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10/02/2007: "The setting as a character"
As part of the North Shore City Library theme of “Pass it on” Glenfield Library is delighted to present Yvonne Eve Walus—a murder mystery writer - who will deliver a talk about the setting for her novel, "Murder @ Work".
When: Tuesday, 16 October, 10.30am
Where: Glenfield Library, North Shore City, Auckland, New Zealand
"Murder @ Work" is an office who-dunnit set during the crucial period of transition from an apartheid government to a democratically-elected one. Although not a political thriller, it captures the flavour of the socio-political atmosphere. Apartheid in South Africa was not only about race, it was about gender, too. The book shows how people of the "old school of thinking" adapted to deal with the new reality of a woman being allowed to walk into a bar or own a house without her husband's permission.
Says the author: "In this book, the setting is so fundamental, it's almost like another character. You wouldn't be able to rewrite the plot and set it in Alaska or Fiji or Paris. And yet, the book is not setting-driven the way Lord of the Rings is. 'Murder @ Work' is fundamentally a character-driven whodunnit."
Yvonne Eve Walus on Tuesday, October 2nd 2007 @ 02:11 AM GMT [link]