An Author in the Family

It was after Edward Blincoe wrote the chapter in our book about Robert, his famous foundling ancestor, that I learnt that his son Nicholas was a full-time author. His Acid Casuals is an out-right thriller; when I saw another book reviewed in the travel magazine Everything France (Jan 2005) I thought I'd pass it along to you all:

Burning Paris, Nicholas Blincoe
Sceptre, £16.99

Partly a depiction of 19th-Century Paris, but mostly a telling account of the modern day, Burning Paris is a message to all writers who get too close to their subject matter.

Economy is a much-overlooked asset in writing, and one that Nicholas Blincoe turns on to his advantage. His tale — which marries a story within a story, set in 1870, and the main plot, fictional author James Beddoes composing his own tale — could be overly complicated. Thankfully, readers are spared a trip into one author's ego, with Blincoe's moulding of words offering little distraction from the story.

At points, the lives of the novelist in the book and his own subject matter no longer run parallel, but cross — readers might wonder if Blincoe himself had the same problems.

Keep an eye open for it in the bookstalls!