If you’ve read my book Restoring Harmony, then you may have noticed the dedication. It is to two of my favourite authors because they are brilliant storytellers. One of them is Nevil Shute (1899-1960). You may be a fan too, or you might not have heard of him at all, but most people do recognize some of his more famous works like ON THE BEACH and A TOWN LIKE ALICE. In fact, he wrote more than twenty books.

Because I am a very lucky person, I have been asked to be the keynote speaker at the Nevil Shute Foundation’s international conference in Seattle this month. I will be giving my talk at the banquet on Thursday, 22 September. Even if you’re not attending the conference, you can attend the dinner (see the website to register). I’m very excited about this talk, and have been using it as a good excuse to reread Mr. Shute’s works. I will be talking about how I came to know about Nevil Shute, how he influenced my work, and some of the parallels between my book and his book, PIED PIPER. I will also do a short reading from RESTORING HARMONY, answer questions, and sign books, if anyone wants me to.

I will only be attending one full day of the conference, but the whole thing looks outstanding, so I hope if you’re interested, you can make it to some or all of it. You can still register through their website.

If you’ve never read Nevil Shute, and are wondering where to start, here are my top 5 choices:

Pastoral

Trustee From the Tool Room

Chequer Board

Pied Piper

A Town Like Alice

Well…there’s also Slide Rule, No Highway, Ruined City…hmmm…just read them all. They’re mostly out of print, so try your library or your favourite used bookstore.