Bernardine Evaristo’s husband David Shannon recently published his debut novel, Howul: A Life’s Journey.  In an interview with BBC News, Shannon reveals that he had been working on the novel in secret for years, telling Evaristo that he was playing video games in his study.

Howul  is set in a post-apocalyptic future where technology no longer exists and books are dangerous. Evaristo is pleased with the work. On Instagram she writes: “An extraordinary dystopian tale full of originality and humour and I love it!”

The fact of his being married to a Booker Prize winning fiction writer was alluded to in the BBC interview. Shannon jokes: “Obviously, I’ll be very disappointed if it doesn’t win the booker prize this year. No, I mean she’s been at the top of her game for so long and it would take me many, many years. I’m on the foothills and she is at the top of the mountain.”

Evaristo, who is supportive and has had nothing but praise for Shannon’s book, responds: “Well, actually you know, were just doing something very different with our work and David is at the beginning of his career as a writer, but he has written I think a really extraordinary book that is so different from anything I’ve ever read before and I hope people go out and buy it.”

It is all so lovely and beautifully romantic that Evaristo and her husband are sharing the powerful experience of being writers.

To learn more about Shannon and his journey to becoming an author, see this profile by The Daily Mail. Read the synopsis and follow this link to buy Howul.

PS: We love this photo of the duo!