News

The best corrective to a disappointing paucity of coverage in the ever-contracting mainstream books pages is to read reactions from real readers. The latest 5 star review on Amazon is such a cracker that I’m reproducing it here in full. Thank you, Mr A Skinner of London!

‘I am astonished that this highly intelligent and beautifully written book has not achieved a much higher profile, and critical acclaim. It has a great deal to say about life, love and relationships, but says it in a quiet, unshouty, reasonable way. I was also astonished that it was written by a man. This is essentially a story about two complex and intelligent women, and, to my masculine ear at least, sounds true in every word. I would be very interested to hear the female perspective of the writing and the characters.
I only discovered it by accident, lurking quietly in a pre-Christmas interview with book publishers, about which books they wished they had published in 2016. It deserves a very wide audience, and I have been recommending it to all my friends, who have any interest in quality literature.’

Returning to print after a break of some nine years, it has been sobering how tough it is for a new literary novel to gain attention. Since I was last published, books pages in the press have shrunk markedly, and the sheer volume of titles appearing overwhelms the space available. It has been interesting and heartening, then, to find Sister Sebastian’s Library nosing its way into the light in a number of places. A surge in sales followed a profile of me in the British Medical Journal, published the same weekend that the Guardian included the book in a round-up of titles that might have received greater initial attention. Most pleasing of all, though, was Buckinghamshire libraries’ inclusion of Sister Sebastian’s Library as one of their ‘hidden gems’ of 2016.

The world of literature has a striking number of novelists who are also doctors. You can read my recently published Guardian article exploring the link between literature and medicine here.

It’s always a bit nerve-wracking, waiting to see what reviews might come in. Today saw publication of the first review in the national press, the Daily Mail describing Sister Sebastian’s Library as a ‘gripping, evocative novel’, and praising its tackling ‘big ideas such as the complex relationship between faith and identity’. The reviewer wasn’t entirely on board with the ending, which, beyond a ‘tantalising suggestion of rebirth’, is left open – some people like their stories neatly wrapped up, but literary fiction is the place where art can most closely emulate real life, something the novel deliberates tries to do. You can read the full review here, just below the write up for Rachel Cusk’s new novel (which also sounds a cracker!)

Phil’s latest novel, Sister Sebastian’s Library, is out today, released by the fantastic indie publishers, Salt. The book is available in all good bookshops, or you can place an order online today.

Phil’s fifth novel, Sister Sebastian’s Library is published by Salt on 15 September 2016 and can be ordered now from all good bookshops and bookselling websites. News and updates will be posted here following publication, so do check back!