Max Minerva’s launches latest book events

Henleaze independent bookshop Max Minerva’s will be hosting two literary events in February, welcoming authors Francis Spufford and Susan Stokes-Chapman to discuss their latest novels.

For Jessica Paul and Sam Taylor who run the shop, “hearing an author speak about their work in person is a thrill we never tire of”. Bristol 24/7 outlines the books up for discussion in February.

Francis Spufford – Light Perpetual

With his first novel Golden Light, best-selling author Francis Spufford won huge acclaim and multiple accolades including the Costa Book Award, the Ondaatje Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize. Light Perpetual which was longlisted for the Booker prize, opens in wartime London, as a V2 bomb falls on a branch of Woolworths.

November 1944. A German rocket strikes London, and five young lives are atomised in an instant. November 1944. That rocket never lands. A single second in time is altered, and five young lives go on – to experience all the unimaginable changes of the twentieth century.

The novel promises to be “ingenious and profound, full of warmth and beauty”, and “a sweeping and intimate celebration of the gift of life”. Spufford will be discussing the work at Max Minerva’s on February 1. Tickets to the event will include a paperback copy of Light Perpetual.

Book cover for Light Perpetual, paperback release (Faber, 2022)

Susan Stokes-Chapman – Pandora

With her debut novel Pandora, short-listed for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and longlisted for the Bath Novel Award, Susan Stokes-Chapman was aiming to create “a loose reinterpretation of the Greek myth Pandora’s Box”.

London, 1799. When a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, Dora Blake is intrigued by her uncle’s suspicious behaviour and enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a young antiquarian scholar. Edward sees the ancient vase as key to unlocking his academic future. Dora sees it as a chance to restore the shop to its former glory, and to escape her nefarious uncle.

But what Edward discovers about the vase has Dora questioning everything she has believed about her life, her family, and the world as she knows it.

Fans of gothic historical fiction – titles such as Bridget Collins’ The Binding, or Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent – may be particularly drawn to her talent for a gripping narrative; a style that novelist Joseph O’Connor calls “a richly evocative and hugely enjoyable read, bubbling with mysteries, secrets and pleasures”. Readers can discover an extract from the novel online.

Stokes-Chapman will be introducing Pandora to an audience at Max Minerva’s on February 10; tickets are redeemable against a purchase of the book.

Pandora book cover (Harvill Secker, 2022)

Francis Spufford introduces Light Perpetual on February 1 at 7.30pm, and Susan Stokes-Chapman introduces Pandora on February 10 at 7.30pm. Both events are at Max Minerva’s, 39 North View, Westbury Park, Bristol, BS6 7PY. For tickets and further information, go to www.maxminervas.co.uk or email the shop.

Main photo: Jessica Paul and Sam Taylor at Max Minerva’s

Read more: My Bristol Favourites: Jessica Paul and Sam Taylor

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