The Writers of Wales Database

STRACHAN, MARI

Website: http://www.maristrachan.info/

Website: http://www.maristrachan.info/

Mari Strachan was born into a Welsh family in Harlech, on the north-west coast of Wales. After graduating from Cardiff University she qualified as a chartered librarian, a career she pursued until retirement with occasional forays into other occupations. In 2007 she acquired an MA (with distinction) in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University.

The Earth Hums in B Flat, set in a fictionalised version of her hometown, is her first novel. It was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime in April 2009; was selected as one of Waterstone’s New Voices in Spring 2009; and won the Amazon Rising Star award from the Spring 2009 selection. It was shortlisted for The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2010, and was a finalist for 'Book of the Year - Adult Debut' in the USA's 2010 Indies Choice Book Awards. It was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2011, and shortlisted in Finland for the 2011 Tähtifantasia Award.
Her second novel, Blow on a Dead Man’s Embers, was published in August 2011. It was an Amazon Editor’s Pick in August, 2011, described as ‘A beautifully written and poetic journey of self-discovery, Blow on a Dead Man’s Embers navigates harrowing themes of post-WWI without trivialising their importance and provides a wonderful heroine in Non Davies, whose husband returned from the war a changed man.’

Mari now lives in Ceredigion and is currently writing her third novel. She is a Member of The Welsh Academy.

Reviews:
With respect to The Earth Hums in B Flat (Canongate, 2009)

"…At times comical, but at other moments deeply moving. An impressive and wonderfully absorbing debut, which evokes the atmosphere of a small Welsh town with wit and precision…"
Waterstone’s Books Quarterly

"…For all its darkness, this is a marvelously comic thriller, full of acute observation and beautifully lit by a strain of wild poetic imagination…"
Alison Prince, Mslexia

"…Strachan's deft handling of a dark subject is both sober and sparkling…"
Catherine Taylor, The Guardian

"…I loved this debut, which manages to give a young girl's narrative an authentically quirky aspect, without ever resorting to cutesiness or cosiness...Strachan eschews whimsy for reality in a beautifully written story about growing up – an experience that itself so often seems full of the wrong kind of magic..."
Lesley McDowell, the Independent on Sunday

With respect to Blow on a Dead Man’s Embers (Canongate 2011)

‘...Strachan's finest gift…is a talent for telling stories with grace and compassion…The book has momentum from first to last.’
Tom Adair, The Scotsman

‘...With discernment and tenderness, Mari Strachan traces the Davies family’s slow journey to recovery over the course of a long, hot summer.’ ‘…the narrative builds tension well and satisfyingly reveals its quiet surprises.’
Rachel Hore,Literary Review

‘...The lingering sorrow of war…is given a distinctive and potent treatment in Mari Strachan’s second novel’
Ceri Radford, The Times Literary Supplement

‘…in the depiction of a nation seeking solace in radical politics and spiritualist seances, Strachan manages to bring something original to an old, old tale.’
Adrian Turpin, Financial Times


Selected Publications:
The Earth Hums in B Flat (Canongate, 2009)
Blow on a Dead Man's Embers (Canongate, 2011)

The Earth Hums in B Flat (Canongate, 2009)

The Earth Hums in B Flat is set in Wales in the late 1950s and narrated by twelve and a half year old Gwenni Morgan. Gwenni is not like the other children in her small town. A bookish yet spirited young girl, she is suddenly forced into an unusual situation when a neighbour disappears and no one seems to be asking the right questions. As Gwenni makes her own investigations, she begins to find out more about life than she could ever have imagined.

To purchase this novel from amazon.co.uk, please click on its front cover

Blow on a Dead Man's Embers (Canongate, 2011)

Non and Davey Davies are struggling to live their lives in the aftermath of the Great War. Davey is so changed by his experiences that Non hardly recognises the man she married a year before the War. As she attempts to discover what is haunting Davey, Non finds out much about herself and her past, too: discoveries that allow her to live more comfortably in the present. But it seems that Davey’s dark secrets are more dangerous, he becomes ever more agitated as they work their way closer to the surface of his consciousness. And when he does remember, both he and Non know that these are secrets that can never be told, they are secrets that will shatter the fragile and hard won happiness of their community if they ever become known.

To purchase this novel from amazon.co.uk, please click on its front cover