Author and freelance TV executive Samuel Burr talks to us about his debut novel 'The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers' and gives us a personalised crossword puzzle based on the letters in Suffolk Libraries.
Samuel Burr studied at Westminster Film School and now works as an author and freelance TV executive. He has developed and produced popular-factual shows including Channel 4’s Genderquake and The Greatest Shows on Earth, BBC Two’s Eight Go Rallying and The Secret Life of Cleaners, BBC Four’s Make: Craft Britain, and the BAFTA-nominated Secret Life of 4-Year-Olds.
A documentary he shot inside a retirement village when he was eighteen years old launched his career in television and inspired his debut novel, The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers. Samuel’s writing was shortlisted for Penguin’s WriteNow scheme and in 2021 he graduated from the Faber Academy. The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers was published by Orion Books on 9th May and you can also find it on the Suffolk Libraries catalogue.
I remember so vividly curling up in bed with the Roald Dahl Treasury as a child. I still have that book somewhere. It’s a huge, heavy claret-coloured thing and has extracts from his novels, plus some strange poems, recipes, short stories and, of course, the wonderful illustrations of Quentin Blake.
I loved how Dahl injected magic into everyday life. I guess, in a way that’s something I’ve tried to do with my own novel, to find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
It all came from a frustration at having too many TV proposals turned down. I worked as a development producer in unscripted TV before becoming a writer, so I’ve grown quite a thick skin when it comes to having ideas rejected (that is, after all, the name of the game in TV land), but even still, after 10+ years in the industry, I started to resent having to secure so many people’s permission to bring a story to life. To get one of my ideas on screen, I had to receive ‘green lights’ from producers, commissioners, channel controllers, schedulers, and the list goes on and on. What appealed to me about novel writing – when I first started out, anyway – was that it didn’t require me to seek anyone’s permission to make it happen. I didn’t need a million-pound budget. I didn’t even need anyone to approve the idea. I just had to pick up a pen and paper and write it.
I would describe myself as an enthusiastic amateur! My favourite puzzle has got to be a jigsaw. There is nothing quite like drawing the curtains, pouring a glass of wine and sorting through a thousand pieces! The thing I love about puzzles is that they’re something we all have a connection to. Whether it’s
memories of playing with a shape sorter as a child, doing a jigsaw with your grandparents, or Wordle on the subway. Puzzles are part of all of our lives. And they are pure escapism. When we’re solving puzzles we’re not thinking about anything else at all. I think we could all do with a bit of that right now.
Of course! It’s the story of Clayton Stumper - a young man who is a bit of a young fogey. Clay dresses like your grandad and drinks sherry like your aunt. At 25 years of age, he finds himself as one of the surviving members of a very British institution. The Fellowship is a retirement community made up of some of the smartest minds in the country and it’s where he was abandoned at birth. Among the residents are a mazemaker, a quiz setter, and a jigsaw artist to name just a few. But there’s a mystery at the heart of the Fellowship…. a puzzle that’s yet to be solved…. and that’s how Clayton came to be there, and where he came from. When the founder of the Fellowship – an esteemed cruciverbalist (or a crossword compiler) called Pippa Allsbrook passes away, she bequeaths her final puzzle to the young man she’s raised as her own. And so, we follow Clayton on a quest, as he pieces together the clues of his past, and finds himself at the same time.
At its heart, it’s a story about young man finding his place in the world. But it is also a celebration of the wisdom of age and the friendships that can exist between the old and young.
Definitely. I wrote Puzzlemakers during the pandemic and these characters were my salvation during that awful time. I loved spending time with them. They were the best company and the perfect distraction. I knew I wanted to write a book that makes you feel better about the world and offered some respite from all the awful things going on around us.
Pippa is a formidable older female character and I’m very lucky to have plenty of those in my life, so she’s inspired by all of those brilliant women. When it comes to Clayton, I must confess I am a massive young fogey myself so there’s definitely a few similarities between the two of us. I love Antique’s Roadshow, always have boiled sweets in my pockets, and rarely listen to anything but Radio 4. This book . . . and Clayton himself . . . has taught me to embrace that side of myself.
I’m delighted to have the opportunity to write a second book which is another standalone novel. While I can’t say too much at this point, I hope that anyone who has read and enjoyed The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers will also enjoy my second book. Nostalgic joy. That’s all I’m saying for now!
I’m immensely fond of a book called We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman. Ostensibly it’s a book about dying and yet, it’s one of the funniest books I’ve read too. It tells the story of two best friends – Edi and Ash – and follows the pair as Edi starts to receive palliative care and prepares for the end of her life. Doesn’t sound hilarious does it, but I love books that make you laugh and cry. The tone is perfect. It feels so real and raw and all the more moving for it.
Using just the sixteen letters that appear in ‘SUFFOLK-LIBRARIES’, can you solve these quick crossword clues (answers at the end):
1. Puffy egg creations (8)
2. Aurora __________ (northern lights) (8)
3. Perfectly happy (8)
My cat Muriel is the light of my life and features in my novel!
(Puzzle answers: Souffles, Borealis, Blissful)
