‘A journey into the heart of narrative darkness…a thorough investigation and collation of the facts’. The Guardian
‘Dramatic and disturbing…his evidence, used judiciously and presented without comment but with an undertone of urgency, is a damning indictment’. Anita Brookner, The Observer
‘The first serious book on the Bulger case…accomplished, reliable and informative…surprisingly evocative, even moving…immensely valuable’. Marcel Berlins, The Times
‘Painstakingly researched…avoids prescriptive comment and prurient flash…makes a persuasive case for the humanity of the two children’. New Statesman
‘Compelling and compassionate’. Times Educational Supplement
On the cover of The Sunday Times Magazine…
The Sleep Of Reason – The James Bulger Case by David James Smith:
Faber Finds edition with new preface, available September 15th, 2011.
Young Mandela the movie – in development.
From The Guardian
Read the article
In the Diary column of The Independent, April 13th, 2011
More on my previously unsubstantiated claim that the writer-director Peter Kosminsky, creator of The Promise, is working on a drama about Nelson Mandela. I’ve now learnt that the project is a feature film, in development with Film 4, about the young Mandela. Kosminsky is currently at work on the script and, given the complaints about the anti-Jewish bias of The Promise, it is unlikely to be a standard bland portrait of the former South African president.
Nelson Mandela was circumcised as a 16-year-old boy alongside a flowing river in the Eastern Cape. The ceremony was similar to those of other Bantu peoples. An elder moved through the line making ring-like cuts, and foreskins fell away. The boys could not so much as blink; it was a rite of passage that took you beyond pain. read full review
Jon Venables: What Went Wrong
BBC 1, 10.35
Thursday, April 21st, 2011