Fiction writer Joanna Trollop visits Amber Books

INTERNATIONALLY BEST-
SELLING . author Joanna

-Trollop, also known as roman- .

tic fiction writer Caroline

. Harvey, made a triumphant

visit to the North Shore last
_ Sunday with a guest appear-
ance at Amber Books‘in West
Vancouver,

By Ann Hamilton

» Contributing Writer

The..slim, attractive, blond, 51-
year-old British writer, who says she
has fallen in love with Canada, was
smartly dressed in a grey turtle-neck
sweater, tailored taupe suite, black
ankle boots and an ever-so-English
accent. She was in town for the first

“time as part of her cross-Canada

p tour, “which began in Halifax nearly

.. & fortnight ago,” to promote her new

‘book titled The Best of Friends, and
to. participate in the Vancouver
Writers Festival.

~ Amber Books — a quaint, loca!
book shop that offers great selection
anda staff who are wonderfully
‘helpful in assisting customers find

their perfect read —- was an ideal

nook fer locals to meet the author.
Located below street level in the
heart of Dundarave, the shop was

;

‘said ~ salmon were’ scarce and

<'believed the reports. “They think

that there are no fish,” he. said.

“Nothing could be further from the

truth”.
Kersch notched a 33% decline in
new business: Fcr Korsch, a 10-year
veteran of guiding, that was not cat-

astrophic because his repeat cus-

tomers remained faithful.
* But for those in the business one

': to two years, the media reports were

a black eye that t dropped their busi-

brimming with fans when Troilop —
accompanied by Sarah MacLachlan

of Lith Brown and Company and

Don Hoglund of DoubleDay Books
—— 4ppeared on the scene prior to her
3 p.m. booking.

“Yo can’t believe so many have
turned oul on a Sunday afternoun,”
smiled Trollop.

The ambiance was warm and
welcoming, rather like a good friend
was having a few best-ones round
for some delightful conversation and
eniertaining bits of gossip. English .
finger-sandwiches, cookies and tea
stood on the ready, bul mostly peo-
ple concentrated on settling into one
of the many scats provided for the
one-and-a-half-hour visit with the
guest of honor.

After a warm. welcome by
Kathleen Naime, (store co-owner
with Cora Sumberg-Alderman, and
emotional introduction by staff .
member Jif] Weir, which touched
everyone, Trollop —- a consumate
story-teller and writer -— promised
to read from her new book and to
give insight into her literary success.

“| thought Md tell you a bit about
how it all came about, this writing
thing, and why it’s really taken me
20 years to be an overnight success.”
said Trollop.

ness up to 50%, said Korsch.

Korsch added a goad fishery for
big chinook exists in Indian Arm.

He said that although the sock-
eye run was downgraded drastically
this year, the 30,000 fish snagged by
the sports fishery won't affect future
stocks.

Department of Fisheries. and

Oceans (DFO) researchers said
_ about 60,000 Georgia Strait chi-

nook were taken this year. Chinook
returns, said DFO’s Brian Riddell,
are better than recent years, but he °
warned survival rates of hatchery

” (Mature) at 9:30 pm
THE POSTMAN

(Mature) at 7:15

. (Mature) at 7:00 pm
Matinees Sat & Sun at 2:00 pm
TO WONG FOO
{Mature} 9:30 pm. Ends Thursday

BAHGEROUS BINDS

__ (Mature) 7:05 & 9:15 pa
:. Matinees Sat & Sun at 2:05 pm

aE
ne ¥!

The self-confessed story addict
—- married twice with grown chil-
dren —- says she has a hunger and a
respect for stories. She learned to
read at a young age and wrote her
first novel, unpublished, at 14.
Trollop always had a feeling she was
destined for something, but didn’t
quite know what.

She's played many roles over the
years including civil servant,
teacher, mother and wife. But after
attending a publishing party, Trollop
tefocused on writing and completed
a novel. The wheels were set in
motion.

Trollop’s 60-minute talk, includ-
ing a reading from her new book,
was charming, interesting and funny.
She spoke mostly about her career,
which began nearly 25 years ago by
“sending off a manuscript in a brown
paper parcel,” and also mentioned
literary circles and family members
including that famous relation
Anthony Trollop, to whom, she says,
in Britain they refer to as the “real
Trollop”.

Later, a question period and
book-signing session gave everyone
an opportunity for a one-on-one chat
with the unassuming, hugely like-
able author.

Trollop shared advice for would-

Better chinook returns posted

° From, page 24

fish in the strait have been poor.
Meanwhile, Seymour River
Hatchery manager Janice Jarvis told
the News a rain-swolien Seymour
has made recent return estimates for
coho difficult to pin down. Her gut
feeling, however, is that the run,
which usually numbers between
3,000 to 6,000, is closer to the lower
end. Steelhead retums look about
average, cutthroat are reportedly
good, and pink returns in September

and chinook returns were. better

than average, she said."
Capilano Hatchery assistant

an Sees

This week's feature:
THE BABYSITTER
UB
October 21 & 22 - 2:10pm

“Inan emergency, hearing loss can be life threatening for you
and your loved ones. If you think you may have hearing loss,
don’t wait for a crisis, have your hearing checked today. -

Ask your doctor, or cail us today for a free hearing screening.
‘North Vancouver 985-5552 / West Vancouver 926-9424

Audiologists. and Hearing Instrument Speciatists Registered Under the Hearing Aid Act (BC) «.

be authors: “Keep at it really. [ think
keeping a journal is a good thing, not
necessarily a day-to-day diary, but
keeping a kind of word scrapbook of
things that occur to you — snatches
of conversations, quotations, ideas,
descriptive passages, photographs,
pictures, so that you are really train-
ing your powers of observations.
That’s what you need.”

And there were words of wisdom
to combat writer's block: “Go and
do something quite different. Hang
the washing out, take the dog for a
walk, or go to the grocery shop. On
the whole, just try to release your
mind from that sort of lock.”

Another tip is to understand the
desires of the readership: “The 90's
has got a different mood. It is a
sober, reflective decade at the end of
this’ troubled century. When we
would like to be able to wipe the
slate clean before the millennium.”

And while Troliop, herself a per-
ceptive and exceptional writer, con-
fesses her very favorite read to be
George Elliot's Middlemarch, she
gave top praise to home-grown tal-
ent. “I. think three of the best writers
writing in the world right now are
three Canadian .women.— Carol
Shields, Margaret Atwood,.. and
Alice Munro. I have read every word

this year

manager Jim Elliott said coho tar-
gets have been met for two retums
earlier this year, and he expects late
retums to meet targets .as. well.
“Quite a few chinook” have
returned, he said.

We've “Raised the Roof”

that all three of them have written.”

Of her own popularity, Trollop
says she wus purt of the quiet revival
of the taditional novel: “What we
were all longing for was a return to
something Hike the 19th Century
novel. Where we longed to tum the
page over to find out what happens
next. And the novel was, at the same
time, filled with people we recog-
nized, And even if they were dressed
in crinolines and eating and drinking -
different things from us, they were in
the grip of a moral dilemma that we
recognized as universally human.”

The crowd was delighted to learn
that the author was as wonderfully
appealing in person as one of her
remarkably sstisfying reads.

“Jt was absolutely spectacular,”
said Naime of the Trollop’s North
Shore visit. “Joanna is one of the

ost interesting authors I've ever

ORIENTAL |
EXPHESS —

narrated live on stage
’ by Buddy Hatton...

| NORTH VAN. CENTENNIAL THEATRE:

Tues., Get. 31, $:45 & 8:15 pra

Resorved Seats $12.75
- Plus sarvice charges, inciutiss GST.

Photo Submitted Gladys Lee}

‘and now we’re celebrating!

Pictured above is the very active Advisory Board comprised of a to R)
Vi Roden, Frank Kurucz, Bill King (chair), Wilf Olson, Len Goodman, .
Mary Maude, Barbara McMechan, Eric Caldicott. Absent is Gertrude

Gibson and Bruce Scott.

| Serving World Famous Fish & Chips
in HORSESHOE BAY since 1946

He Expires Nov. 3/95
© Mon. - Fri. only |
“"2 p.m. to'closing

® Horseshoe Bay
« location only

® Eatin only

Buy the first entree, and receive a second
: entree of equal or lesser value with this ad,

FREE: |

6408 Bay Street
3. West Vancouver

921