SW 394 FBF: Advanced Writing Techniques with Kate Mosse

Today's Flash Back Friday comes from Episode 142, originally published in April 2014. Kate Mosse is an English novelist, non fiction and short story writer and broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel Labyrinth, which has been translated into more than 37 languages.Although best known for her adventure and ghost fiction, inspired by real history, Mosse's first two works were non fiction. Becoming A Mother (now in its seventh edition) was published by Virago in 1993, followed in 1995 by The House: Behind the Scenes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, published by BBC books to accompany the award-winning BBC 2 fly-on-the-wall documentary series of the same name. She then turned her hand to fiction, publishing two contemporary novels. Eskimo Kissing, about a young, adopted woman searching for her background, was published to critical acclaim in 1996. This was followed in 1998 by the biotech thriller Crucifix Lane. From 1998 up to 2001, she held the position of executive director of the Chichester Festival Theatre. Meanwhile she also remained engaged in research work for the first of a series of timeslip historical adventure novels set in southwest France in the past and present day. In 2005, the first of the Languedoc Trilogy, Labyrinth, was published. A number 1 bestseller all over the world, it has sold millions of copies throughout the world, was the bestselling title in the UK for 2006 and won the Richard & Judy Best Book at the British Book Awards 2006 and was named as one of Waterstones Top 25 books of the past 25 years. Television rights were sold to Scott Free and Tandem Communications and the Labyrinth miniseries was broadcast in 2013. The international cast included John Hurt, Janet Suzman, Jessica Brown Findlay, Tom Felton, and Sebastian Stan. In October 2007, the second novel in the Languedoc Trilogy - Sepulchre - was published in 2007. A tale of haunting and Tarot set in fin-de-siècle and 20th century France, it was also a No.1 bestseller in the UK and an international bestseller. While Mosse was researching for the third and final novel in the Trilogy, she released her novel The Winter Ghosts in 2009, based on a novella she previously contributed to the Quick Reads Initiative. Film rights have been sold to Ruby Films. Citadel, the third novel in Mosse's Languedoc Trilogy, came out in 2013 and was also an international bestseller. Inspired by the real history of the resistance in Carcassonne during WW II, it tells the story of an imagined all-female resistance unit. In October 2013, Mosse's collection of short stories, The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales was published. The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales is a collection of ghost stories inspired by traditional folk tales and country legends from England and France, throughout Sussex, Brittany and the Languedoc (settings Mosse is known for). Website: www.KateMosse.co.uk