Lies and Loyalties
‘a gripping tale to satisfy all lovers of a finely twisting plot’ Daily Telegraph
Rachel Billington’s latest novel, Lies and Loyalties, was published in paperback on December 11, 2008. It is about a family of four brothers and one sister, an MP, a QC, a Catholic priest, a brother who suffers from mental problems and his wife who at the beginning of the novel is resident in Her Majesty’s Prison Holloway.
Other Writing
- Making Conversation
- A few months ago I sat in the archive room in Tullynally Castle, County Westmeath, Ireland and read the letters my aunt, Christine Trew w… Read more
- A Year in My Life
- Can I have really made so many decisions in one year? Looking back, it seems almost impossible. In April I l… Read more
- Friendship
- It can start in all sorts of strange places: in a pram, up a climbing frame, over a desk, in hospital, unde… Read more
- Dancemoon
- ‘We’re dancing to the moon,’ said Arthur, moving, it has to be admitted, a little stiffly like the old man… Read more
- The Man who tried to Kill his Wife with a Goose
- Christmas Eve started early for Lawrence. Daisy, given special permission to club till midnight, arrived ba… Read more
Thoughts
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Working Titles
Break of Day is the working title of the new novel I’m writing. John Donne wrote a poem by the same name which includes the memorable line, ‘The day breaks not, it is my heart.’
Authors and publishers like playing about with titles. My last novel ended up as Lies and Loyalties but spent its formative years as Purple Days for which I still have a sneaking affection.
An earlier novel, A Woman’s Life, passed its creative years as Never Mind the Cherry Blossom which was a reference to the romantic yearnings of young girls being displaced by something grittier. Probably I’m foolish to regret its disappearance. No title should have to be explained.
Break of Day is about a teenage boy who goes missing. I know Missing sounds like a snappier title but so did innumerable other writers, film makers and organisations. So Break of Day it is for the time being.
RB
April 2009
Events
- July 2
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Making Conversation
RB has written the Preface to the reissue of Making Conversation by Christine Longford. She will be at Persephone Books Ltd., 59 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London WC1N 3NB at lunch to talk about her aunt’s novel, first published in 1931, and her own latest work, Lies and Loyalties.
- June
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IMPAC Awards 2009
Member of International Panel of Judges. English-language prize of €100,000 to be presented in June 2009.
Location: Dublin, Eire
- May 9
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West Country Writers Association Annual Lunch
Location: St. Ives
RB attends as President of the West Country Writers Association