This event will be BSL translated for both the author Sarah Marsh and the audience. BSL interpreter will be Emma Walker

We welcome two celebrated debut novelists who we know will appeal to lovers of historical fiction.

In A Sign of Her Own, Sarah Marsh tells the story of Ellen Lark, a deaf woman on the verge of marriage.  She and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell, who had instructed her in speaking in a technique called Visual Speech. Bell had confided in her about his dream of producing a device to transmit the human voice along a wire: the telephone. Now, on the cusp of wealth and renown, Bell wants Ellen to support his claim to the patent.  But Ellen has a different story to tell: that of how Bell betrayed her and other deaf pupils.

One of The Observer’s Ten Debut novelists for 2024, Elizabeth O’Connor’s beautiful, devastating debut Whale Fall tells a story of longing and betrayal.  Set in 1938, Manod is a young woman living on a remote island off the coast of Wales just as the world looks ready to end – and she is trying to imagine a future for herself. When two anthropologists arrive from the mainland, Manod sees a rare chance to leave the island and discover the life she has been searching for.

Tickets: £8

Each ticket is subject to a £1 transaction fee at checkout with the exception of bookings made by QUAD members. This £1 goes directly towards the running of QUAD.

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