Leeds Gliterary Lunch with Kate Williams & Elise Valmorbida

The House of Shadows by Kate Williams

The Author

Kate Williams is an author, social historian and broadcaster. The Storms of War, her first novel in the De Witt trilogy, was widely acclaimed, reviewed as ‘spellbinding, gripping and beautiful’. Kate writes for a vast range of magazines and newspapers and regularly appears on radio and TV to comment on royal events, topical history and arts stories. Kate’s BBC 2 Timewatch special on ‘Young Victoria’, based on Becoming Queen, was acclaimed by the Guardian as ‘telly history at its best’ and received

over 2.2 milllion viewers.

Praise for Kate Williams

This terrific saga comes with a fascinating twist … Williams has a gift for showing how great movements in history affect the lives of people caught up in them. The Times

The Book

Celia De Witt is half-German, half-English and heir to her family’s vast fortune. But it is 1929, the world is changing and her life seems less secure than ever. A shocking revelation from her father sends her far from England and the life she knew and headlong into New York, a city brimming with money and promise.

Celia sets about saving the family firm by creating an innovative new range of convenience foods for the new generation of independent young women. But she also has other plans. The son she thought was dead is in America and the man she once thought she loved is nearby.  As the shadow of war once again threatens to fall across Europe, Celia must decide whether to open the Pandora’s Box of the past and risk other secrets escaping.

The Madonna of the Mountains by Elise Valmorbida

The Author

Elise Valmorbida grew up Italian in Australia but fell in love with London. She is the author of acclaimed literary novels Matilde Waltzing, The TV President and The Winding Stick. An award-winning indie film producer, she wrote SAXON—the Making of a Guerrilla Film. Other non-fiction includes The Book of Happy Endings.

Praise for Elise Valmorbida

A bewitching, but entirely unsentimental portrait of one woman’s attempt to keep her family safe in turbulent times.  The Times BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Book

It is 1923 and Maria Vittoria is embroidering a sheet for her dowry trunk.  Her father has gone to find her a husband, taking his mule, a photograph and a pack of food. There are no eligible men in this valley or the next one, and her father will not let her marry just anyone.

Despite Maria’s years, she is still healthy. Her betrothed will see all that. He’ll be looking for a woman who can do the work. And the Lord knows Maria will need to be able to work. Fascism blooms as crops ripen, the state craves babies just as the babies cry for food. Maria faces a stony path, but one she will surely climb to the summit.

In this sumptuous and elegant novel you will taste the bigoli co l’arna, touch the mulberry leaves cut finer than organdie, and feel the strain of one woman attempting to keep her family safe in the most dangerous of times.

Bookings

If you would like tickets for a Gliterary Lunch, simply download and print off the Gliterary Lunch Order Form 2018 for completion and return it to us.  You can either send a cheque made payable to Gliterary Lunches or to pay online, please request an invoice. Confirmation of your booking will be sent out to you along with information about the menu, table planning and how to pre-order wine and books if required.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to call us on 07525 791454 or email [email protected]