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Francis Spufford

Biography

Francis Spufford

Francis Spufford began as the author of four highly praised books of nonfiction. His first book, I MAY BE SOME TIME, won the Writers Guild Award for Best Nonfiction Book of 1996, the Banff Mountain Book Prize, and a Somerset Maugham Award. It was followed by THE CHILD THAT BOOKS BUILT, BACKROOM BOYS and, most recently, UNAPOLOGETIC.

But with RED PLENTY in 2012, he switched to the novel. GOLDEN HILL won multiple literary prizes on both sides of the Atlantic; LIGHT PERPETUAL was longlisted for the Booker Prize; and CAHOLIA JAZZ was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History.

In England, he is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society. He teaches writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Francis Spufford

Books by Francis Spufford

Nonesuch
by Francis Spufford - Fiction, Historical Fiction

It’s the summer of 1939, and the air in London is thick with the tension of impending war. Iris Hawkins, a fiery young financial secretary, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a genius engineer from the new technology of television. What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into a nightmare of otherworldly pursuit --- into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes droning overhead. In a time when all the men are away in uniform, the defense of the city is in the hands of its women. But Iris has more to contend with than just the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, a fascist fanatic is traveling with a gun in her hand, and only Iris can stop her from altering the course of history forever.

Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York
by Francis Spufford - Fiction, Historical Fiction

New York, a small town on the tip of Manhattan island, 1746. One rainy evening in November, a handsome young stranger fresh off the boat arrives at a countinghouse door on Golden Hill Street. Mr. Smith is amiable and charming, yet strangely determined to keep suspicion shimmering. In his pocket, he has what seems to be an order for a thousand pounds, a huge sum, and he won’t explain why, where he comes from, or what he is planning to do in the colonies that requires so much money. Should the New York merchants trust him? Should they risk their credit and refuse to pay? Should they befriend him, seduce him, arrest him --- maybe even kill him?