Francis Spufford for Nonesuch

Francis Spufford is coming to The Bookshop on Monday 26 October to talk about his new fantasy novel, Nonesuch. It's set during the Blitz, and the story follows Iris Hawkins, an ambitious young woman working in City finance. Her life takes a turn when a chance encounter with Geoff, a BBC television unit technician, pulls her into an otherworldly adventure while Nazi planes fly overhead. It's a strange pairing — the high-pressure world of London finance and the chaos of the Blitz, with a fantasy element running through the middle of it all.

If you haven't come across Spufford before, he's a writer who moves between genres. He's written three novels and five works of non-fiction, and his fiction tends to shift ground from one book to the next. His debut, the historical novel Golden Hill, picked up the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize. His second, Light Perpetual, won the Encore Award and made the Booker longlist. His third, the alternative history Cahokia Jazz, won the Sidewise Award in 2023. Nonesuch is his fourth novel, and this time it's fantasy.

It's a good night if you're into the Blitz as a backdrop, or if you've followed his work from the historical and alternative history of his earlier books. He'll be talking about the new novel, so it's a chance to hear him walk through the story and the ideas behind it.

The evening is at The Bookshop, 1 Museum Street, York YO1 7DT, on Monday 26 October. It starts at 7pm, with doors open from 6.30pm.