An Evening with Angela Tomaski

Join author Rachel Bower, in conversation with bookshop manager Mike about her gloriously offbeat debut novel, The Infamous Gilberts.

Date: Thursday, 7 May

Time: 7-8.30pm

Tickets: £7

Tickets can be purchased in the shop or here via Eventbrite.

Refreshments will be served.

Our Guest

Angela Tomaski was born in Oxford and raised in Somerset with her four brothers and sisters. She has had a variety of different jobs, including as a waitress, cleaner, English teacher and activity coordinator in a care home. She has a daughter and two grandsons, and now lives in rural Dorset with an old dog and the ghost of a cat.

About The Infamous Gilberts:

‘We shall be forgotten.’ he said. ‘We shall be lost. They will scrub us away like a set of dirty fingerprints on a plastic kettle.’
The crumbling Gothic mansion of Thornwalk, long-term home of the Gilbert family, is being handed over to a chain of luxury ‘historic’ hotels. Millions will be spent in its restoration. But for every so-called improvement, what will be lost? What value can there possibly be in a threadbare carpet, a tarnished spoon and a thousand empty jam jars?
Before the hotel people arrive, with their clipboards and their skips and their bottles of bleach, Maximus, loyal guardian of the Gilberts’ legacy, invites us on a final tour of the once-stately home, where each room holds a secret. From the bolt on the blue room door to the tiny dents in the bars at the nursery window… these are the keys that will unlock the lives of the five fatherless Gilbert children.
A frustrated romantic, a stubborn traditionalist, a dreamer, a diva and an explorer: The Infamous Gilberts will be cast adrift on the irresistible tides of the twentieth century, buoyed by love, buffeted by loss, and tangled together in an unputdownable story where the lines between eccentricity and madness, cruelty and love become hilariously, heartbreakingly blurred.
Reviews:

'Completely captivating: I absolutely loved it. A compelling, ingenious, mischievous blend of tragedy, comedy and intrigue.' (Nina Stibbe)

‘Vivid, poignant, hilarious and tragic: the most rewarding and beautiful novel I've read in ages.' (Barbara Trapido)

'A family saga like no other. Gloriously off-beat, darkly comedic and totally bewitching. A bravura performance.' (Sarah Winman0

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Host or Publisher The Grove Bookshop