Author falls for city (From Oxford Mail)

Author falls for city

11:00am Sunday 16th September 2007

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Writer Elizabeth Garner visited Oxford to research her new novel and liked the city so much she decided to move here.

Miss Garner, 32, moved in with a friend in Charles Street, east Oxford, to research her novel, The Ingenious Edgar Jones.

The story is set in 19th century Oxford and tells the story of Edgar Jones, a college porter's son with a magical talent.

Miss Garner, whose father Alan wrote the children's classic The Owl Service, said she only intended to move to Oxford from London for six months but liked the city so much she decided to stay.

She said: "I liked my surroundings so much that I decided to stay in Oxford because I found it a very writer-friendly place.

"It was a combination of the beautiful architecture, the kind of friends I was making - musicians, youth workers and ecologists - and the chance to do more flexible working that made me decide to make a permanent move to Oxford.

"My book has a brilliant and headstrong child protagonist and the story has an Oxford setting, so the comparisons with Philip Pullman will be inevitable.

"But I like to think that Oxford has so many interesting nooks and crannies that they allow writers to explore lots of different locations and ideas.

"The novel features a child at the centre of it but it also explores some quite adult ideas surrounding the construction of the Museum of Natural History, so I'm hoping it will appeal to both adult and younger readers."

Miss Garner, who graduated with a degree in English at University College in 1997, has been working as a freelance film script editor while embarking on her career as a novelist.

Her first novel, Nightdancing, won a Betty Trask award and was shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award.

She added: "So far, my latest novel has been very well received and the rights for it to be published in America, and the audio rights have already been bought.

"I grew up around my dad writing and I have no doubt that it influenced me."

Miss Garner said she was now living in the house in Southfield Road, east Oxford, where she lived when she was a student.

"The house is owned by my parents and I have ended up moving back there," she added.

"I don't think I will be buying my own house for a while because property prices in Oxford are so expensive."

The Ingenious Edgar Jones is published by Headline Review on November 1, in hardback, price £19.99.

Miss Garner will be reading from both her novels at the re-scheduled Truck Festival in Steventon on Saturday, September 22, at 11.45am. Her publisher plans to launch the book in Oxford at a date to be fixed.

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