Natasha Solomons (born 1980) is a British author.[1] Her novels include House of Gold, The Gallery of Vanished Husbands, The House at Tyneford, The Novel of the Viola, The Song Collector, Song of Hartgrove Hall and Mr Rosenblum's List. Solomons has won awards for her novels, including several for The House at Tyneford and The Song of Hartgrove Hall.[2] Her work has been translated into seventeen languages.
Natasha Solomons | |
|---|---|
 Solomons in 2019 | |
| Born | 1980 South London |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | David Solomons |
| Website | natashasolomons |
Life
editShe was born Natasha Carsley in South London and raised in North Dorset to a secular Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father.[3] Her maternal grandparents fled Berlin and Austria[4] in the late 1930s, arriving first in London and then settling in the Blackmore Vale, Dorset.[5]
Solomons was educated at Eltham College. She holds an MPhil in English literature from the University of Glasgow and a PhD in eighteenth-century fiction from the University of Aberdeen. She lives in Dorset, England, with her husband, award-winning children's writer David Solomons, and their two young children.[citation needed]
Career
editHer debut novel, Mr Rosenblum's List drew extensively from their experiences. Solomons has described the novel as "a scrapbook of her memories". She was particularly close to her grandfather. Solomons is dyslexic[6] and struggled at school with her handwriting, but had ambitions to be a writer even when she was quite young. When she told her grandfather she wanted to be a writer, he took her absolutely seriously. He left her his writing desk in his will. As Solomons related in an interview in 2010:
"When he died I was 20 but he left a message in his will that he'd written when I was only 10 and in it he said: 'I leave to my granddaughter, Natasha, my antique writing desk to help with her ambition of becoming a writer.' I love it that while everyone else was thinking, 'When's she going to learn to read properly?' my grandfather thought, 'She said she's going to be a writer. She's going to be a writer.' So of course I wrote Mr Rosenblum at his desk."[5]
In 2009, Sceptre Books UK announced a deal for a six-figure sum with Solomons for her first two novels: Mr Rosenblum's List and (at the time unnamed) The House at Tyneford.[7][8] In 2010, She was shortlisted for the Galaxy National Book Awards New Writer award for Mr Rosenblum's List.[9]
In 2011, The Novel of the Viola was included in Richard and Judy's Summer Reads.[10] In 2012, The House at Tyneford debuted at number 29 on The New York Times' bestselling authors list.[11] The TV rights for her novel, House of Gold, were acquired by Tall Stories Pictures in 2018.[12]
She has written articles for national newspapers such as The Telegraph.[13] and Evening Standard.[6] She works with her husband, David Solomons, as a screenwriter.
In 2019, her unpublished short story, "Curtis Butterworth Loves Molly May" was adapted as a stage play by Tim Laycock and Emma Hill. It debuted in Dorchester, Dorset in October 2019.[14] It was due to go on tour in 2020. This has been delayed due to the pandemic.
Bibliography
editNovels
edit- 2010 Mr Rosenblum's List
- 2011 The House at Tyneford
- 2011 The Novel of the Viola
- 2013 The Gallery of Vanished Husbands
- 2016 Song of Hartgrove Hall
- 2016 The Song Collector
- 2019 House of Gold
- 2022 I, Mona Lisa
- 2023 Fair Rosaline
Plays
edit- 2019 Curtis Butterworth Loves Molly May
References
edit- ^ "Best Sellers: Paperback Trade Fiction: Sunday, January 22nd 2012". query.nytimes.com. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
- ^ "Award-Winning Books by Natasha Solomons".
- ^ Cooper, Elise (30 September 2013). "Interview: Natasha Solomons". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
- ^ Grant, Frances (22 May 2011). "Natasha Solomons: Revealing joy beneath the Jewish tragedy". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 7 September 2024.
- ^ a b Keenan, Catherine (3 April 2010). "Rules are for breaking". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
- ^ a b "I thought that there were two separate languages: one sounds and one". Evening Standard. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
- ^ Gallagher, Victoria (3 March 2009). "Natasha Solomons to Sceptre". Bookseller.
- ^ "Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons | Book review". the Guardian. 17 April 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
- ^ "Book awards: Galaxy National Book Awards Shortlist". 2010.
- ^ "Richard and Judy in WH Smith deal". The Independent. 11 May 2011. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
- ^ "Best Sellers: Paperback Trade Fiction: Sunday, January 22nd 2012". query.nytimes.com. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
- ^ White, Peter (19 November 2018). "ITV-Backed Tall Story Pictures Developing TV Adaptation Of Natasha Solomons' Euro Banking Dynasty Novel 'House Of Gold'". Deadline.
- ^ Solomons, Natasha (15 September 2015). "How I Discovered the Lost Songs of Britain". Telegraph.
- ^ Davis, Joanna (12 October 2019). "This space has been transformed into a new arts venue where a quirky festival finale will be staged". Dorset Echo.