Anna Sayburn Lane

Thriller author

News

Unlawful Things on tour

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One of the many things I didn’t know existed when I started on my publishing journey was the Book Blog Tour. Instead of going on tour around the country, you send your book ‘on tour’ around the book blogs.

The Unlawful Things blog tour had 13 stops, with book-lovers around the country agreeing to post a review, extract or feature about the book. It was exciting to see the reaction of these amazing people, who all read a huge amount and post reviews on dozens of books each year. Book bloggers, unlike some social media ‘influencers’, are unpaid and truly independent. They get a review copy of the book, and are free to write whatever they want in their review – so I was also a little nervous. Would these expert readers like Unlawful Things?

They did. “It is definitely five stars from me for this one, a fully action packed thriller with plenty of content, fantastic characters and a great story line – very highly recommended!” said Donna of Donna’s Book Blog. “The great prologue has you hooked from the off……What then follows is a gripping tale of history, religion, conspiracies and a little romance,” said The Bookwormery. “A thriller with an academic twist, this is a unique book dominated by some serious historical research,” reported Northern Reader. Book After Book called it “suspenseful, atmospheric, and gripping” while Stacy Is Reading said: “Unlawful Things is a fascinating feast for the imagination and a true success on every level.”

Rachael Read It was one of several bloggers who hoped to hear more of Helen Oddfellow. “’Unlawful Things’ heralds the arrival of a heroine and literary sleuth who stays with you long after the last page,” she said, while Bookmark That declared: “Helen Oddfellow is my new favourite person.” The Book Drealms said “There was a depth of character built up as the story progressed which really endeared [Helen] to me.” Shelf of Unread Books, on the other hand, enthused about the “brilliantly, terrifyingly realised” villains.

Wrong Side of Forty declared it “an exciting, knowledgable and engrossing read”, while Jaffa Reads Too wrote: “Helen’s determined quest to discover the truth allows the story to look more closely into the tangled history of Christopher Marlowe, a fascinating subject in himself, but which also combines a really dark historical mystery, with a modern day fast action thriller.”

My thanks to everyone who took the trouble to read and review the book. It makes all the difference.

Event: Storytelling, 22 February, Crystal Palace

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It’s been a while, but I’ve enjoyed telling my short stories at venues in London over the past few years. I’ve told stories about best friends (the sort you love to hate) at the George Inn in Southwark, tall tales about killer rats at the Lido Cafe in Herne Hill, and now I’m warming up for Open Mic Night at the Paxton Centre in Crystal Palace.

I have a soft spot for the Paxton Centre, a quirky independent arts venue run by artist and ceramicist Beth Mander. It hosted my launch party for Unlawful Things back in December, and Beth made sure the night went smoothly. The Paxton’s monthly Open Mic Night is a mixture of music and spoken word performances, and usually gets a lively audience. It’s hosted by acclaimed poet Joe Duggan, whose own poetry performances are by turns funny, moving and powerful. I was thrilled when Joe asked me to do a slot.

I’m going to tell an old favourite, one of my first published short stories, Stag. It’s about the terrifying consequences of upsetting the local goddesses, the morning after a stag do, in my old hunting ground of Greenwich Park. Let’s just say the wedding may need to be postponed…

You can book tickets (a very reasonable £3) here: https://www.thepaxtoncentre.co.uk/whats-on/2019/2/22/open-mic-night.

Stag was first published in the ‘penny dreadful for the 21st century’ magazine One Eye Grey.

New year, new book

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Mosaic of William Blake near Hercules Buildings, Lambeth, where the poet lived for 10 years.

I’ve made just one new year resolution this year – to write the first draft of my next novel.

Reading the reviews for Unlawful Things has been a delight, not least in discovering what people think about my heroine, Helen Oddfellow. She’s been described as “the new Morse”, a “splendid protagonist” and “who Dan Brown’s Professor Robert Langdon from The Da Vinci Code would have been if he were younger, female and travelled using an Oyster Card”.

But the big question readers have asked is: what happens next? Will Helen disappear back into my imaginary world, or are there plans for a sequel? The good news is, she’ll be back. I’m deep into researching, plotting and planning for the second Helen Oddfellow mystery.

I’ve been intrigued by the poetry and art of William Blake since university. Most people know him from the Songs of Innocence and Experience, including classics such as London and The Tyger. He was a bit of an oddball, a London tradesman who saw visions of angels and ghosts, and who struggled for recognition as an artist all his life.

I’m busy weaving a mystery around his already extraordinary life, for Helen and her friends to unravel. Think he’s not relevant today? Think again… I’ll keep you posted on progress. But let me know what you think – are there any other Blake fans out there?

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A special trip to Shakespeare’s Globe

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I’ve loved Shakespeare’s Globe, the recreation of the Globe Theatre on the south bank of the Thames, since it opened in 1997. This year, the programme seems designed for people with an interest in Unlawful Things – not only are they producing Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, but a dramatic recreation of the Treason Trial of Walter Ralegh. So I sent them a copy of my novel, to see if they were interested. This is what happened next.

Corpus Christie College Cambridge: Marlowe’s student home

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Old Court, with New Court in the background, Corpus Christi College Cambridge

For three short years as a child, I lived in Cambridge. The bustle of the market in the city centre, the honeyed stone of the university’s ancient colleges and the peaceful flow of the River Cam were mine only until the age of eight, but they are the backdrop to some very happy childhood memories.

I wonder how happy Christopher Marlowe’s memories of his six years at Cambridge were? He arrived at Cambridge University in 1580, a scholarship boy supported by a bequest from the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker. As with all the Parker scholars, he attended Corpus Christi College (founded 1352), which had also received Archbishop Parker’s amazing library, containing priceless treasures from the ransacked monasteries of England.

Marlowe might have been acutely aware of his social status and restricted budget, compared to the sons of the nobility who were his fellow students. Perhaps that was what motivated him when, a couple of years later, he was recruited by Queen Elizabeth’s secret service, reporting to spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. It seems that Cambridge has a long, long history with spying. In addition to his studies and other activities, it’s likely Marlowe wrote his first play, Dido Queen of Carthage, during his student years.

Portrait of the evangelist Luke, in Saint Augustine’s Gospel

I revisited Cambridge a couple of years ago, entering Corpus Christi College on a lovely September day, when the library was open to the public. My visit wasn’t just prompted by curiosity; I was researching a scene where the two heroes of Unlawful Things visit the Parker Library on the trail of Marlowe’s lost manuscript. I marvelled at the library’s incredible collection, including the sixth century Gospels of Augustine (see left), brought to England by Saint Augustine when he arrived to convert the heathen British to Christianity.

I enjoyed wandering around the lovely Old Court, the humble buildings hidden away behind the impressive Victorian frontage, where the college buildings that Marlowe would have known are preserved. All the time, I tried to see the place through the eyes of my fictional characters, Helen and Richard. They would have loved this, I thought.

Perhaps my early fondness for Cambridge found its way into the novel. I can’t help noticing that the Cambridge section of Unlawful Things is probably the happiest time that I allow Helen and Richard together. A hiatus, a sunny day and a scholarly moment to enjoy the beauty, before it all starts to go so very, very wrong…

Thomas Becket: Canterbury’s martyr saint still making headlines

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English Psalter, Anonymous, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

For an event that took place almost 850 years ago, Thomas Becket’s death is surprisingly well documented.

Four knights rode to Canterbury Cathedral, shortly after Archbishop Becket returned from a lengthy exile in France. They demanded to speak to him; they claimed to be acting for the King, Henry II. They drew their swords and cut Becket down, leaving him dead on the stone floor.

The murder shocked Europe and outraged the church. Henry II is alleged to have signed Becket’s death warrant with the hasty words: “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” He swiftly declared his repentance, walked barefoot into Canterbury and prayed for forgiveness. Pope Alexander III declared Becket a saint. Saint Thomas Becket was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, in an ornate golden shrine studded with precious stones. Rumours quickly began that the saint worked healing miracles, and the pilgrims started to come. Thousands of them, down the ages, remembered best now in Geoffrey Chaucer’s epic poem The Canterbury Tales.

What happened next is less well-documented. We know that Henry VIII, in his own bitter battle with the Catholic Church, declared Becket a traitor, and had the shrine destroyed. What happened to Becket’s remains? Nobody really knows, and that mystery is a key part of the plot of Unlawful Things.

So I was excited to see that Saint Thomas Becket’s remains are back in the news – or at least, his blood-stained tunic is. The tunic was given to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, some 50 years before the shrine at Canterbury was destroyed. The basilica will loan the relic to Canterbury for an exhibition to mark 850 years since the saint’s death, in 2020.

Two years ago, a sliver of his elbow joint toured Britain, attracting crowds. When I started to write Unlawful Things, I wondered if modern Britain would be in the slightest bit interested in what had happened to the saint’s remains. Happily, it looks as if Becket can still pull a crowd, eight centuries after his death.

But what does Thomas Becket have to do with Christopher Marlowe, modern day London and Unlawful Things? Sorry, you’ll have to read the book to find out!