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Book club special: Author Sarah Waters and screen writer Lucinda Coxon join us for a webchat about their writing careers and new film adaptation of The Little Stranger: Wednesday 19 September at 12.30pm

60 replies

RachelMumsnet · 17/09/2018 10:23

We’re delighted to welcome author Sarah Waters and screenwriter Lucinda Coxon to Mumsnet on Wednesday 19th September at 12.30pm.

Sarah’s booker shortlisted novel The Little Stranger was Mumsnet book of the month back in 2009 and has since been one of the most discussed books on the forum. The Little Stranger has been adapted by Lucinda as a screenplay which hits the big screen on 21st September, starring Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter and Charlotte Rampling and directed by Lenny Abrahamsson.

Join Sarah and Lucinda to ask them questions about their writing and the film. If you’ve got a budding author or screenwriter in your family, now is your chance to get tips and advice from two leading writers in their field.

If you’re unable to join us post questions in advance on this thread and we’ll make sure they are put to Sarah and Lucinda on Wednesday at 12.30.

Sarah Waters has written six novels, novels: Tipping the Velvet (1998), Affinity (1999), Fingersmith (2002), which was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize, The Night Watch (2006), which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize; The Little Stranger (2009), which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the South Bank Show Literature Award; and The Paying Guests (2014) which was been shortlisted for The Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.

Lucinda Coxon is a screenwriter whose plays have been performed in theatres across the UK. Her screenplays include Wild Target, The Heart of Me and most recently The Danish Girl, directed by Tom Hooper and starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, who won an Academy Award for her performance. Her four-part version of Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White was screened to critical acclaim on BBC2.

will be released in cinemas nationwide in the UK on the 21st September.
OP posts:
SarahWaters · 19/09/2018 13:21

@RachelMumsnet

Can we throw in a few questions from discussion threads that have been trending on the Mumsnet forum over the last few weeks:

First up:

Books you would like to see made into a film?

Donna Tartt's Secret History! Why hasn't that been made yet??

SarahWaters · 19/09/2018 13:26

Great non-fiction... Gitta Sereny's book about the child murderer Mary Bell, Cries Unheard: an amazing study in compassion and forgiveness.

Also Tony Parker's The People of Providence: fascinating 80s oral histories from the residents of a south London council estate.

Which author have I read more than any other? Maybe Patricia Highsmith, who can be a bit patchy but is always worth reading, and who, at her best, does tension and low-level menace like no other author.

LucindaCoxon · 19/09/2018 13:27

@RachelMumsnet

and from the books discussion forum:

Suggestions for great non-fiction?

Natalia Ginzburg's essays The Little Virtues - a brilliant collection by a brilliant woman... Out of print in the UK for years, but recently republished. I'm also a sucker for reading other people's letters
and diaries. Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie's diaries and correspondence are heartbreaking and brilliant.

What author have you read more than any other?

Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, obviously. Then there are the prolific guilty pleasures - PG Wodehouse, for example. I've also put away a great deal of Margaret Atwood, Angela Carter, Anais Nin etc. I've reread Elizabeth Knox's The Vintner's Luck many times in the hope of figuring out a way to adapt it. It continues to defeat me.

and

Favourite classics?

I think The Handmaid's Tale should now fall into that category.

SarahWaters · 19/09/2018 13:27

@SarahWaters

[quote RachelMumsnet] and from the books discussion forum:

Suggestions for great non-fiction?

What author have you read more than any other?

and

Favourite classics?

Great non-fiction... Gitta Sereny's book about the child murderer Mary Bell, Cries Unheard: an amazing study in compassion and forgiveness.

Also Tony Parker's The People of Providence: fascinating 80s oral histories from the residents of a south London council estate.

Which author have I read more than any other? Maybe Patricia Highsmith, who can be a bit patchy but is always worth reading, and who, at her best, does tension and low-level menace like no other author.[/quote]

Oops, and favourite classics... Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, Rebecca, New Grub Street.

SarahWaters · 19/09/2018 13:29

Favourite film of the 80s... Alien.

Favourite soundtrack... The Draughtsman's Contract.

Disturbing movie... That wretched Human Centipede film.

LucindaCoxon · 19/09/2018 13:30

@RachelMumsnet

A few more qs from the discussion boards

Favourite film of the 80s?

I've Heard the Mermaids Singing and Sweetie

Favourite Soundtracks?

The first one I ever bought was Gabriel Yared's for BETTY BLUE. It's really stood the test of time...

Films you will never watch again as you found them so disturbing?

The list is long.

SarahWaters · 19/09/2018 13:31

Thanks for the great questions, everyone. Thanks, Mumsnet - and thanks, Lucinda!

Sarah xx

LucindaCoxon · 19/09/2018 13:32

Brilliant to be here. Thanks for you questions. Really hope you enjoy the film!

Best

Lucinda

RachelMumsnet · 19/09/2018 13:32

Thanks so much to Sarah and Lucinda for getting through all the questions here today. A reminder that The Little Stranger is released in cinemas nationwide in the UK on the 21st September - do let us know what you think.

OP posts:
OlennasWimple · 19/09/2018 14:32

Thank you for the web chat!

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