Another Year at Carpenter's Row book launch

Wendy Greene is launching her new novel, Another Year at Carpenter's Row, at The Ardington Hotel in Steyne Gardens on Thursday 26 November, starting at 2.30pm. It's a proper afternoon affair: Greene will give a short talk about her writing career, read from the new book, and stay on to sign and sell copies.

If you haven't come across her work yet, Another Year at Carpenter's Row is the sequel to her first novel, Malcolm Carpenter Collected People, which came out through Verité in 2021. It's likely the second of a planned trilogy, so this is a good place to jump in if you're just starting the series. Both books centre on the fictional charitable trust community of Carpenter's Row, where the residents keep their pasts secret — we're talking everything from illegitimacy and piracy to murder — and are held together by one man. The first book followed Ann Watson, a young social worker who escaped London for a job in a Sussex town.

Greene herself has been a journalist since the 1960s, writing for Family Circle magazine and Pins & Needles, and later serving as features editor at Essentially Worthing and Caring4Sussex. She started out wanting to write short stories after a course at The London School of Journalism, so this is a chance to hear from a local writer who's spent decades working with words across the county.

Entry is £6, which includes a cuppa, scone, jam and cream — so it's as much a cream tea as it is a book launch. The Ardington Hotel is in Steyne Gardens, Worthing, and the whole thing kicks off at 2.30pm on Thursday 26 November.