Books for Readers and Writers

By Annette Rey

I know it’s not possible to know everything, but I think it’s a shame a lifetime can go by and a person can miss so much. I only just came across this author who has been writing for decades. And I wouldn’t have found him except for a fluke (see my post Writers, Go to Your Library).

To me, there are three amazing facts about my discovery of this writer, Alan Bradley.

1) His sleuth protagonist is an eleven year old female, Flavia de Luce. I believed these stories would be YA (young adult) and not something I would be interested in reading. But after reading a sample, I was a hooked adult.

2) Reading his writing is a major tutorial for writers who want to see some of the best figurative writing to learn from and only hope they can emulate.

3) The reading of his writing is a true joy. The descriptions place the reader smack dab in the rural locale, Bishop’s Lacey, 1950s England. The characters are alive; their interactions are believable; the author employs numerous red herrings and it’s hard to tell which of the many characters (besides Flavia’s family) is going to be crucial to the denouement.

4) The author is a master at juggling a dozen scenes, a dozen possible guilty characters – that skill makes him a writer’s master artist! He meshes all of them so well into his stories and they are developed characters you can picture and feel you know with very little exposure. He has the ability to choose just the right descriptive words and conveys so much in fewer words.

We will long for more of his work and miss his creations when he can no longer supply us with his genius.

I wish I could personally thank Mr. Bradley. He has given me many gifts; he has turned words into places and people and has helped me better understand human interactions – familial, strange, spooky – he has given me many enjoyable hours and I’m just scratching his surface.

Thank you, Mr. Bradley. Your work is king.

Check him out. He is an award winning author.