GEORGINA CLARKE chats to Jenna Gordon about her new historical crime novel THE DAZZLE OF THE LIGHT, the post WWI landscape in 1920, the Forty Thieves, historical accuracy, reflecting on the present through the past - the role of women, class & inequality, dressmaking and Halloween cocktails
THE DAZZLE OF THE LIGHT: Ruby Mills is ruthlessly ambitious, strikingly beautiful - and one of the Forty Thieves' most talented members.
Harriet Littlemore writes the women's section in a local newspaper. She's from a 'good' London family and engaged to an up-and-coming Member of Parliament - but she wants a successful career of her own.
After witnessing Ruby fleeing the scene of a robbery, Harriet develops a fascination with the elusive young thief that extends beyond journalistic interest. As their personal aspirations bring them into closer contact than society's rules usually allow, Ruby and Harriet's stories become increasingly intertwined.
Their magnetic dynamic, fraught with envy and desire, tells a compulsive, cinematic story about class, morality and the cost of being an independent woman in 1920s London.
Georgina Clarke has a degree in theology and completed a PhD in history part-time, while working as a parish priest. Her love of the past is at the heart of her fiction: her Lizzie Hardwicke crime series (published by Canelo) is set in the mid-eighteenth century, and her latest novel - The Dazzle of the Light - unfolds in 1920s London and is inspired by the real-life activities of the women-led Forty Thieves crime syndicate. In 2021, Georgina began working as a tutor at The Queen’s Foundation in Birmingham, training clergy. When she's not working, she enjoys dressmaking, running and mooching around old houses She lives in Worcester with her husband, son and two lively cats.
Recommendations
Jane Harper The Dry, The Lost Man
Diane Setterfield Once Upon a River
Clare Chambers Small Pleasures
Produced by Junkyard Dog
Music courtesy of Southgate and Leigh
Crime Time
Jenna Gordon joined VERVE Books in an editorial capacity in 2020. She works remotely from Scotland and is a voracious reader of compulsive, character-driven fiction. Aside from books, her other loves include podcasts, long walks, spin classes, TV dramas with 6-10 episodes, red wine and cats.
Paul Burke writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2022 .
Produced by Junkyard Dog
Crime Time
Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023
& Newcastle Noir 2023
2024 Slaughterfest, National Crime Reading Month, CWA Daggers
GEORGINA CLARKE chats to Jenna Gordon about her new historical crime novel THE DAZZLE OF THE LIGHT, the post WWI landscape in 1920, the Forty Thieves, historical accuracy, reflecting on the present through the past - the role of women, class & inequality, dressmaking and Halloween cocktails
THE DAZZLE OF THE LIGHT: Ruby Mills is ruthlessly ambitious, strikingly beautiful - and one of the Forty Thieves' most talented members.
Harriet Littlemore writes the women's section in a local newspaper. She's from a 'good' London family and engaged to an up-and-coming Member of Parliament - but she wants a successful career of her own.
After witnessing Ruby fleeing the scene of a robbery, Harriet develops a fascination with the elusive young thief that extends beyond journalistic interest. As their personal aspirations bring them into closer contact than society's rules usually allow, Ruby and Harriet's stories become increasingly intertwined.
Their magnetic dynamic, fraught with envy and desire, tells a compulsive, cinematic story about class, morality and the cost of being an independent woman in 1920s London.
Georgina Clarke has a degree in theology and completed a PhD in history part-time, while working as a parish priest. Her love of the past is at the heart of her fiction: her Lizzie Hardwicke crime series (published by Canelo) is set in the mid-eighteenth century, and her latest novel - The Dazzle of the Light - unfolds in 1920s London and is inspired by the real-life activities of the women-led Forty Thieves crime syndicate. In 2021, Georgina began working as a tutor at The Queen’s Foundation in Birmingham, training clergy. When she's not working, she enjoys dressmaking, running and mooching around old houses She lives in Worcester with her husband, son and two lively cats.
Recommendations
Jane Harper The Dry, The Lost Man
Diane Setterfield Once Upon a River
Clare Chambers Small Pleasures
Produced by Junkyard Dog
Music courtesy of Southgate and Leigh
Crime Time
Jenna Gordon joined VERVE Books in an editorial capacity in 2020. She works remotely from Scotland and is a voracious reader of compulsive, character-driven fiction. Aside from books, her other loves include podcasts, long walks, spin classes, TV dramas with 6-10 episodes, red wine and cats.
Paul Burke writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2022 .
Produced by Junkyard Dog
Crime Time
Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023
& Newcastle Noir 2023
2024 Slaughterfest, National Crime Reading Month, CWA Daggers