A WINCHESTER author has celebrated the launch of her new novel, set in the backdrop of a global pandemic.
Costa Award-winning author Claire Fuller, launched The Memory of Animals at an event at Milner Hall on April 20.
The event also formed part of the Winchester Books Festival, which took place from April 21-23 at various locations around the city.
The event featured live music from Claire's son Henry Ayling, sparkling wine from The Grange and an incredible cake with an octopus on top.
Claire said: “If you read my previous novel Unsettled Ground, you need to brace yourselves for this, it's very different.
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“People have called this a pandemic novel, but it's almost a locked room mystery. But it does have a pandemic in it and I started writing it in September 2019, so it was six months before our pandemic.
“The Memory of Animals is about Neffy, she's 27-years-old and she volunteers for a vaccine trial. She goes into a medical unit in London and has a very bad reaction. When she wakes up, almost everyone else has gone. She is left with four strangers who she has to negotiate with to leave and are acting rather suspiciously.
“It's a story about memory, survival, love and octopuses. I want to be able to guarantee that if you read it, you will never want to eat octopus again.”
The Memory of Animals is out now and is available from P&G Wells in Winchester.
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