Bookbrunch ... and books

UK publishing journalists are putting out a new trade journal BookBrunch. Cheerily it's free, at least for now. And the rights page gives news of my pal Sara Maitland, who's just sold world rights to Granta for her new book proposal Enchanted Forests, twelve retellings of fairy stories forming a third of the book, the rest an examination of the genre.
I chatted with Sara the other day, as rain continued to sweep over her cottage on the Scottish moors. Her new book A Book of Silence, out next month, is buzzing nicely ... big splashes planned in the Daily Mail and The Guardian and a spot on the national radio show Start the Week. I feel fondly proprietorial of the book, since its proposal was forged during a few days we spent together. I'm expecting it to be beautiful and hit the Christmas bestseller tables.
Another book arrived in the post today, an early proof of Jill Dawson's The Great Lover. The book, a tale spun around the life of Rupert Brooke, sprang to life in Jill's mind while we were having tea on the lawn at the Orchard Tea Rooms in Grantchester, an old Rupert Brooke haunt. I expect to delight in it, and will let you know.