I’m joined today by Adrian Harvey. Welcome Adrian – first of all, would you tell my blog readers a little about yourself?
I’m a writer, a policy person and a London-lover. I like to travel, and I especially like walking up mountains; I’m probably happiest with a half-decent bottle of wine and a plate of cheese, preferably with some sunshine and a good view. There’s probably more to me, but that seems to cover the important points.
What inspired you to start writing?
I’ve always written for work: my first book was actually something on reforming the monarchy. But it was always writing for someone else, to order, always with someone looking over my shoulder. Then in 2011, I took redundancy and – aside from some travelling – decided to see what it would be like to write fiction, to write for myself. I didn’t intend to try to get the thing published, just to see if I could get it finished. I did and I thought it wasn’t too shabby, so… The jumping off point for that first novel was a story about an elephant told to me on the streets of Mysore – that just set the cogs whirring.
In a nutshell, what is your latest book about?
Time’s Tide is about the distance between fathers and sons, and the too often unspoken bond between them. It’s about the pull of landscape, about the guilt of leaving people and places behind, and it’s about confronting things we left buried years before. There are also a lot of beards, and more coffee and cigarettes than are good for you.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
The main characters are Icelandic fishermen, so the idea of tides seemed to fit. But the sense of history repeating itself, of each generation rising and falling, also runs through the book, and the idea of waves up a beach was never far from me while I was writing. My other books had various titles as they came into being: this one was Time’s Tide from the first day I sat down to write it.
How do you plan to celebrate publication day?
I’m having a little literary launch in London on publication day and, once I’ve said my piece, I dare say there’ll be a small glass of something. Writing is quite a solitary thing, and so is listening for people reading your book. Events like this are the only time really that the book becomes something social, something shared, and that’s really important to a writer: to this writer anyway.
Do you have a work in progress just now?
I’m halfway through the first draft of something at the moment. It’s a bit different to my first three, and is a bit more plot-driven. I suppose it’s a political thriller. It was inspired by something someone said to me while I was working in Government, but it is entirely fictional – nothing and no-one in it comes from that time!
What’s your favourite book you’ve read in the past few months? Or favourite three if you really can’t choose!
I really like the Turkish writer, Orhan Pamuk. His book, My Name is Red, is one of the best things I’ve ever read. I recently finished his latest, The Red-Haired Woman, which is a lovely story about wells, lost love, and fathers and sons – that’s maybe why I liked it so much!
What are you reading just now?
I’m currently [February 2019] reading Margaret Attwood’s The Hag-Seed, which is a brilliant retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It’s a play within a play within a book, and it’s great – transferring all that Shakespearean vengeance and intrigue to a snowy Canada. I have no idea how it’s going to turn out, if the stratagem will be successful, and that’s just as it should be.
If you were on Desert Island Discs, what one book would you take with you?
There are too many! There are some brilliant books that I’ve read, not least American Pastoral and My Name is Red, and many more that I haven’t. However, assuming that I’m going to be on this island for a while, I think I’d take the Sagas of the Icelanders. I’ve read some of the stories before, so I would have that warmth of familiarity, and a lot remain unread, so there’d be the joy of discovery.
How can people follow you or connect with you on social media?
I spend far too much time on Twitter, so that’s probably the place to find me – @ade_harvey
My thanks to Kelly at Love Books Group Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour. Time’s Tide is published by Urbane Books and is available now in paperback or as an e-book. You can order a Kindle copy online here: Time’s Tide
From the back of the book
The new novel from the bestselling author of Being Someone and The Cursing Stone.
A father and son struggle to overcome the distance between them. Each is drawn irresistibly to an unforgiving landscape, one that has been the scene of tragedy and loss.
The son’s return to the northern shore he abandoned as a young man promises the chance to heal the rift. But is it too late?
Arni left his remote corner of Iceland as soon as he could, seeking opportunities beyond winter and fishing. Married to an English woman, he builds a life as a successful scientist but can never quite escape the pull of the West Fjords and bleak landscape of his birth, nor shake the guilt he feels towards his distant father.
When Eirikur goes missing, he sets off to find him on a windswept spit of land lost in an angry ocean.
Time’s Tide is a compelling and beautifully written story of loss, belonging and the silence between fathers and sons.
Don’t miss the rest of the blogtour
Portobello Book Blog 