly difficult to write the harrowing descriptions of the wounded airman or the boy whose house was bombed?

@Hygellig The lovely parts to write were the conversations. I could have carried on their dialogues forever, and I always felt as upset as they were when the war interrupted. I hated writing the passages of violence. I always have hated it, in fact, in all my books. But life is often violent. We sometimes forget, especially living in our generation in the West. But most of the world is in conflict of some kind, most of the time. So that's part of a realistic human story. So I try to write these terrible scenes using the minimum necessary force. The wounded airman scene was the hardest. It's pretty close to a nightmare I sometimes have in which a creature has been wounded and you know you should put it out of its suffering, but everything you do just makes it worse.

Really loved the book. It just draws you in and transports you from your drawing room into the battlefield, into the midst of the war, the shelters, into the cruel racist world of the yesteryears and makes you laugh and cry at the same with Mary and Zachary and feel for Tom and Alistair. You are everywhere and nowhere. Love your writing style and although Ive never read any of your books, I shall certainly look out for more.

@RachelMumsnet

Welcome everyone to March bookclub. We're really thrilled that Chris Cleave will be joining us tonight to talk about his wonderful novel Everyone Brave is Forgiven. I've just seen the words 'unputdownable' in a post from earlier and this is exactly what we thought when we read the book last year. There's already some questions in and I know lots more to come so will hand over to you Chris but may we also ask you our Mumsnet questions that we put to all authors:

What was your favourite childhood book?

What was the last book you bought someone as a gift?

And the last book you received?

And finally - can you describe to us the room where you wrote Everyone Brave?

Thanks so much for giving us your time tonight Chris and welcome to Mumsnet. Over to you....

@ Rachel

Hi Rachel and thank you so much for inviting me, and for organising this amazing event which I'm really enjoying. The questions are all fantastic!
In answer to yours:
Fav childhood book: The Kon-Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl.
Last book I bought as gift: For my 10-yr-old, the Eragon series.
Last book I received: In the post this morning, THE HEARTS OF MEN by Nickolas Butler - looks good, by the way
Room where I wrote Everyone Brave: at the top of the stacks in the London Library. It had an eerie sense of being the right place with the right energy. Afterwards, I found that that exact part of the Library had been destroyed by a bomb in the Blitz.

I enjoyed the dialogue as well, and thought the characters were all witty in equal measure. Did your grandparents have similar socioeconomic backgrounds with butlers and the like?

I also knew nothing about the siege of Malta, and never imagined the British army being on starvation rations. My dad is a bit of a war buff and reads lots of books about WW2 military history, whereas I have probably learned more about the period from novels.

@Hygellig

I enjoyed the dialogue as well, and thought the characters were all witty in equal measure. Did your grandparents have similar socioeconomic backgrounds with butlers and the like?

@ Hygellig I wish! No, we are a humble family since way back when. Teachers, craftspeople, miners, weavers, a few military types. Our only Butlers were Lambert &s.

"Afterwards, I found that that exact part of the Library had been destroyed by a bomb in the Blitz."

... spoooooky!!!!!

@Hygellig

I also knew nothing about the siege of Malta, and never imagined the British army being on starvation rations. My dad is a bit of a war buff and reads lots of books about WW2 military history, whereas I have probably learned more about the period from novels.

@Hygellig I've discovered while touring the book that not many people do know about Malta's war. Which is sad because the garrison and the Maltese gave so much. And the RN were beyond heroic in their efforts to save the island. The attrition rate on the Med convoys was absolutely horrifying.

@barricade

"Afterwards, I found that that exact part of the Library had been destroyed by a bomb in the Blitz."

... spoooooky!!!!!

@ barricade It was quite spooky! And I don't normally go for the supernatural explanation. But there was something about that spot. There was a particular place in Malta that I wrote long passages in, too. That felt right, for some reason, although I haven't found an eerie backstory for that place yet...

Thank you Mumsnet for hosting this chat! My name is Max Nichols. I am fifteen years old and joining from the US! I have just started Everyone Brave is Forgiven and I am really loving it!

As an aspiring author, I have two questions for Chris Cleave:

1. How do you get into the heads of your characters?

1. What are the advantages/disadvantages of having multiple points of view in a novel?

Thank you very much Mr. Cleave!

@jish

Really loved the book. It just draws you in and transports you from your drawing room into the battlefield, into the midst of the war, the shelters, into the cruel racist world of the yesteryears and makes you laugh and cry at the same with Mary and Zachary and feel for Tom and Alistair. You are everywhere and nowhere. Love your writing style and although Ive never read any of your books, I shall certainly look out for more.

@jish Thank you, what a kind post! Hope you enjoy the books.

Thank you for an enjoyable and informative webchat.

Yes. Thanks a lot! Really enjoyed it.

Well that brings us to the end of the hour - it went so fast! Thanks SO much Chris for your time this evening and for your thoughtful and fascinating answers. It's great to hear about how you came to write such a brilliant novel - as you see it was loved by many readers and we're delighted that we selected it as book of the month.

Good luck with your next project and please do come back another time. Many thanks to all those who joined us tonight. A reminder that April Book of the month is The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver, who is joining us on Wednesday 3 May. Goodnight

Thank you, Mumsnet, for the opportunity to join this discussion tonight. And, of course, sincere thanks, Chris, for your gracious replies to our many questions. Wish you the very best of luck with your future ventures.

Thank you very much Mr. Cleave!