Clara And Christina: 'Like Spending Time With An Old, And Infinitely Wiser, Friend' Jan Carson

'Clara and Christina radiates with wisdom, intelligence and humanity. Andrew Cunning is a very fine writer' Wendy Erskine, author of The Benefactors

'An absolute delight, full of warmth and human surprise' Louise Nealon, author of Snowflake

'A novel full of wisdom, insight, tenderness, and love, it stands in a league of its own among recent debuts' Patrick Holloway, author of The Language of Remembering

Two women meet in an unassuming coffee shop in Belfast; they seem an unlikely pair. Clara is young, inquisitive, optimistic for what the meeting holds. Christina is older, in her seventies, still glamorous, still quick. She is working on her fifth novel but no one yet knows of its existence. Clara is there to interview Christina, for her own book, anticipating some major scoop on this reclusive novelist. She wants to unearth the truth behind the fiction. But Christina has a different lesson in store for Clara.

Over a few months, a relationship forms between these two women who live their lives in books. Clara, writing her first, embraces this opportunity to learn from a writer finishing her last. During this time, Clara, face to face with her hero, begins to question her own convictions ultimately asking herself: what if there is nothing but fiction?

Clara and Christina details the beautiful unfurling of an unexpected friendship; a friendship based on lessons taught and lessons learned, as well as mutual respect between young and old. It heralds the arrival of a bold new voice in Northern Irish fiction.

Andrew Cunning was born on the North coast of Ireland and now lives in North Belfast. He taught literature and theology at various universities, and now teaches English in an all-ability secondary school. Clara and Christina is his first novel.