Hame

A literary detective story uncovering the past of a reclusive poet, as a mother and daughter make a new life on a remote Scottish island.

This searching and eloquent novel muses on identity, love and belonging.

Hame treads a line between light-hearted satire and a discussion on notions of home and belonging… A hugely entertaining, roller-coaster of a ride through poetry and language

Richly textured… The emotional complexity of the writing matches the landscape of the island and its surroundings.

There are joyful winks and allusions everywhere... an affectionate rebuke to Scots nationalists who pretend that questions of national identity are straightforward... 'hame' isn't so much where you're born, as where you hing yer bunnet'

Real historical figures interact with the fictional ones, blurring the book’s boundaries. It’s an immersive world, from smoky pubs in 1960s Edinburgh, filled with arguing poets, to the lovely descriptions of the island of Fascaray... Settle in your own home and explore.

Ultimately, Hame is a novel about identity; both with specific regard to Scottish character and nationalism and to broader questions of how we attach ourselves to people over place, or vice versa, and of how we construct our personal life stories.

Exploration of the idea that identity is a creative construct, not just the product of geography, but the imagination.

Hame is a sweet and quaint novel, full of just-in-time revelations and obvious fondness.

Hame is an ambitious and multi-layered tome… McAfee’s attention to detail is remarkable. She covers great swathes of history and goes to enormous lengths to flesh out even minor characters… McAfee’s deadpan humour means much of the book is wryly amusing.

If Hame often comes over like a more cheerful version of a Sarah Moss novel, it’s also sneakily political at a time when a hard Brexit dangles the prospect of a Great British break-up… Be careful what you wish for – or at least how you wish for it – seems to be the message; but while Hame’s pivotal revelation first lands with the force of a raspberry blown in the face of nationalism, it’s typical of the novel’s generosity that it finally feels like more of a kiss.

A clever patchwork blanket of narratives… It’s very convincing, despite being entirely fictional.

Partly a gentle satire and partly a genuine celebration of Scotland written by the London-born daughter of Scottish parents, Hame is written with wit and intelligence.

Annalena McAfee is the author of two novels, The Spoiler and Hame. She founded the Guardian Review, which she edited for six years, and was Arts and Literary Editor of the Financial Times.

Hame, n. Scottish form of ‘home’: a valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin 
 
After her relationship breaks down, Mhairi McPhail dismantles her life in New York and moves with her nine-year-old daughter, Agnes, to the remote Scottish island of Fascaray to write the biography of Grigor McWatt, the late Bard of Fascaray. 
 
But who was the cantankerous Grigor McWatt? Despite his international reputation, details of his past are elusive. As Mhairi struggles to adapt to her new life she begins to unearth the astonishing secret history of the poet regarded by many as the custodian of Fascaray’s – and Scotland’s – soul.

The Spoiler

She'd do anything for a story - a darkly funny and compelling novel about a young female tabloid journalist desperate to further her career.

A wonderfully entertaining comedy of manners about the dying days of Fleet Street and the cult of celebrity... The Spoiler is a clever, literary romp with flashes of Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding... A darkly, deliciously witty read

Brilliant ... It grips from the first with verbal polish and razor-sharp satire

Masterful... a strikingly entertaining and accomplished novel

A wily, insightful and engaging book about human nature... McAfee has an excellent eye for detail and a wry comic touch... The Spoiler has a cracking plot, alive with twists and turns and meaning

Extremely funny and sharply observed... Seizes the noble tradition of the Journalism Novel and rings some delightful changes on it

Tightly written and pacy. The central characters are believable, the setting exact, and one would defy the reader not to feel contained, held, by the professionalism and dexterity of the author

A clever satire, set in 1997, about the last days of Fleet Street... Darkly entertaining

A wide-ranging, energetic satire on what used to be called Fleet Street

When high meets lowbrow, comedy ensues, but McAfee's novel is not without serious intent. She deftly peels away her characters' pretensions, forcing readers to examine their own prejudices.

McAfee is a superlative writer and plotter...McAfee has produced a locus classicus of Fleet Street

[A] satirical debut about the newspaper business

A cutting, hilarious portrait of British print journalism... An entirely human story that brilliantly recreates and analyses the recent past

Those gripped by the escalating News International scandal might enjoy the latest newspaper novel Annalena McAfee's The Spoiler

authentic, entertaining and draws on her own experience as an arts journalist

The Spoiler - set in the halcyon days before phone hacking - was one of the funniest and sharpest fleet street novels in years.

McAfee - herself a former journalist - evokes two distinct eras and styles of journalism, that of fearless frontline reportage and that of its successor: style-oriented, celebrity-obsessed features coverage... This is a pacy read that leaves little doubt in the reader's mind that one school of journalism deserves more mourning than the other

Marvellous satire...the novel is cunningly plotted and satisfyingly nuanced

If the peek into the world of newspaper journalism afforded by the Leveson inquiry has you gasping for more, then this timely paperback release is perfect...a fiendishly funny (and frighteningly plausible) world of fiddled expenses and suspect tactics

Thoroughly enjoyable behind-the-scenes expose of an ambitious celebrity journalist's attempt to nail the scoop of her life

This is the paperback edition. The hardback appeared before the News Corporation bosses were dragged into the Commons. McAfee was either very prescient or close to the action, holding her fictional hacks to account for printing false stories gleaned from disreputable sources

Annalena McAfee worked in newspapers for more than three decades. She was Arts and Literary Editor of the Financial Times and founded the Guardian Review, which she edited for six years.

Tamara Sim, a ruthlessly ambitious young journalist, is thrilled when she is sent to interview veteran war correspondent Honor Tait. Finally - a chance for Tamara to prove that there's more to her than forged expenses claims and the 'what's in/what's out' column she churns out for her tabloid. But Honor isn't an easy subject; cold and evasive to the point of rudeness, it's almost as if she has something to hide. And when Tamara starts to do some digging (not all of it strictly legal) she makes a discovery which has devastating consequences for them both... 
 
In The Spoiler, the former literary editor of the Financial Times and the Guardian offers a first hand glimpse into the world of British journalism.

Annalena McAfee

Nightshade is a glorious novel... full of twisted sexuality, art and power, about what it means to commit yourself entirely to the artistic life. The book's ending is unforgettable.

The drama of creation, of impending triumph or failure, and the expert rendering of the artistic process, all lift the novel to a new level...McAfee’s prose is lyrical yet sharp… the novel fascinates…and Nightshade’s questions continue to intrigue.

McAfee’s engaging novel combines a dark plot with a zestful skewering of the contemporary art world.

Eve is a fascinating, plausible creation, both alluring and monstrous in her all-consuming self-regard.

[A] pacy tale of marital breakdown on the London art scene… Eve is an engagingly spiky anti-heroine.

Annalena McAfee brings a woman’s art to such vivid life that the reader is drawn thrillingly into its creation. Art is no mere device in this novel, it is its beating heart. A lush and original novel.

Beautifully written, engrossing and provides insights into both the contemporary art scene and the individual artistic process. I loved each and every brushstroke

'Engrossing...I loved each and every brushstroke' Ian Rankin 
 
'Nightshade is a glorious novel... full of twisted sexuality, art and power' Observer 
 
Could the creative urge be the most destructive - even the deadliest - impulse of all? Could it end in death? 
 
Eve Laing, once the muse of an infamous painter, is now - forty years later - an artist herself. But she has sacrificed her career for her family. She resents the global success of her old college roommate. She is slowly unravelling. 
 
When Eve embarks on her most ambitious work yet, she takes a wrecking ball to her comfortable life, jettisoning her marriage for a beautiful young lover who seems to share her single-minded creative vision. 
 
 This timely novel explores sexual politics, asking if the true artist must relinquish the ordinary human need for love and connection to pave the way for desire and ambition, leading to a fatal awakening...

Nightshade

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Annalena McAfee

Praise for Nightshade

Nightshade is a glorious novel... full of twisted sexuality, art and power, about what it means to commit yourself entirely to the artistic life. The book's ending is unforgettable.

Brilliant and biting.

The drama of creation, of impending triumph or failure, and the expert rendering of the artistic process, all lift the novel to a new level...McAfee’s prose is lyrical yet sharp… the novel fascinates…and N ...

Nightshade is a glorious novel... full of twisted sexuality, art and power, about what it means to commit yourself entirely to the artistic life. The book's ending is unforgettable.

Brilliant and biting.

The drama of creation, of impending triumph or failure, and the expert rendering of the artistic process, all lift the novel to a new level...McAfee’s prose is lyrical yet sharp… the novel fascinates…and N ...

Nightshade is a glorious novel... full of twisted sexuality, art and power, about what it means to commit yourself entirely to the artistic life. The book's ending is unforgettable.

Brilliant and biting.

The drama of creation, of impending triumph or failure, and the expert rendering of the artistic process, all lift the novel to a new level...McAfee’s prose is lyrical yet sharp… the novel fascinates…and N ...

Books by Annalena McAfee

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