Kate Mosse launches The Ghost Ship paperback

SussexWorld

Chichester novelist Kate Mosse cut the ribbon to open on the Chichester branch of Waterstones 20 odd years ago. She returns there now for the paperback launch of her new novel The Ghost Ship.

Transcript

00:00 Yeah.

00:00 - Good afternoon.

00:03 My name is Phil here,

00:03 group arts editor at Sussex Newspapers

00:05 and also chairman of the Festival of Chichester.

00:07 I'm fabulous to speak to the president

00:09 of the Festival of Chichester, Kate Moss.

00:11 Kate, lovely that you are launching the paperback

00:15 of "The Ghost Ship" at this year's Festival of Chichester,

00:18 just as you launched the hardback of "The Ghost Ship"

00:20 at last year's Festival of Chichester.

00:22 And it sounds like life since the publication

00:25 has been fabulous.

00:26 It's a bit of a book that people have really,

00:28 really taken to, haven't they?

00:30 - They have loved "The Ghost Ship."

00:33 Yep, readers have taken my pirate queens to their hearts.

00:38 It was wonderful.

00:39 I always launch everything that I do in Chichester,

00:42 as you know, and then I go on a big tour,

00:44 this time with the paperback,

00:46 which comes out on the 20th of June.

00:48 And I'm doing an event at Waterstones

00:49 on the 19th in Chichester.

00:52 It's the only event I'm actually doing

00:53 because it's very important to me

00:55 that every book I do, if you'll forgive me,

00:57 sets sail from my hometown.

00:59 - Absolutely.

01:00 - "The Ghost Ship," yeah, "The Ghost Ship"

01:01 is a pirate story.

01:02 It's a love story.

01:03 It's a story of revenge and rebellion on the high seas.

01:06 It's set between Amsterdam, La Rochelle,

01:09 the Canary Islands, and finally South Africa

01:12 in the 17th century.

01:14 And it's a really good old-fashioned

01:16 seafaring adventure stories with lots of battles,

01:19 lots of intrigue.

01:20 But it's also about the story of women

01:22 living disguised lives in a hostile world

01:26 and women of great courage.

01:28 And when I've been out and about

01:29 with "The Ghost Ship" last year,

01:30 when it came out in hardback,

01:31 people have just loved the book

01:33 and I've had the most wonderful responses.

01:35 So I'm very much looking forward to the paperback

01:38 because of course it's more affordable.

01:40 It's gonna go right out there.

01:41 It publishes at a busy time of the year.

01:43 So anybody who fancies "The Ghost Ship,"

01:46 buy it on day one because that will make all the difference

01:50 to my pirate queens getting it to the top of the chart.

01:52 But no, seriously, it's been a joy

01:55 talking about "The Ghost Ship"

01:56 and I've been so happy after all these years.

01:59 It's no less exciting when a new book comes out

02:02 and people come up to you and go,

02:03 "I love this book," and they tell you why they do.

02:05 - Part of the fun and part of the challenge

02:07 has been the fact that the sea is not your natural domain,

02:11 either as a writer or as in real life, is it?

02:13 - People assume because I'm a Sussex girl born and bred

02:16 that I will be someone who sails or swims or whatever.

02:20 The truth is I love walking beside the sea.

02:23 I love hearing the sea and smelling the sea.

02:25 But I do not want to be on the sea

02:27 and I do not want to be in the sea.

02:30 But I did a huge amount of research

02:32 and I was enormously helped by a brilliant

02:35 retired naval commander and many other people

02:37 who have great experience because my real goal

02:40 was to do the sea justice.

02:41 For people who love the sea,

02:42 I wanted them to read "The Ghost Ship"

02:44 and feel that they were there

02:46 and to really feel that they knew what it would be like

02:49 to feel the wind in their hair

02:51 and hear the singing in the shrouds

02:53 and the sound of the waves against the hull of the ship.

02:56 So I did a huge amount of research

02:58 and that's been one of the most joyous things,

02:59 people saying, "Oh, Kate, I didn't know you sailed."

03:02 And me going, "Well, I didn't actually."

03:04 But it's all research.

03:05 But then, you know, I've written about human taxidermy

03:08 and I've written about medieval warfare

03:10 and I've written about being in the resistance

03:11 and I've not done any of those things either.

03:14 So it's just a different form of research

03:16 but I'm really pleased that I managed to pull it off.

03:18 - Fantastic and lovely that you're launching

03:20 a paperback in Chichester.

03:22 And yeah, I'm glad that you're launching it

03:23 as part of the Festival of Chichester.

03:25 - Of course, always. - Great, lovely.

03:28 Thank you so much. - Thank you.

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