Edinburgh Book Festival Authors

Investigating crime and corruption in the Renaissance and the present day.  Charlotte Philby and Laurent Binet at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 

Narrow close in Edinburgh's Old Town

Charlotte Philby's latest novel Dirty Money explores the themes she likes best, the investigation and uncovering of crimes. Her main characters, detective Chang and journalist Farrow, have their own flaws and challenges but they are strongly motivated by a desire for justice.

Charlotte Philby has always loved reading crime fiction perhaps, she said, because there is an obvious question which engages our curiosity and we want it to be answered. And she enjoys writing crime fiction because it's about the human condition, it's about so-called ordinary people even though we know there's no such thing, but rather, people who share in the drama of being human and who respond with both typical and unexpected emotions, reactions and behaviour, when put in positions of jeopardy. It's the human element, how we are affected by unusual and unexpected circumstances that interests her, as well as the impacts of people’s behaviour on family members and other close relationships. We are not discrete beings, separated from others, but we weave in and out of each other's lives, forming cultural, social and psychological fabrics, threaded with similar beliefs, feelings, ideals and aspirations. 

And Charlotte Philby is well placed in her personal life to know how attachment to certain ideals and world views, especially if they lead to secrets and deceptions, can affect the lives of family members, colouring their own sense of identity, as well as how they are seen by others.

Charlotte Philby at the EIBF

 She has some memories of travelling to Moscow with her parents when she was 5 years old. They were visiting her grandfather Kim Philby, the famous spy and defector to the USSR. Although these memories are sparse and hazy, in a return visit as an adult, along with her husband, the apartment where her grandfather lived is exactly as she remembered it, including his photograph on a bookshelf, taken by Edith Tudor Hart, a committed communist who was hugely influential in turning Kim Philby as well as others, towards the ideals of communism. Charlotte's book Edith and Kim, is a compelling and well researched work of fiction based on the life of Edith Tudor Hart, her friendship with Kim Philby and other spies, and her relationship with the British secret services (who kept her under surveillance). As part of her research for this book Charlotte talked to people who remembered Edith and were familiar with her story and her ideals, which reminded her, she said, that there is no one version of history.

While she initially resisted the Philby label, she feels that in so doing, she attached herself more to it. And while she said that she would love one day to be accepted simply as herself, without reference to her grandfather, she accepts that today he is part of her own story, and her writing of Edith and Kim was a way of both exploring the past and learning a lot about it that she did not know before. 

Charlotte Philby has a frank and articulate manner and gives a sense of confiding in the audience, which was clearly appreciated. Her way of telling the story of her search in Moscow for Kim’s former apartment block shows she is as good a verbal storyteller as a written one. 

I’ve read the first few page of Dirty Money and I’m enjoying the characters and the details of place and personality that allow us to empathise with them, as well as the sense of anticipation of adventures to come, the hallmark of good storytelling.

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Laurent Binet’s first novel HhHh was about the assassination of nazi commander Reinhard Heydrich and deservedly won the Prix Goncourt. Binet talks about his latest novel Perspectives at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and admits that he likes to take real characters from history, involved in actual events, and weave stories around them, turn them into characters we would recognize today, as he emphasizes the perennial human qualities.

The title Perspectives refers to both the rules of art – for the portrayal of perspective –  and the points of view of the different characters. The main theme of the novel centres around a mystery – an unsolved murder, the identity and motive of the murderer, and how it is seen by the various characters who write letters to each other and are unreliable, as letter writers are, for even if we are not trying to hide anything, we tailor our missives according to the recipient.

Binet has set this novel, unusually for him he says, in one time only – the Renaissance, because he says it’s a turning point in western history – and in Florence, artistic and cultural hub of Europe. To set up a good mystery story, as well as an interesting character for a victim, (he chose Jacopo Pontormo) you also need an investigator and Binet found one in the painter and art critic, Giorgio Vasari. He set it at a time when the Renaissance was in its decline, when the powers of the Medicis too were on the wane because, he says, times of decline and disintegration are less predictable, and so, more interesting in terms of possible outcomes. It was still a good time to be a painter, there was plenty of work to be had. But artists needed sponsors for their commissions, and with some of their powerful employers such as the Medicis, they had to pay court, had to align themselves with their influential funders, and also had to be political to an extent too, as they would clearly have to take the side of their sponsors.

Jacopo Pontomo’s frescos were destroyed so we cannot know how good he was. But he left a diary, not about his art and the development of his ideas but about mundane things like what he ate, who he met up with for dinner and complaints about his friends. These records are not earth-shaking or culture-shaping, but they are gold nuggets for a novelist.

Laurent Binet (right) at the EIBF

Replying to a question as to why he chooses real historical characters for his books, Binet says that he does not really like writing descriptions such as, he had blue eyes, fair hair and so on. He prefers engaging with dialogue, ideas and the narrative development, so ‘ready made’ characters suit his style and his interests. And Binet’s books, translated into English, seem to suit his British readers too, the room was packed, people applauded loudly at his entrance and laughed at his humorous asides, clearly enjoying his Gallic gesturing charm.

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You can also read about AL Kennedy, Philip Marsden & Vanessa Taylor here. I'm showing my original picture below, as the one on the website misses most of it out.