This event will now take place as virtually, online on Zoom. We've closely monitored COVID cases in Oxford which have decreased slightly but are still Blackwell's is committed to providing safe events that everyone can attend with confidence.

Join us virtually t for an evening with Lucy Atkins and Claire Fuller, who will be discussing their novels, Magpie Lane and Unsettled Ground. Expect dark family secrets, the fringes of society and simply excellent writing. Lucy and Claire will be in conversation with Sarah Franklin.

Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins

When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers.As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.

But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why is Felicity silent?Roaming Oxford's secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane explores the true meaning of family - and what it is to be denied one.

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller

What if the life you have always known is taken from you in an instant? What would you do to get it back?

Twins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At 51 years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty. Inside the walls of their old cottage they make music, and in the garden they grow (and sometimes kill) everything they need for sustenance.

But when Dot dies suddenly, threats to their livelihood start raining down. Jeanie and Julius would do anything to preserve their small sanctuary against the perils of the outside world, even as their mother's secrets begin to unravel, putting everything they thought they knew about their lives at stake.

Unsettled Ground is a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival. It is a portrait of life on the fringes of society that explores with dazzling emotional power how we can build our lives on broken foundations, and spin light from darkness. It has been shortlisted for the Women's Prize.

The Event

This event is a virtual event on Zoom. Author events are an essential part of the life of our bookshops because they promote discussion about books and bring authors and readers together. We hope to return to live events soon, however, this event will be held virtually. For more information, you can call us 01865 792792 or email oxford@Blackwells.co.uk.

Our events programme is contingent on government restrictions. This has event has been postponed and will now be held as a virtual event.