Recently, I listened to a fantastic programme on radio four about probability and coincidence. The show itself detangled the eeriness of coincidence and exemplified the probability arising instead.
This led to a reminiscence of my favourite bookish coincidence about Claire Fuller, audio books and writing festivals.
I have a lot to thank the kind folk at The Winchester Writer’s Festival for. It was the place I found my writing voice, the place I met my mentor and teacher, Simon Hall, who in turn introduced me to my soon-to-be-published friend, Hazel Prior. I wouldn’t have found out about the festival at all, had it not been for another author, Claire Fuller.
Fuller was the first published author to follow me on twitter. I can still recall the butterflies in my stomach when I received the notification that, for the first time, a bona fide published author had connected with me. I had already read her first novel, MY ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS, and devoured it. When she tweeted about the Winchester Writer’s Festival, I looked into it and thought, I have to go. This sounds amazing.
I attended the festival, joined Fuller’s workshop on working with an editor, and had her sign my copy of her book. It was one of those novels I loved from the very first line. I love it so much I have it in all formats; kindle, hardback, paperback and audiobook. (Yes, I know, I’m a bookseller’s dream come true)
Fast forward a couple of years to the Autumn of 2017 and my own novel, NEVER GO THERE, is on the cusp of publication. Imagine my further joy when I discover that the supremely talented Eilidh Beaton was set to narrate the audio book.
The same woman who narrated My Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller.
It is a small coincidence, one that could very easily be fobbed off with talk of probabilities and the smallness of the publishing industry, but it’s a coincidence I love and one that makes me feel as though I’ve come full circle. NEVER GO THERE is narrated by the woman who also narrated the debut of the author who, inadvertently, jolted me into publication. There is a beautiful symmetry to that.
Rebecca Tinnelly 