All three of the events I attended on Sunday took place at Fowey Town Hall, and the first was Harriet Tyce in conversation with festival chair Paula Pearson, discussing Witch Trial, the instant Sunday Times bestseller that has left readers 'breathless'. Paula opened with a comparison to Daphne du Maurier's writing style, clearly delighting Tyce, who first read Rebecca at the age of twelve. It set the tone for a rich conversation about darkness, obsession and the psychological thriller as a form. Tyce is a former criminal barrister who completed her MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where her dissertation led to her debut novel Blood Orange. She is clear about her genre: psychological thriller with an element of criminal justice, the darkness of the mind and madness as a narrative arc. She tried other things, feminist dystopia among them, and said with characteristic candour that the books "were terrible". 

Witch Trial, set in Edinburgh and built around a modern-day witch trial with whispers of dark ritual and teenage obsession, is, she says, her best yet. She is already thinking about what comes next, possibly following the girls from the trial into whatever comes after. A thread running through the session was the persistent vilification of women, in fiction, in politics and in public life, a theme that had surfaced the previous day in the Kermode and Nelson session around women composers in film. It's interesting how some conversations find each other across a festival programme.

Between sessions, as is now becoming a habit, we went to John's, where Maurice welcomed us warmly, and a small tipple filled the gap until the next event.

Sarah Vine arrived next, in conversation with Iain Dale, to a sold-out Town Hall. Dale introduced her affectionately as the Wednesday Witch, a nod to her widely-read Daily Mail column. It was immediately clear these are old friends, and the conversation had the ease and frankness that genuine fondness produces. Vine's book How Not to Be a Political Wife is an honest, witty and occasionally sharp account of life married to Michael Gove, the years in Westminster's orbit and the friendships that did and didn't survive it. She spoke candidly about her closeness to the Camerons, how she had once been a close friend of Samantha and godmother to one of their children, and how that friendship had ended. She talked about Gove with warmth too, how funny he is, how it was ultimately his addiction to politics rather than anything else that ended the marriage. There was a funny story about her book launch WhatsApp group, assembled from her entire phone book and including Kirstie Allsopp, Stephen Fry, Piers Morgan, Michael, the children and Iain Dale (among many, many others). The outcomes, she suggested, were highly entertaining. A moment that caught the room came when Dr Sian Williams, in the audience, asked during the Q&A about patterns from the past repeating themselves, a thread that ran directly back to the previous day's conversation about anxiety and the experiences that shape us.

During the Sarah Vine interview, the sound of some rather brilliant piano music drifted through the open windows, so during the break I went to find where it was coming from. Outside the Ship Inn, I found Charlie Clough playing to the outside tables. Charlie plays most Sundays at The Ship and has a showcase coming up in July at the Fowey Harbour Hotel. The interval between sessions became another impromptu event, one of those unplanned Fowey moments that often present themselves effortlessly. I stayed for almost an hour before heading back to the Town Hall.