THE DAILY TELEGRAPH INTERVIEWS PIERS TORDAY ABOUT COMPLETING HIS FATHER’S FINAL BOOK
Next week a rather strange literary event will occur. A new Paul Torday novel will be published. To his fans, this would seem improbable because the author died in December 2013, after becoming one of the more unlikely publishing sensations of the last decade.
But, how a final book has made it into print is a story that not only could come straight out of Torday’s own pen, but also speaks eloquently of a restrained, English love between a father and his son. The novel, which was three-quarters finished when Torday died, has been completed by his eldest child, Piers, himself a children’s author, as a final tribute to his father.
“There were moments, when I thought, ‘oh, I just don’t know if this is what he wanted’,” says Piers, explaining the difficulty of trying to mimic his father’s style and work out how to finish a book without an ending. “But I love what he had written, and I’m really proud of what I’ve done.”
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY HARRY WALLOP AT THE TELEGRAPH HERE.
I’ve read all of Paul Torday’s books, incl. ‘Death of An Owl.’ It says a great deal about an author when I’ve read each title at least three times. I am sorry he is no longer here for obvious reasons. But one not so obvious reason is I wanted to take him to lunch so I could ask some pointed questions about the characters and plot progress of his second novel ‘The Irresistable Inheritance of Wilberforce.’
Now I’ll never know.