Vanessa Gebbie has taken time off from promoting her exceptional first novel, The Coward’s Tale, just published by Bloomsbury, to talk to me about Any Human Face, now out in a brand new paperback edition, with a picture of a mysterious young man and a baby blue Vespa on the cover, as well as a quote from the Daily Telegraph that I’ll leave you to read for yourselves. We talk about the book’s title and where it came from, the sense of corroboration one writer can give another, and loneliness, one of the central concerns of the book, and one that wasn’t planned in any way. But loneliness never is.
You can read what we both have to say here.
CHARLES LAMBERT 
That’s a great cover–esp the way the man’s face is turned away from the camera.
I think one should skip the word “loneliness.” It’s very oh-dear.
I’m not sure what ‘oh-dear’ really means. But I’ll certainly take your advice to heart!