The Writing School: A memoir

by Miranda France

‘Both extremely funny and deeply sad, The Writing School examines how and why we tell our own stories. It’s beautifully written and structured, compelling, wise and fabulously readable’ Lissa Evans

‘The Writing School is an extraordinary book. It is funny, exhilarating, heart-breaking and passionate. Its delicate pulsing themes are held like a bird in the writer’s confident, gentle hand’ Katharine Norbury

A creative writing course is a chance for reinvention. When author Miranda France sets off to teach at a residential writing school in a remote valley, she expects to meet a group of aspiring writers with the usual mix of hope and unrealised ambitions, talents and motivation.

Tensions are bound to emerge over the course of the week they spend together: personalities will clash, egos will need to be tamed or gently encouraged. What France doesn’t expect, as she takes her tutees through a series of exercises designed to help them explore different aspects of their writing, is that a ghost from her own life will join them.

As the daily drama of the writing school unfurls, so memories resurface concerning a death that profoundly shaped the author’s world when she was a teenager. Soon France’s memories interweave with her present task of thinking about writing and storytelling, and she too becomes a student: asking, what is to be done with our memories of those we have lost? What is behind the urge to put lives into words? And is it ever right to tell another person’s story?

A delightful and unusual blend of storytelling and memoir, packed full of literary anecdote and insight from the author’s own experience as well as that of other writers and poets, The Writing School is a moving and often very funny book about why people write, as well as being a uniquely generous masterclass on the art of writing itself.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

224 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 4, 2023

About the author

Miranda France is an award winning writer and translator. She has written two highly acclaimed travel books, Bad Times in Buenos Aires and Don Quixote's Delusions. France has won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. She has translated Argentine writers including Alberto Manguel, Claudia Piñeiro and Liliana Heker. She grew up on a farm, not unlike the farm that is featured in her first novel, That Summer at Hill Farm, but now lives in London with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Irene Adler · Rating 4 out of 5]

WARNING - This book discusses mental health disorders, suicide and workplace bullying.

Note: I read the paperback edition but I've given up trying to get edition updates on Good Reads. The cover is the same.

I was tripped up by the way this book is promoted: It's not really about writing, although it has quite a lot to say about writers, and some about the ethics of writing about others. It is very funny at times (mostly self-deprecating humour) and it's also very sad at times. At times it was painful and made me wince.

I wanted to give the author a hug and make sure she was okay.

I may never take a writer's retreat.

So I didn't really *enjoy* this book, but I'm glad I read it. I might even read it again and see how it lands, now that I am not expecting something quite different.

[Lula Belle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious in parts, sad in others and engrossing throughout. France's memoir has two strands: her experience as a writing tutor at a residential creative writing course, and the mystery around her beloved, late brother and his suicide. France has comic flair in her depiction of the former, while also being humble, sensitive and deeply honest. Her writing about how her brother's death affected her family and her life is brilliant. The way she reconnects with his memory makes for a satisfying ending.

[Lisa Abraham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the style and structure of this book. A glimpse into her life as a writer was fascinating and it was easy to feel connected to the author. She evokes vivid imagery and emotions through her writing about grief, loss and writing itself. Beautiful book.

[Marina Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is something between a memoir (the author explores the loss of her older brother to suicide in his 20s and the impact it has had on her family) and a comic novel (inspired by people who attended some of the courses the author taught on). It also has moments of insight and encouragement for those of us who aspire to be writers, tempered with the reality of the lack of glamour of most writers’ experiences and lifestyles. It was understated and very much to my liking, but may be quite niche.

[Lisa of Hopewell]

I learned of this book in a tweet from author Lissa Evans

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author deftly handled multiple story lines, and provided useful information including an excellent resource section at the end of the book.

[Richard Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Absorbing, insightful, and instructive. Bottom line, though, is - art is what you make it, not what people tell you it is.

[Sara Lodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in one sitting. It is warm, funny, moving and thought-provoking. Highly recommended.

[Lyn Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a bit more than I expected from this well written book. From the teachers point of view to what the students were coping with in their day to day lives. It had humour, sadness, but most of all it had stories that need to be told and not only by the students.

[Jo - Cup of Toast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, thoughtful, deeply moving. The Writing School is beautifully structured and a must read for any aspiring authors along with anyone who enjoys a well written book that delves into real, raw life and emotions. I couldn’t put this book down and just a few months after reading it am itching to go back and read it again.