Yesterday evening Sarah and I went to the lovely Dolly's Wine Bar in Falmouth to hear Patrick Gale talk about and answer questions on his latest novel, A Perfectly Good Man. There turn-out was a fantastic, as was the free bubbly.
Patrick very generously donated his archive to University College Falmouth in 2010. I always enjoy looking through the collection as it gives such an insight into the process of writing - something which, previously, I had known absolutely nothing about! Unlike most modern authors, Patrick still writes his books out in long-hand first in notebooks: the pages of which are frequently stained with coffee mug rings or pawprints, or have the odd apple sticker stuck on them. We also hold the research that Patrick carried out for his novels, and a particular favourite of mine is a letter from Elizabeth Anderson, who was a teacher in Penzance in the 1960s, who gives a very scathing portrayal of Barbara Hepworth, which Patrick used in his novel Notes From An Exhibition. So hopefully, sometime in the near future, the Collection will be joined by the notebooks, paperwork and documents created and amassed for this lastest work!
I am slightly ashamed to say that I have never read one of Patrick's novels, but Notes From An Exhibition is now next in line on my reading list!
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