Jun 3, 2020
Leaf Arbuthnot, journalist and author of Looking for
Eliza
Leaf Arbuthnot is a journalist, editor
and author based in south London. She has written primarily for the
Sunday Times for the past 5 years and has interviewed the
likes of Prince Charles, Jilly Cooper and Hilary Mantel. Her work
spans everything from divorce parties to wild swimming and her
first novel Looking for Eliza came out in May 2020.
The book tells the story of a widow and a student who form a
friendship amidst the cathedral spires of Oxford. It's about
connection in solitude - topical in the light of the lockdown era
in which it has been released.
Debut novel from Leaf Arbuthnot
On this episode we talk about how she came to write the book and get it published; how writers have to be unapologetic about "selling their wears" on social and how challenging that can be for some; how the lockdown could produce quite a "large pile of introspective male fiction about tortured men" and her recommendation for Emmeline's bookshelf.
Leaf's book Looking for Eliza
(out now)
Leaf's recommendation for Emmeline's bookshelf: The Glass Essay by
Anne Carson