The Green Table
Published by Cinnamon Press, launched in September 2015. Available from Cinnamon Press, any bookshop or via my contact page. Reviews: 'The prologue of this book had me hooked before I had even got to the first chapter...These carefully crafted characters tell a poignant, heart-rending story, and certainly draw the reader into the harrowing life faced by those caught up in WW2. It has been superbly written by Tricia Durdey.' Amanda Penman Artsbeat Magazine. 'A seriously good novel, and one that's very hard to put down...' Nigeness blogspot. 'I loved this book. The story is compelling, of everyday lives of ordinary and extraordinary people in occupied Holland. Tricia Durdey's style of writing, flows from the page, and the chapters interchange between the main character's perspectives beautifully. The tension builds throughout, and I found it difficult to put down as I became increasingly anxious for the fate of the beautifully crafted characters I grew to care about - even those I found difficult to like. A real treat, believe me! I read a lot and this was right up my street.' Amazon review 'This is a wonderfully assured debut novel. Its evocation of wartime Amsterdam is vivid and immediate, and it tells a strong story in gripping, page-turning fashion. The characters come fully alive - especially the eager young dancer Katje, her teacher Hedda and the enigmatic Erik Weiss - and you will find you really care what happens to them, as the Nazi occupation changes everything and brings terrible danger into their lives. The Green Table is a terrific read - and, incidentally, just the kind of novel that would make an excellent reading choice for a book circle.' |
The editor of Cinnamon Press writes the following:
'When Hedda Brandt and other members of Kurt Jooss’s dance company flee Germany for Holland in 1933, Hedda imagines she is going to a place free from the prejudice and threats that have overtaken her country. There they perform the celebrated anti-war piece ‘The Green Table’. Staying behind to teach dance when Jooss and other members leave the Netherlands for England, Hedda encounters Katje, a girl who has seen and been enthralled by the performance and wants to learn to dance. But these are dangerous times and as Nazi Occupation changes all their lives, Katje watches her brother being drawn into Nazi sympathies fuelled by his admiration for his German piano teacher, Erik Weiss, a difficult man who also poses questions for Hedda. Determined to defy new regulations that demand dance should conform to rigid ideology, Hedda is drawn towards resistance, but with her life more and more at risk, matters are only complicated by the prospect of love with a much younger man, Kai Hoffman, whose family have befriended Hedda. Against a background of oppression, disappearances and terror, Hedda and Katje assert the power of dance, resistance and life in this gripping debut novel that takes real events and characters as its starting point. Poignant, sometimes harrowing, and exquisitely written, this is an extraordinary story from a convincing writer.'
Jan Fortune
'When Hedda Brandt and other members of Kurt Jooss’s dance company flee Germany for Holland in 1933, Hedda imagines she is going to a place free from the prejudice and threats that have overtaken her country. There they perform the celebrated anti-war piece ‘The Green Table’. Staying behind to teach dance when Jooss and other members leave the Netherlands for England, Hedda encounters Katje, a girl who has seen and been enthralled by the performance and wants to learn to dance. But these are dangerous times and as Nazi Occupation changes all their lives, Katje watches her brother being drawn into Nazi sympathies fuelled by his admiration for his German piano teacher, Erik Weiss, a difficult man who also poses questions for Hedda. Determined to defy new regulations that demand dance should conform to rigid ideology, Hedda is drawn towards resistance, but with her life more and more at risk, matters are only complicated by the prospect of love with a much younger man, Kai Hoffman, whose family have befriended Hedda. Against a background of oppression, disappearances and terror, Hedda and Katje assert the power of dance, resistance and life in this gripping debut novel that takes real events and characters as its starting point. Poignant, sometimes harrowing, and exquisitely written, this is an extraordinary story from a convincing writer.'
Jan Fortune
Meetings with Ivor
Published by Thorntree Press. Available in paperback, 50 pages, 12 sepia photographs. for £5 (including postage). Order via contact page. Reviews: 'I never met Ivor Sutton but, having read this beautifully crafted memoir, I feel as if I'd known the old rascal for years. It's a vivid, honest, touching and often very funny account of a man of whom it can truly be said They don't make them like that any more.' Nigel Andrew Daily Mail Weekend 'Meetings with Ivor is a book that typifies a bygone era, a heart-warming story about a real character that you just can't help but come to admire...Tricia has combined Ivor's stories with hers and other people's memories of him in a way which enables the reader to truly feel as though they grasp his personality and life...Meetings with Ivor is forged in a way that allows any reader to get an authentic feel for both Ivor and the Staffordshire Moorlands. A truly touching book.' Lucy Evans Leek Post and Times |
The Dancer at World's End
Published by Cinnamon Press. Available from Cinnamon Press, any bookshop or via my contact page. Reviews:
'This is an amazing book and the second novel I've read by Tricia Durdey and I loved it as much as the first, if not more. She is an exceptional writer whose prose is intelligent, well- constructed and at times, breathtakingly beautiful. It haunted me and yet the quirky characters prevented it from being maudling. The premise of the story- two cousins- one the son of a Nazi and the other the daughter of a Dutch resistance supporter, provides a fascinating scenario and the backdrop of dance, as always with Tricia Durdey, a dancer herself, leads the reader through a complex, sometimes dramatic, sometimes whimsical story. Thoroughly recommend.' Amazon review 'This was a new angle on a story that needs to be told until the whole world hears. Tricia Durdey writes beautifully with flow and precision - often so breathtakingly poignant that the reader has to stop and reflect.' 'Tricia Durdey is an exceptional writer whose prose is intelligent, well- constructed and at times, breathtakingly beautiful. It haunted me and yet the quirky characters prevented it from being maudling.' |
Willoughby’s new landlady at Gladstone Terrace is not what he expects. The flamboyant Ruby Hoffman wears a green beret on which she’s pinned a velvet bird by its feet, explaining that she busks with her cousin, Gregor – Ruby playing accordion while Gregor dances. Ruby and Gregor, born nine years and one country apart, are bound to each other by a family weighed down with sacrifice in the Dutch resistance on one side and Nazi collusion on the other. While Ruby’s colourful persona hides a brittle fragility, Gregor’s burden of guilt is channelled into caring for others, feeding their strange group of tenants, each barely clinging to the edges of society. But when the enigmatic Leda Godwin turns up, wanting to know Gregor’s story, the delicate balance of their lives is shaken. Peopled with intriguing and memorable characters and told with exquisite precision, The Dancer at World’s End explores the legacy of violence, whether perpetrated by those committing genocide or those opposing them and how the stories handed down to us of who we are or should be, who we should love or hate, go on shaping lives across generations. An extraordinary sequel to the powerful events recounted in The Green Table, this is a courageous, heart-rending and important story. Set in mid-seventies London, the story goes back to Nazi Germany, as replete with pomp and ambition as it is with horror, and to post-War Netherlands, building a complex tale of identity, survival and grace.
Upside Down in a Hoop Reviews: 'The most powerful memoir I've read. My words thus far don't begin to do it justice. It's brutally frank and thoroughly compassionate - and in no way self-serving.' 'As with excellent novels, the world it conjures stays with you.' My memoir about dance and learning aerial to keep cheerful whilst caring for my parents, is now available. It’s published by Cinnamon Press, but can be ordered from me via the contact page. |