Last night we celebrated the official launch of Sanctuary, Tom Gaisford's debut novel. Family, friends, ex-colleagues, esteemed actors and prominent journalists gathered in the Lucky Jim's bar in basement of Waterstones on Tottenham Court Road. 

Tom spent most of the evening signing copies, something he'll have to  get used to, after he'd spoken about how and why he came to write the book, leaning heavily on George Orwell's classic essay, Why I Write'. He also handed out deserved tongue in cheek awards to his wonderfully patient wife, Sarra, and mum, Sue Gaisford.

Helen Lacey of Bath Publishing/Cinto Press also announced Tom is currently working on a sequel so watch this space, there is more to come!

On the same day as the launch, Tom was profiled in The Times Law pages which is also well worth a read.

Our author of Between The Lies, Louise Tickle, scored a crucial victory for open court reporting the other week.

Louise, and fellow journalist Hannah Summers, had made an application in the family courts for the release of documents relating to the terrible events around the death of Sara Sharif.

When the pair attended a hearing in mid-December they were astonished to hear the judge impose restrictions on naming the judges involved in earlier court decisions about whether Sara should be returned to her parents. The whole episode is much better told by Louise on The Observer but in short Louise and Hannah ended up trying to reverse the decision in the Court of Appeal, an appeal they won on all three grounds.

The case was important as it was thought to be the first time there had been an order preventing the naming of judges involved in court proceedings, a move which could have made it harder for journalists to report on the circumstances behind critical decisions made about the safety of children. 

The challenges of reporting from court inspired Louise's first novel, the psychological thriller Between The Lies, and the theme runs through the sequel, Tainted Love, due this Autumn. 

What advice would you give to someone with a great idea for a novel but no idea where to begin?
 
Tough one - as the novelist Joanna Briscoe wrote in The i Paper recently, ‘There are no rules to creative writing’ - but here goes:

1. Back yourself.
2. Begin anywhere at all – ideally, perhaps, at the moment just before everything begins to change for your protagonist.
3. As you write, follow Ray Bradbury’s advice: ‘don’t think!’  
4. Write somewhere with few distractions and indulge your imagination.
5. Write something every day if possible, and try not to read over what you’ve written until you have a finished (albeit shoddy) manuscript. 
6. Shelve it for a few weeks and pour yourself something nice.
7. Read some books on writing/storytelling and note any pearls of wisdom that you sense might help you to improve your draft (among the best I’ve read are A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders, Into the Woods by John Yorke, and Story Genius by Lisa Cron).
8. Edit, revise or even rewrite your manuscript.
9. When you’re (more or less) happy with it, share it with one or two trusted readers whose judgement you respect. Ask them to be critical but to tell you what they like too. Listen carefully to their criticism, but decide for yourself how you might want to implement it.
10. Repeat stages 8-9 and season to taste.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read (other than yours, of course)?
 
The honest answer is I couldn’t tell you. I read widely and find lots to love in most things. On the list, however, would have to be John Fowles’s genre-defying The Magus, described by Eliot Fremont-Smith’s in the (1966) NYT as ‘…at once a pyrotechnical extravaganza, a wild, hilarious charade, a dynamo of suspense and horror, a profoundly serious probing into the nature of moral consciousness, a dizzying, electrifying chase through the labyrinth of the soul, an allegorical romance, a sophisticated account of modern love, a ghost story that will send shivers racing down the spine...’
 
Among the novels/novellas that I have read and admired recently are Foster by Claire Keegan, Orbital by Samantha Harvey, The Other Hand by Chris Cleave, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid and The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard. To those I would add Ben Hinshaw’s linked short stories, Exactly What You Mean, and Anthony Gardner’s book of poems, The Moss in Lanthwaite Wood.
 
In terms of non-fiction, I’ve just read No Somos Parte Del Mundo (We Are Not Part of the World), Soraya Nárez’s fascinating account of her upbringing as a Jehova’s witness and her expulsion from the group, and Jane Monkton Smith’s equally insightful In Control: Dangerous Relationships and How They End in Murder.

Publishing has become a saturated market and the ease of self-publishing has only exacerbated this. What do you think makes a book stand out from the crowd?

That’s a great question. Paradoxically, I suspect that what makes a book stand out is often the same thing that makes some publishers apprehensive about signing it: originality. All the more reason to stick to your guns, follow your heart and write the book you want to write (you are quite literally the only person who can…).

Give me a brief ‘day-in-the-life’ during your peak writing time.
 
I’m not sure I have a peak writing time as such; I take any moment I can to write and in periods of inspiration, it becomes hard to think about much else…
 
I think and write best first thing in the morning, which could be a hangover from the Bar. As a barrister I would regularly get up at 4:30am and be in chambers an hour later - or on a train to one of the many far-flung immigration courts scattered around the country. I’d use that time to absorb information, research, draft an argument, think about how I was going to present my case, handle witnesses, et cetera. Then, often, I would do the same thing the next day on a different case – and so on. It could be brutal at times, but it taught me a different level of concentration and, it transpires, to hold lots of storylines in my head at the same time…
 
Which author do you admire the most?

So hard. Claire Keegan would be up there, as would Jenny Erpenbeck. More than anything, I’m drawn to stories with heart. I recently read a beautiful short story by Benito Lynch, ‘The Sorrel Colt’, in which ostensibly little happens (but tell that to its young protagonist to whom the pony is everything). On the lighter side, I’m a big fan of Anthony Horowitz’s metafiction, Alex Michaelides’s twisty thrillers and…I must stop; there are too many wonderful authors to choose from - and I’ve limited myself to the living!

Now you can say you’re an author, which profession do you prefer: immigration lawyer or author?

I love these questions. Every career has its pros and cons. I don’t miss neglecting my young family to mug up on cases, travel all over the country, etc, though I do miss the cut and thrust of courtroom advocacy, the intellectual jousting, the camaraderie with colleagues and the privilege of representing vulnerable, often fascinating clients.
 
But I wouldn’t trade the creative and intellectual freedom I have as a fiction writer. On a subliminal level at least, I’ve always known that I would write books. The difference today is that I have a better understanding of the intrinsic, aesthetic and persuasive value of art – something I owe in large part to my sister, the artist Molly Gaisford, who some years ago pulled me up on my failure to see it.

You can invite five famous people for a dinner party, dead or alive. Who do you choose and why?

Easy:
 
Sir Lenny Henry, in character as Delbert Wilkins. I used to love watching the Lenny Henry Show with my (magnificent and equally silly) late Dad in the 80s and I still remember lines such as – if memory serves - ‘Winston, don’t touch! Three million silk worms DIED to make this jacket!’
 
Professor Janja Lalich, the American sociologist. I’d love to talk to her about her experience of belonging to a cult, her escape and transition into academia, her compelling theory of ‘bounded choice’ - and anything else she cared to talk about. 
 
The flamenco ‘cantaor’, Camarón de la Isla (RIP), and his guitarist, Tomatito. Of course, they’d be invited to play for us. And when, perhaps, Sir Lenny and Professor Lalich were deep in private chat, I’d ask them all about their lives growing up in Andalusia and their best moments performing together.
 
Finally, to document the evening’s proceedings, I would invite Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk.
 
You are stranded on a deserted island, what four books do you wish you had with you?

In addition to The Complete Works of Shakespeare?
 
Poetas Del 27, an anthology of poetry from the so-called ‘Generation of 1927’ (which includes the likes of Lorca, Alberti, Salinas, Cernuda, et cetera). It’s a thing of rare beauty, replete with musicality and wisdom.
 
The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grosssmith - a classic work of humour, which will always remind me of my dear parents.  
 
Don Quixote, which I have only recently begun reading and is proving every bit as glorious and funny as its billing; indeed, it might be the best book I’ve ever (not yet) read.
 
The SAS Survival Handbook, first edition, given to me by my late godfather, John Zulver, for my (10th?) birthday.

Tell me a surprising fact about yourself.

Before my hair deserted me, I was often mistaken for Chris Martin of Coldplay and sometimes found it hard to disabuse fans of their misbelief. Once, for instance, I performed an a cappella song for some fans I met in the football stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad. I carried the tune just about, but had to get quite creative with the lyrics.

If you could write your second novel anywhere in the world, where would you be?

Here on Guernsey with my beloved wife and our beautiful young daughters - only in a custom-made summer house in the garden, with soundproofing and a bouncer on the door to field questions about, say, Zog’s wing-to-body ratio, how Father Christmas knows when kids have been naughty if he’s not omnipresent, et cetera.
 
Alternatively, I’d be in the Alpujarra mountains, Granada, or in Greece or the Caribbean, where I was lucky enough to do a legal internship in my late twenties.

Read Part One of Tom's Q&A here. Sanctuary is available for pre-order here.

​Last night we celebrated the release of Louise Tickle’s debut novel, and our first fiction title, at the Tortoise Media offices in London. Journalists, lawyers, authors, friends, family, colleagues and more gathered to hear Louise in discussion with Sonia Sodha, chief leader writer and columnist at The Observer.

As well as reading a short excerpt, Louise was quizzed by Sonia on the ongoing challenges facing the family justice system, the barriers to reporting and the harm this heaps on families. This theme is a thread through the novel, a gripping thriller exposing a system that re-abuses victims of domestic violence. 

The whole fascinating session was recorded by the team and Tortoise and you can watch it on YouTube the talk here: Louise Tickle Debut Novel Launch - YouTube

It’s great to see coverage in The Bookseller, announcing the forthcoming début novel from Louise Tickle, and the first book officially published under Cinto Press, the new imprint of Bath Publishing which will house books for the general reader.
Between the Lies follows Cherry Magraw, a freelance journalist investigating domestic abuse and the secret world of the family courts. Cherry’s troubling past starts to become entangled with her work and plunges her into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. The book is inspired by Louise’s own award-winning journalism within the family courts, reporting on domestic abuse and child protection.

Between the Lies will be published on 19 October 2023. Pre-order now for free UK P&P.
​
Read the article on The Bookseller here.