Award-winning writer, Chris Cleave, will be introducing his latest novel, Everyone Brave is Forgiven, an instant New York Times bestseller when it was published earlier this year.
Set in London and Malta during the Second World War and inspired by the wartime endeavours of his grandparents, this extraordinary novel reveals some of the remarkable stories experienced by real people on the home front and on the front line.
Chris Cleave reveals:
“I was lucky enough to have over 1,000 pages of letters written between my grandparents during their long separation by the war, so I had an incredible resource that let me understand the developing psychology of the period 1939-42. I began to realise that the extraordinary wartime generation were actually just like us – quite ordinary to begin with – and that bravery was a muscle that they only developed through regular use.”
Some of the most poignant parts of the book are set in Malta and his grandfather’s experience of this largely forgotten war affected him profoundly. Chris says:
“My grandfather David exemplified this courage gained through endurance, and because he was also such a kind and funny man, he was a natural subject for me when I wanted to chart that generation’s journey into bravery.”
See the full and exclusive interview with Chris Cleave when Lit Up caught up with him on their website www.litup.org.uk.
Chris Cleave appears at Toll Gavel Church on Wednesday 12 October at 7.30pm. Tickets £7 / £6
Tickets available from the Lit Up box office (01482 392699), online at www.litup.org.uk or in person at Beverley Library.
