Glasgow Gliterary Lunch, 4th June 2026

The Ending Writes Itself
Evelyn Clarke

The Author(s)

It was a dark and stormy night when Number One Sunday Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab proposed an absurd idea to longtime friend and screenwriter Cat Clarke: that they should write a book together. V had made quite a name for herself, with more than twenty books, including the Shades of Magic series, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, but had sworn she’d never co-write a novel, let alone one without fantasy. While Cat, following a tumultuous career as an editor and the author of several YA novels, including Girlhood and Entangled, had fled the publishing industry to work in the even more tumultuous film industry, swearing she’d never return to books.

And yet, fate –and an irresistible idea – made liars of them both. That night Evelyn Clarke was born.

The Book

World-famous author Arthur Fletch is dead. His final novel, the most anticipated book in history, remains unfinished. But the ending won’t write itself. When six struggling authors are invited to Fletch’s private Scottish island and presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, the plot thickens: whoever writes a worthy ending will receive a game-changing book deal and two million dollars.

Why have they been chosen to attend? Who is behind the invitation? And just how far would they go to secure a place on the bestseller list?

They have just seventy-two hours, a typewriter and a blank page. All they have to do is write…

Starting is often the hardest part. But getting to the end could be murder.

Praise for Evelyn Clarke

“Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None meets Yellowface, this is a quirky murder mystery full of quirky characters and satisfying twists. Great fun!”  Kate Mosse

Daughterhood
Alison Irvine

The Author

ALISON IRVINE, born in London to Antipodean parents, moved to Glasgow in 2005 for an MLitt in Creative Writing, where she earned a distinction.

Her debut novel, This Road is Red, was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book of the Year award. A member of the Recollective artist collective, she writes widely published fiction and non-fiction.

Alison lives in Glasgow with her family and trains carers in shared reading for people with dementia.

The Book

Nina Polmont has turned into her own worst auditor.

The on-off ex is out, her sister is back from New Zealand and her step-daughter has come home. At the same time her parents’ marriage is falling apart, her niece has estranged herself and the music teacher who broke her heart thirty years ago suddenly wants to see her. Add hormones. Add night sweats. Add desire. And add the sinking feeling that she has made a catastrophic mess of her life. Is it ever too late to start again?

As past desires clash with new obligations and a midlife surge of rebellion and regret takes over, Nina tries to work out who has betrayed her more – her sister or her heart.

Praise for Alison Irvine

“…Alison Irvine does for Glasgow what Irvine Welsh has done for Edinburgh – imagining a city through its fringes, fearlessly and without frills…. the reader can hear a town talking on every page.” – The Herald on The Road is Red.