One of Louise Wener's favourite books.
When asked on Desert Island Discs how and why he “writes women so extraordinarily well”, Faulks replied: “we are now allowed to admit I think - those wars having been fought and won - that there are small but significant differences between most men and most women. And one of the more interesting ones to play around with is the idea that men don't really inspect in a continuous way their inner lives and feelings and the development of their states of mind - whereas women tend to keep a more running audit. And it seems to me that this gives some dramatic possibility to a novelist."
This is why if you saw and were disappointed by the film that this book inspired, you should give the printed word a go. Faulks has a remarkable ability to get inside people’s heads and write stories that evolve through people’s thoughts as well as actions – and this is the story of Charlotte Gray and why it is such a good book.
July 2009 Guest Editor Louise Wener on Charlotte Gray by SEBASTIAN FAULKS
This is a wonderful book. A haunting story of love and war set in London and occupied France in 1942-3. It's an intensely moving and passionate novel, full of insight into the way ordinary people can so easily slip into barbarism. Tremendously effecting, it has stayed with me since I first read it some years ago. On top of the gorgeous and provocative writing, the narrative is utterly gripping and sustaining.
| Primary Genre | Literary Fiction |
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