Edward Wilson

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Edward Wilson

Edward Wilson is a native of Baltimore. He served as a Special Forces officer in Vietnam and received the Army Commendation Medal with ‘V’ for his part in rescuing wounded Vietnamese soldiers from a minefield. His other decorations include the Bronze Star and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. After leaving the Army, Wilson gave up US nationality to become a British citizen. He is the author of four previous novels A River in May (shortlisted for the British Commonwealth Writers’ Prize), The Envoy, The Darkling Spy and The Midnight Swimmer, all published by Arcadia Books. The author now lives in Suffolk where he taught English and Modern Languages for 30 years.

Interviewed 18 October 2014

Ten words to sum up your working life to date ...

Farms, war, shipyards, trade unions, hospitals, classrooms, writing – always watching.

Nine things you can see from where you're sitting ...

Exposed oak beams, a thatched roof, Raymond the Llama, a rookery, a corner of the churchyard with 18th century gravestones, shrivelled daffodils, a hen blackbird foraging, a chaffinch undulating, a portrait of Admiral Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov.

Eight minutes to prepare a meal. What's it going to be ?

Dressed Cromer crab, new potatoes (microwaved to keep to the eight-minute rule), salad in vinaigrette, aioli, baguette, Chablis.

Seven people you'd like to go for a drink with ...

The Wife of Bath, St Thomas Aquinas, Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh, Sylvia Plath, Albert Camus, Jiang Qing (aka Madame Mao).

Six things you can't live without ...

An inglenook fire, red wine, Lapsang Souchong tea, the internet, my Labour Party membership, *** **** *****

Five favourite words ...

Undulating, intimate, hidden, languid, ****

Four places you'd run away to ...

Corsica, Havana, Savannakhet, Butley Creek in Suffolk

Three books you've bought recently ...

As a reviewer and author I get loads of books for free, but these are the last three I actually paid for: The Untouchable by John Banville; New & Collected Poems by George Szirtes; Karl Marx by Francis Wheen.

Two things that make you rant ...

Selling off the NHS; being told to hurry up when I’m already hurrying.

One thing you'd tell your teenage self ...

Become fluent in at least five languages including Mandarin and Russian.