Speakeasy Presents Ten for '15: A Fictional Special

We’ll be playing host to ten of 2015’s most exciting writers from a range of genres. Readings, games and opportunities to meet the authors, all with added cocktails and cake.

Our comperes for the evening are dynamic duo Ian Ellard and Tom Pollock. And the authors? Feast your eyes on this lot:

EMILY BULLOCK’s debut novel, THE LONGEST FIGHT, was inspired by her grandfather and is set in 1950s South East London in the gritty and violent world of boxing. A beautifully written exploration of love and family loyalty, and the strength of relationships formed in an ambitious world.

ALEX CHRISTOFI is a literary agent and now an acclaimed debut author. Described as Huckleberry Finn meets Candide, but with added window cleaning, GLASS is a charming, off-beat comedy about a young man finding his way in the modern world.

NICCI CLOKE’s second novel, LAY ME DOWN, is a haunting and heart-breaking story about love, suicide and the effect a single event can have over one life and countless others. Set in San Francisco, it follows a couple, Jack and Elsa, as they struggle to adjust to the extraordinary demands of Jack’s job on the Golden Gate Bridge.

SHELLEY HARRIS is the author of JUBILEE and now VIGILANTE: a smart, funny and shocking novel about a woman who refuses to accept that she can’t be extraordinary. After stumbling into a vigilante rescue one night, Jenny Pepper decides to become a hero – but with frightening consequences.

ANTONIA HONEYWELL’s debut novel, THE SHIP, is a beautiful futuristic fable set in a London in meltdown. Sixteen year old Lalla’s father has a plan to escape: he will captain a ship big enough to save five hundred worthy people. But what is the price of salvation?

DEN PATRICK returns with THE BOY WHO WEPT BLOOD, the much-anticipated follow-up to THE BOY WITH THE PORCELAIN BLADE. Both are part of his series of stand-alone fantasies, the Erebus Sequence, and take place in a pseudo-Renaissance Italy populated by troubled yet empathic characters.

PETER SWANSON follows up THE GIRL WITH A CLOCK FOR A HEART—hailed by the Washington Post as “crime fiction’s best first novel of 2014”— with THE KIND WORTH KILLING: a devious tale of psychological suspense involving sex, deception, and an accidental encounter that leads to murder that is a modern reimagining of Patricia Highsmith’s classic Strangers on a Train.

DAVID WHITEHOUSE is the author of the acclaimed BED, and now MOBILE LIBRARY: a tragicomic road trip and a celebration of the adventures that books can take us on. Quirky, dark, magical and full of heart, it’s a love-letter to unlikely families and the stories that shaped us.

REBECCA WHITNEY’s debut novel, THE LIAR’S CHAIR, asks the question: What if the thing you were most afraid of was your husband? An intelligent, heart-in-your-mouth thriller and stunning psychological portrait of a woman in search of atonement.

RUTH WARE’s debut thriller IN A DARK DARK WOOD, is a chilling and terrifying psychological thriller. Nora hasn’t seen Clare for years. Not since they were at school together. So she’s surprised to receive an invitation to Clare’s hen do. Perhaps it’s their chance to put the past behind them. But then, the perfect pre-wedding get-together starts to go horribly, frighteningly wrong.