Dark secrets as Lucy Foley discusses latest book at Festival of Chichester

SussexWorld

In the shadows of an ancient wood, guests gather for the opening weekend of The Manor, a beautiful new countryside retreat. But the past has crashed the party and it is all going to end in murder...

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, group arts and professor for Sussex Newspapers and

00:06also chairman of the Festival of Chichester. And it's fantastic that Lucy Foley is going

00:10to be speaking at this year's Festival of Chichester. And what's even more intriguing

00:14and lovely is the fact that it's effectively a home date for you. Lucy, you will be offering

00:19an evening with bestselling author Lucy Foley, Midhurst Library on Monday, June the 23rd.

00:25You're a Sussex girl and you're now back in the area. And it's been a good night.

00:29I am.

00:29It's been a great time to come back to Sussex, isn't it?

00:32It really is. We just love it. We've got two little boys and just having the sort of South

00:37Downs as their playground is just incredible. We're so happy.

00:42And that playground has been a little bit of an inspiration, but not named as such in the

00:47latest book that you'll be talking about in Midhurst, the Midnight Feast. Set the scene

00:53then. What's the Midnight Feast?

00:55So the Midnight Feast is set at the opening of a beautiful new countryside hotel, which

01:01I would say is sort of built on old secrets beside an ancient wood. And all the action

01:06sort of takes place over this opening weekend, during a heat wave, during the summer solstice.

01:13So tensions and temperatures are rising and some unexpected guests are come to stay. The morning

01:19after this big sort of opening weekend party, a body is found on the beach below the cliffs.

01:25Who done it?

01:26Absolutely. And you are saying you're so interested in the sort of folklore, that sort of dodgy,

01:32a darker side of country life, aren't you?

01:35I really am. I think we're surrounded by it. You know, you think of the atmosphere when you

01:40go up somewhere like Chanctonbury Ring. It's really sort of palpable. And I think also in

01:44sort of 2025, there is this sort of resurgence of interest. I mean, has it ever really gone

01:49away? But this resurgence of interest in sort of folk traditions, the old ways, sort of the

01:56weird pagan stuff. They burn a wicker man just down the road from me. I don't know if it's

02:01this sort of desire to sort of get away from our screens and get back to something real,

02:06get back to the land.

02:07All that is just sort of simmering away in the background, isn't it?

02:12It very much is. Yes, I've gone a little bit. I dip my toe into apparently have to say

02:18folk horror adjacent, not folk horror, because that scares people. And actually, I'm a massive

02:23scaredy cat. So it's not folk horror, but it's folk horror adjacent in its themes, I would say.

02:28It sounds fantastic. Well, Lucy, really lovely to meet you. Fantastic that you are at the

02:32Festival of Rochester. And again, Monday, June the 23rd, 7pm at Midhurst Library. Great to meet

02:39you. Great to speak to you. Thank you.

02:41You too. Thank you so much.

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