Oh Granny P... That is SOOOO great. I love the Cure and I have often wondered if Charlotte Sometimes was inspired by your book, but I thought naaah, can't have been.
How cool is that. My favourite book and one of my favourite bands.
Thanks for sharing!!
MUST get a copy of Charlotte Sometimes for my kids (and me)]
love Janexxxxx
That really is an incredible story... And he does sound like a nice man, too. I don't know, between you and Pat, the stories just keep on coming.
I've always liked The Cure though - all that lovely bleakness seems to make me feel good!
That's a wonderful story Penny and I would have forgiven all for that glorious moment- which is unprofesssional of me I know - when a whole audience acknowledged your talent. Priceless!
Thank you for relating this amazing story ! I do apologize for not having read your book but I suppose it's because I'm french !
Mr Smith caught my heart and charmed me with his music and his words 25 years ago, and since then, he gave me (and still gives) a lot of emotion. That’s why I feel happy to hear of him in a kindly way.
I’m now going to try to get a copy of your book, and after that, if you allow me to, I’ll raise my wine glass with you (maybe Mr Smith likes french wine ?).
(please, forgive my english : reading is easier for me than writing...)
Penelope, what a brilliant story, thanks. Well written and gave me goose bumps. And what an experience. Fantastic!
It as was good to write as to it was to live and I'm glad you all enjoyed it. J - I'd forgotten you were a twin too - so of course it registered! Blanche, your English sounds just like my French - and my Spanish - but comes across much better written than I think mine would. Lucky you can read it though - Charlotte had been translated into Japanese Czech and Estonian... but not into French, wouldn't you know. Hope you enjoy it! love to everyone meanwhile. GP/Penelope
Wow granny p, you're more famous than the famous (in an obscure kinda way) (which is probably far preferable). That's so kewl.
BTW, did he know you were coming?
For sure he did...I guess he had to approve it.
What an astonishing experience! Thank you so much for blogging it.
OH
MY
GOD!!!!!!!!!!
Penelope this gave me goosebumps. YAY to Robert Smith for acknowledging you privately as the inspiration for his song and then PUBLICLY too! That's great that there is a new American edition too! AND, I have the same Puffin book with the 2 little girls! It has the last few pages missing but it was mine from the age of about 9 when Santa slipped it into my xmas pillow slip.
I have been on road and offline so have not read earlier adventures but will now do so. (And also had trouble commenting for some reason typepad not letting me, hope this one gets thru it's hard to write the same gush twice!)
xxxv
What an experience. One of those wonderfully connecting experiences. Different artistic mediums, strong connection. Wow.
I'm going to get that new US addition for my granddaughter, Charlotte. She won't be ready to read it for a while, but it will await the right time.
My comment got chomped and spat at somewhere into the ether.
Wonderful recounting of a great experience. I'm going to get the new US edition for my granddaughter, Charlotte. She won't be ready to read it for a few years yet, but it will await her pleasure.
ahem...I stand corrected
What a great, satisfying end to the story - I will definitely try to listen to a copy of the song.
Lin, Zinnia C, Ovagirl, J Davis - thanks friends. Nice to hear you might be adding to the Cure's profits JD. I'm sure the song can be downloaded from the Internet. Though I doubt it can be had in any form on YOutube.
Actually...Penelope....
Having now read your first post about this I am less excited and rather more cross. i didn't realise how much of your words they actually used in the song.
I think they DO owe you some kind of royalty. Can you imagine if someone did a song called "The Philosophers Stone" and it was all about a kid called Harry finding himself through magic and wizardry...I'm sure that everyone would be delighted if the band simply said at a concert one night "cheers to jkr for writing the book that spawned this song." NOT.
That's very nice of RS to acknowledge you publicly but actually I think it would have been a lot more meaningful to also pay you your rightful percentage of song royalties.
Grumpy on your behalf.
And also....something you said about Charlotte Sometimes also inspiring characters in films etc.... were you referring to fabuloso TV series "Six Feet Under"? In that, Rachel griffiths plays a character Brenda who we discover wrote a children's book called "Charlotte Light And Dark". This is referred to by other characters as this amazing book about youth and identity that everyone knows.
Pen, that's a wonderful story and a great experience to have had but my more cynical/practical side has to wholly agree with OvaGirl. I think Robert may have been worried that you'd come to make a fuss. But you didn't and were sweet about it so he then gave you public acknowledgement. Nice, but not fair. He would have had advice from his manager/agent/record company to play it cool and see whether you had a lawyer up your sleeve. They must all have breathed a sigh of relief afterwards.
Sorry to line up with grumpyness here but it really ain't fair and you must (we all must) learn to stand up for ourselves.
I've just been to YouTube and yes, the Cure is there with Charlotte Sometimes, several versions, and one video even has a schoolgirl walking up wonderingly to an old building.... straight out of your book. Go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l...related&
search=
or just enter: the Cure, Charlotte Sometimes
in the YouTube search box.
If it were me, I'd be really really pissed off.
No Granny, I wasn't going to buy it - just rifle through my husband's collection of Cure records. Just watched the YouTube link anyway - my vision of Charlotte when I read the book certainly wasn't as glamorous as theirs! I can see you had very good grounds to feel grumpy - what a rip off.
Hullo and gratitude to you lot. No, I didn't know about Six Feet Under - Beloved and I are just getting into the first series and loving it. Do you know which series this came up in, Ovagirl? Obviously it must have had my Charlotte in mind which I suppose is flattering. The film was something quite different though. As for the video, Natalie, which I've just seen - that IS the last straw and I'm spitting. Perhaps I should start a blogging campaign to GET PF HER DUE...Joking. (Sort of.) But thanks everyone for the support xx
Pen, I really do think this is a serious breach of copyright and shouldn't be taken lightly. I'm in the Society of Authors and a lot of people there have fought long and hard to have authors' work given the respect it deserves and the recognition that it's *work*, real work, and that it's the way many of us earn our living (or try to). People who steal our work in order to profit from it should not be allowed to get away with it. How much time, thought, skill, experience and effort did you put into writing and editing Charlotte Sometimes? How much effort did Robert the Cure put into "borrowing" your book and composing his song and videos etc. based on it?
How much has he earned from this borrowing? And,er, how about you? I rest my case. Talk to a lawyer and to the Society of Authors.
Natalie, we did talk to the Society of Authors, at length - years ago - they went to counsel who advised it was all iffy, we could win, but might not, and they wouldn't pursue it and I certainly couldn't afford to. This latest stuff - though not exactly recent! - might change things. Have been in touch with my agent and am waiting for her to get back..thanks
Whereas I hope that you get the result you want, you did say that, when you met him you 'liked his having written the song' when you actually met him and I wonder if that and the story would get spoiled by going through the process of trying to get the royalties.
Perhaps, even better, is if he read your blog and just did the right thing!
I think you have a point, Andy....but how to get him to read the blog!
How about writing to him via YouTube and sending him the link to your blog?
I don't think the Six Feet Under book ("Charlotte Light and Dark") is related to Charlotte Sometimes. They do talk about that book in great detail at one point, and it's a book based on the character Brenda's childhood. It's about a disturbed child with various psychological issues, and was written by someone close to Brenda. It's not about time travel or boarding schools or any of the things in Charlotte Sometimes. If you think about it, the main similarity is the fact that it contains the name Charlotte.
This is such a great story, and it would be a bit spoilt by a big legal fight. And maybe RS had little to do with the legal side of things - that would all have been left to the lawyers - and was just genuinely pleased to meet you.
But still, if you can get some income out of it then good for you!
P.S. I've nominated this post for Post of the Week...
Clare, thanks so much. xxp And I know exactly what you mean about the fight. In some respects it does seem like water under the bridge. I went through all the rage and indignation Natalie is expressing so many years ago. And yes it can be revived. But.
As for Six Feet Under. Haven't got to that bit, but even the bit I have reached now, it didn't seem to fit very well with Charlotte.
Keep going with Six Feet Under though, just cos it's ace. One of my favourite dramas ever, and I include literature in that.
Oh bother re Charlotte Light and Dark, it's been a while since I saw the series and I remember when I first heard them talk about it i wondered if it was a nod to CS. I know it was a psycholgical thing not the schoolgirl timetravel, it was more the idea of confused identity and the name Charlotte. Yes yes a long bow I admit but just shows how deeply ingrained CS has always been in my (and so many others) imaginations because that's what I thought when I saw it...(and that was years before meeting Penelope IN THE FLESH at Circular Quay Sydney!!! Much more exciting than meeting RS...)
Agree - Six Feet Under is FABULOUS. Beloved say it's not bad, anyway will agree to watch it of an evening - lured to start with by wondering what weird way of death will start the next episode! - just as well with all those episodes to follow. Don't fancy putting it on my laptop by day and watching it there..though I would if marital evenings in front of it weren't possible. Who cares if Charlotte light and dark not relevant. Thanks for all this everyone..
The cover with the 2 girls - is that the one where one girl with a cloud of golden hair is asleep in bed and the other girl is standing next to her? Because that's the one I have. I've loved it since I was 8 although I wasn't old enough to understand it all when I first read it. There are strong connections in my brain between the book and words like dais and cedar and conchies that I first encountered while reading it. I think it was also my introduction to the fascinating idea that Things Were Different In The Past. And now that I'm writing a novel, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be setting the backstory in that particular historical period if it hadn't been for Charlotte Sometimes. So thank you very much, Penelope, for writing it. It's still one of my favourites.
I never heard of the Cure song until now, and I'm not sure I want to hear it, but if they are the reason the book was in print in 1985 then I'm inclined to be grateful to them too.
That's the one, Eleanor...Glad it means something to you. Good luck with your book. x
The Cure: my favourite band ever. The reason of my decision to read Charlotte Sometimes. I really loved your book, and now I understand why Robert was so inspired. Thank you for writing it.
As you probably know, I am the girl translating your work for my degree dissertation. As a translator (and as a fan of The Cure and a fan of yours)I am honored to carry out such a task.
I am very glad to see you're still writing.
I was wondering whether I can contact you (for possible inquiries about the book while translating).
Thank you very much!
Valentina.
Of course you can, Valentina. If you click on the email address on this comment you can go on from there.
Sorry - for some reason email address doesn't appear to be there. Try grannyp_es@yahoo.co.uk
Thank you so much!!
Valentina
Hi Granny P
What a truly dear story
And i love your writing!
How about that? Robert waiting to get his book signed.The whole thing made tears in my eyes.Thank you.
I'll never have Robert's love
so sad
but he has true love with Mary and that is beautiful.
Hi sugar gurrrl. And thanks.
wow, what a story. i found this site just netsurfing as a huge cure fan, had never even heard of your book! (which i want to now go out and find somewhere!) that made me kind of uncomfortable as i pretty much adore and idolise robert smith to no end, so the idea of him not offering royalities if he took all these words from you...mmmmhh. especially if you had actually tried to make steps forward about it. (and he'd be completely cashed up at that. he'd have barely anything to lose.)
of course, the public acknowledgement is still sweet, if nothing else...
it makes me laugh so much to think of him asking for someone's autograph.
i usually forget that all the stars are influenced and inspired by other artistic minds, appropriation and plagiarism a part of every creative genius's work...
sigh
continuing, i just read your first post as well. now im even more puzzled and annoyed with my favorite idol...
and it's crazy, i don't see how money could possibly matter to robert smith... at this stage or even when he wrote the song.. i'm sure he's a multi-millionaire. and considering the heavy influence you apparently had on the song, that half the words were yours... is he just arrogant and wanting to take full credit for the song for his own sake as his own creative genius, even if he did publicly acknowledge you? it can't be about money to him, just about every one of his albums has a dedicated global following.
mmmmm...
...
I have been in love with The Cure since my childhood, and especially in love with Robert Smith. I listened to Charlotte Sometimes so many nights before I went to sleep, never having read the book. I tried to find your book when I was 14 at every book store imagineable, but every one claimed that it had to be shipped from England, or otherwise was not available. FINALLY 3 days ago I received the copy that I ordered online and finished it a half hour ago.
The song is still ringing in my head, as well as the B-Sides (Splintered In Her Head, and The Empty World), and I can't stop thinking about the book. I really do love it as much as I love Robert Smith -- which is a lot.
Have just picked up these comments...thanks both. Am glad you like the book too, Sarah. I'm going to have pictures going up on the blog soon - I hope! - of the school which I used as the background for Charlotte...
Hi Penelope - fantastic blog, really great. Must be unusual for Robert Smith to be asking and not be asked for an autograph.
Tim
ps - i read the book after i hear the song, very good.
I just finished reading Charlotte Sometimes and it was incredibly good. I've loved the song for so long that I was thrilled to find a copy of a new American release of your book. I enjoyed reading about your meeting with Robert Smith. It is a shame he hasnt done the right thing financially, but at least his song has helped many people like myself find your wonderful book. I've already ordered a copy of Emma in Winter I'm so eager to read more. thanks for writing such a great book!
well this is not the first instance robert "borrowed" from an author although the most obscene example of course. perhaps one can show a pattern. killing an arab from camus, M also from camus, how beautiful you are from beaudelaire, drowning man from peake.. and many more
Hi,
Thanks for such wonderful story, and thanks for yuor book too. IIt has been very inspiring to me too, check my website and you will see what I mean 
Would you sign my guestbook?
Thanks, really.
Sharon (Spain).
i've been a fan of the cure for 20 years now, and i've read countless articles about him. he really does seem to be a very genuinely nice guy. i would sincerely doubt that this beautiful moment of putting the spotlight on you (as some above have intimated) was contrived for any reason. a quick google search will prove that nice, genuine moments abound when he's around.
also, i read charlotte sometimes as a result of listening to the cure. we (cure fans) pretty much all did!
Hello Penelope
I'm glad that The Cure did that song using your words, cause otherwise I would never know about your book and you. And he did an extraordinary job with it, cause it's without a doubt one of their best songs. Too bad that he doesn't play it that often... in 10 concerts that I've been, they've never played it and I've been shouting to hear it since my 1st concert.
I would never thought that you were caring for "legal rights" since Robert always said that it was inspired in your book...
I'm Portuguese, and it's a shame that there's no version in my native language, though I bought it for me and to some special friends some years ago and we all love it.
Thanks for your work!
Hi again,
yeah, I also have a a section in my site dedicated to Charlotte Sometimes 
Hey all of you....how she lives on xx
what a lovely story. i bought a copy in 1990 with the maggie heslop illustration on the front. i always loved the way robert wrote songs about books and never thought of it as being about plagiarism, just inspiration. it's not much but to us cure fans you're a bit of a legend penelope - you inspired a genius songwriter to write a genius song. cheers!
Hi Penelope,
plagiarism or not? It is an interresting question since in this case the medium is different. Like Neil, I think of the song more in the lines of a painting or sculpture inspired by your book. Although I can understand you feel resentment over the issue. I think Robert must have truly liked your book to have written a song about it though.
regards, Henk
'Allo. I'm one of the people that loves the Cure and then because of that, ended up discovering your book. I ADORE your book. I've since gone on to buy, read and adore many more of your books. I've always been grateful to Robert Smith for introducing me to things that way.
This was quite interesting to read your experience with the whole bit. I'm sorry that you didn't get more financial compensation for the song.
And now I can thank the Cure again because it took a bit on a Cure news website to alert me to you having a blog, which I'm quite delighted to find and much look forward to reading in general.
Thank you for all the lovely words and characters and stories and my dearest wishes for your happiness and pleasure.
Dear Penelope,
Since my early teens I've always loved the cure and Charlotte Sometimes was the first Cure single I ever bought.
I came across your book "Charlotte Sometimes" in the library of a school in Dorking whilst performing an engineering survey of the building in the late 1980's. I was quite shocked to see the title that I knew very well to be a cure song and was intrigued to investgate further. I was even more shocked when scanning the pages to find the lyrics of one of my most loved pieces of music. The Cure surely can't have nicked your words ? It was obvious to me at that point that they had and for me it was one of those moments in life where the penny drops and you realise you've being living a lie , but I was really glad that I had found out. On reflection I didn't think worse of The Cure for having used your words and with the advent of the internet it became well known that the song was based on your book. Perhaps a credit on the record sleeve notes would have been in order though ?
I'm glad you've had the credit for your work (if not the cash I don't think there are many hardcore curefans that don't know your name or at least know of you as a writer (They certainly know that the song is based on a book)
These days I play bass in a tribute to the cure and we're quite successful at it. For the last eight years I've had free flights/hotels all around the world , as much food/booze as I can take in and.....some money in exchange for playing cure songs to people. I've seen people and places I never imagined I would see in my lifetime , and the ideas that have got me all that are ALL nicked from The Cure and there's not a lot they can do about it (even if they wanted to).
So what I'm trying to say (not very elequently )is......What goes around comes around . haha
We're doing a gig at the Works nightclub in Kingston , Surrey on Sunday 25th May 08 (with the following Monday being a bank holiday , ie Lie in the day after! ) , we're playing alongside 3 other tributes to oasis , blur and the smiths. I know you're in Lanzarote but if you want to arrange guest tickets for any members of your family or friends please do get in touch.
We will be performing "Charlotte Sometimes" and I shall think of you x
Your sincerely,
Sean Flude
i thoroughly enjoyed reading your entries about the cure! i have also read both charlotte sometimes and the summer birds, thanks to robert smith. i most likely would not have heard of your work had it not been for the song charlotte sometimes and my obsession with the cure. he has turned me onto many great writers, such as yourself, as hes "nicked" several others' work as well. haha. im glad that you are enjoying your ongoing success as a result! i love your work! and am glad that you are blogging now!! cheers!
More thanks to everyone. Sean I've canvassed the most likely member of my family but she won't be in London then... so I guess I can't accept the offer of tickets, tho' had I been in London I might have done.... thanks for the offer. Greetings to Bella Lune too.
to all for consideration;
what if this song was written by a defunct band? Would monetary compensation still be an issue? Now saying the Cure has been sucessful, how can anyone possibly decide at how great a degree if any(no offense intended, i love the book as does my daughter, both of us read the novel only due to the cures nod)this song has to do with their longevity?
Perhaps we should analyze the fact that it is one song on one album 1/10, so if we were really to dissect this,
we should understand how the music industry works. A band makes roughly ONE pound (dollar-u.s.) per album, ten pence per song? divided by 5 members.. 2 pence per song, so if Mr. Smith split his share, we are looking at 1p.
Please also take into account this: admittedly the song has had quite an effect on the book continuing to be published (with royalties) shall we too argue the other side of the coin wanting a portion of this to be paid to Mr Smith?
The real problem is; in the end, everything has already been said, its all been written well before we were here.. and although many ideas or phrasings can be cobbled together in much the same fashion, even borrowed or paraphrased, no one really seems to bother with it unless they can pry a few pounds($) out of the ordeal.
Pen, not at all am i finger pointing, but to the general flow of the discussion here.. Please also take into account this: admittedly the song has had quite an effect on the book continuing to be published (with royalties) shall we too argue the other side of the coin wanting a portion of this to be paid to Mr Smith?
In the end as a writer, (song, poem, or novel) what we strive to do is illicit consideration, give pause, affect people.
It seems Ms Farmer gained both the real - time accolade as well as the empirical evidence that she has done such -
cheers !
This is so funny, in a recent interview Robert was asked about this blog entry:
http://www.radio1045.com/cc-comm...ommon/ondemand/
Perhaps I'm too much a denizen of the internet and the age of extremely lax respect of copyright laws, but I really don't see how suing someone for creating an amazing tribute to your book could ever have been a good idea. Forcing artists who create tributes to other people's work to pay royalties would only lead to them being less willing to create those tributes, and then no one would get any royalties for the songs (they wouldn't exist) and no one would be enjoying them either.
Now, back to finding a copy of your book, which is what I was doing when I came across this
Answering all these - belatedly - in the end it didn't seem worth going after them, for many reasons, some of them stated better above than I would do it a hurry here. Anyway, it was,apparently, a weak case legally: and I've had much good from it. So there you go. Thankyou RS again: I think. Oh and Henk, thanks for alerting me to the R, Smith interview...cautious as it is!
Can't speak for the rest of the world, but in Scotland I'd say the book is far better known than the song. In my school years (80s-90s) the novel was widely read, and loved, in the average standard-grade English class (with the classic 'girly' cover in my school!).
The single only reached #44 in the UK in 1981 (and made no dent in the US charts whatsoever) and despite becoming one of their best loved songs among fans, it's not familiar to the general listening public. I've certainly never heard the original once on "classic" radio shows, or ever seen the video broadcast on TV. Possibly not The Cure's biggest moneyspinner.
You do hear it frequently in pubs, though...
ps. Robert Smith also wrote a third song influenced by the novel- "The Empty World", released in 1984.
Thanks for this, Billy. The Scots always do get it right. (Says she from her little bitty Scots blood.)
Aaw! Odder still, seems there's another singer who likes the name too...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha...imes_(musician)
Yes, I had come across her. Oh dear, what it is to inspire people... or if not inspire..
Sometimes you ask yourself a question and it gets filed at the back of your mind, reemerging again at random moments... one of those for me was: 'where does the phrase 'in a jiffy' come from? (have never yet found that one out.) Another was: "I wonder if The Cure song, Charlotte Sometimes was inspired by that brilliant book I read when I was about 8 years old?" This morning, lying in bed and reluctant to get up, I thought: today's the day I'm going to find out. A bit of googling, and I came across your blog, Penelope, and your wonderful account of tracking down Robert Smith. I'm thrilled by your story, and am glad that at least you're reaping the benefits of the song's success, even if you haven't got the royalties you deserve. I now plan to give the book to my niece, and my godchild (with whose mother I enjoyed the Cure when I was 1
so they can share it. I remember the atmosphere of the book so clearly, the first proper 'ghost' story I ever read. it was eery and exciting in equal measure - I cannot forget the bedstead... thankyou for giving me so much pleasure, and glad to hear your creative juices are still flowing ...
Kate
This has been an educational evening. I only wanted to find the lyrics to Charlotte Sometimes by The Cure and here I find that I must get my hands on a copy of this loved book. Interesting to come across your blog, I am looking forward to reading your book. I have had a few people tell me this song reminds them of me and was looking to find the meaning of it. How ironic that the book also deals with identity. Perhaps I will become a fan of Penelope Farmer? I'm writing a book myself that takes a girl through a maze of identities. Perhaps I should read Penelope Farmer's book after I have finished my writing?
Have loved the Cure's song since I was a little girl, and now love your book as a woman, having first read it within the year.
What is the process for acquiring permission to quote brief excerpts from your book in another, thematically connected work of fiction? I am dappling in some creative writing of my own that I doubt would ever get published, but, in the miraculous event that it would in future years, it would mean very much if I could reference a couple passages.
Thanks all of you for these unanswered comments/ Ckk - I think the usual process is to apply to the publisher - if you're in the US you could try New York Review of Books which has published it in their classic series - else the main publisher, Random House in London. I'd feel honoured if you did quote it.
I just discovered, after all this time, that "charlotte sometimes" was a book! I searched on the web and finally had a link to your blog...I'd like to read your book and give it to my daughters, but infortunately there is no translation in french!(I'm french, indeed, that's why my english is so bad, I'm sorry!) The cure is my favorite band since I'm fifteen (I'm forty now...birthed in 1969 :-D)and I always wondered what was the meaning of this song...Now I know!
Thanks a lot!!!
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