Ever feel like the End Times have truly arrived? Ever find yourself compelled to hunker down in an underground bunker with the fragments you have shored against your ruins?

These fragments, to us here at The Maker, are the books we would wish to take into the new world. Re-entering literature into culture is a tall order, and one we certainly do not take lightly. Inspired by the events of the past few years and with the help of some of our favourite poets, novelists and Charles Causley enthusiasts, we’re undertaking a brand new series here on our literary blog called Apocalypse Lit, with the hopes that we might find a suitable set of texts to huddle up with as the world caves in… hypothetically, of course.

Image: Dan Hall

We sat down (virtually) with Patrick Gale, Sunday Times bestselling author and recent publisher of Mother’s Boy, an excellent new novel based on the life and work of our very own Charles Causley, to kick off our brand new series and find out which books he would have us pick up at the end of all our days. Enjoy, and stay safe out there…

In your view, what book does everyone need to read in childhood? Why?

I think a book of poetry is a must for every child and what better one is there than Charles Causley’s Collected Children’s Poetry. It will awaken a love of language, a sense of mystery and, quite often, simply demonstrate the sheer fun of words placed in a certain order.

What should be read in adolescence?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith are both classic texts that speak directly to the sense adolescents and children so often have that crucial truths about life have been held back from them by adults. They’re both novels in which language and reading enrich the heroine’s (and the reader’s) sense of life’s possibilities.

What required reading should adulthood have?

George Eliot’s Middlemarch is unsurpassed as the great novel about disappointment. Its young characters all embark on the story as so many young people do on adulthood, convinced of their own abilities and strengths, only for the utterly brilliant plot to show how life is never as simple as our wishes. The consoling genius of the novel is that, rather than simply punishing her characters, Eliot brings them (and the reader) to a deeper understanding of society, of how we are all connected and must all support one another.

Which text would you choose for everyone in middle age?

Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City – and its five sequels – should be prescribed to all readers who think they’ve reached the age where nothing exciting will happen again. Outrageous, funny and unexpectedly moving, their tales of the adventures of a disparate “elective” family of friends brought together by an eccentric San Francisco landlady are great for awakening a sense

that life may yet pack some rich surprises and that the power to change lies in us all.

The best book to aid us as we tackle aging?

I think Proust’s great novel sequence beginning with Swann’s Way is the perfect reading for anyone who feels they’re entering life’s later stages. It celebrates memory – that organ that gets so fired up as we slow down – it’s often extremely funny, it reminds us that memory is fallible and happiness often easier to enjoy in retrospect than at the time and manages to make age and time seem merely relative rather than tyrannical.

Lastly, which book will sweeten the end of life for us all?

I think E M Forster’s masterpiece, Howard’s End, takes some beating. At its heart is the story of the transformative power of legacy, of a how a gift made impulsively at the drawing near of death alters and enriches the lives of all it touches.

Mother’s Boy will be released on the 1st of March 2022. You can purchase your copy and have it signed by Patrick at our Book Signing event in Launceston on Sunday 6th March at 3pm. For more information, and to view our fantastic weekend of events, see our website events page.