I am the author of three novels: The Words in My Hand (2016), The Year Without Summer (2020), Privilege (2022). All are available from your local bookseller, bookshop.org and other online retailers.
Privilege:
‘ . . . quirky and well-written. A novel of ideas.’ The Times, 28th May 2022.
‘. . . conjures up a society in which written words can be as dangerous as deeds.’ Sunday Times, 22nd May 2022.
‘Among historical novelists, Glasfurd rides high . . .’
FT Weekend, 14th May 2022
‘Glasfurd deftly, elegantly captures this volatile world of impoverished attic rooms and gilded literary salons, where ideas are incendiary and words have the power to kill.’ Daily Mail, 6th May 2022
‘Marvellous . . . fans of immersive historical fiction, the 18th century, all things French and a dash of peril, this one’s for you.’ ― Emily Brand, author of THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF BYRON
‘A wonderfully engaging novel which reminds us why the freedom to write without fear of persecution remains a privilege which we must always defend.’ Alice Jolly
‘Set in eighteenth century France, Privilege takes us into the vividly dramatic world of Delphine, self-taught and rebellious, who is effectively orphaned by her father’s arrest. In Paris she meets Chancery, a naive Scottish printer’s apprentice who is miles out of his depth in this country where freedom of the press – for both readers and writers – is literally a burning issue. Feminism and censorship are just two of the themes that make this novel very timely in 2022. Tightly plotted and hugely readable.’
Jane Rogers, author of Mr Wroe’s Virgins and The Voyage Home.
‘. . . it’s the story of us all and our attitude to our own kind. If only we could accept others as we do ourselves; if only tolerance, care and love were our watchwords; if only we could look at a single word and realise its universe, how content we would be . . . this is an adventure of all of us and it’s up to us to see that it ends in success in the next generation and far, far beyond.’
Bookseller, Topping’s, Ely.
Privilege is a picaresque story, filled with adventure and mishap. It takes you to the heart of book publishing and censorship in pre-revolutionary France, when a book required royal privilege before it could be published. This privilege required the sanction of the King, enforced by the Chief Censor and a network of spies. Books that fell foul of this system were censored or banned; others were published outside of France and smuggled back at great risk.
When we think of the Enlightenment, we think mostly of works by men. Privilege takes that story and turns it on its head, to reveal a very different book culture that was struggling into existence at the time. The novel carries you headlong into a world both familiar and strange: of fountains and gilded porcelain, literary salons and spies. It tells the story of Delphine Vimond, cast out from her family home after her father is disgraced. Into her life tumbles Chancery Smith, apprentice printer from London, sent to discover the mysterious author of a bundle of papers marked only D. In a battle of wits with the French censor, Henri Gilbert, Delphine and Chancery set off in a frantic search for D’s author. But will they catch-up with D before Gilbert catches up with them?
Please contact Veronique Baxter, David Higham Associates, veroniquebaxter@davidhigham.co.uk for rights information.
The Year Without Summer (2020)
My second novel, The Year Without Summer, is a novel of climate crisis, set in the aftermath of the largest volcanic eruption in modern times. A summary of the book can be found at the end of the following blog post: The Year Without Summer.
Artwork for paperback edition, 4th Feb 2021:
Longlisted Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2021.
Shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award 2020.
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Un été de neige et de cendres, (Préludes) and Les Mots Entre Mes Mains (mass market PB, Livre de Poche, 2nd September 2020).
The Words in My Hand (2016)
My debut novel The Words in My Hand, January 2016, published by Two Roads (John Murray Press). Rights have also sold in Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Serbia, Bosnia & Montenegro. An edition has been published by Hachette in Australia and New Zealand.
It was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and longlisted for the Prix du Roman FNAC.
UK:
Audio extract from HodderPod:
AUS/NZ:
In translation.
Spain:
Published by Siruela.
Serbia:
Published by Laguna, 27th December 2016.
France:
Prélude Éditions (Le Livre de Poche)
Author page: http://preludes-editions.com/les-mots-entre-mes-mains-9782253107804
Netherlands:
(LS Amsterdam)
Author page: http://www.lsamsterdam.nl/boek/de-woorden-in-haar-hand/
Germany:
(Ullstein Buchverlage)
![Glasfurd_Worte_10[3]_003-1](https://guinevereglasfurddotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/glasfurd_worte_103_003-1.jpg?w=183)
Worte in meiner Hand, Ullstein Buchverlage. Aus dem Englischen von Marion Balkenhol.
Author page: http://www.ullsteinbuchverlage.de/nc/autor/name/Guinevere-Glasfurd.html
Audiobook:
Guinevere Glasfurd 