‘This is the story of right and wrong, and how sometimes they look the same.’

Synopsis

1926. Tom Sherbourne is a young lighthouse keeper on a remote island off Western Australia. The only inhabitants of Janus Rock, he and his wife Isabel live a quiet life, cocooned from the rest of the world.

Then one April morning a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man and a crying infant – and the path of the couple’s lives hits an unthinkable crossroads.

Only years later do they discover the devastating consequences of the decision they make that day – as the baby’s real story unfolds…

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The Light Between Oceans is the stunning debut novel from M.L Stedman.  From the very first chapter, we are taken into the heart of the story: who are the man and the baby washed ashore in the boat and what will Tom and Isabel do? It is this very dilemma which propels the story throughout, and makes for very compelling reading.

With wonderful descriptions and intricate details, M.L.Stedman takes us right into the fascinating and unusual world of lighthouse keeper Tom Sherbourne and his new wife Isabel. The simple, remote life they lead on Janus Rock seems idyllic, but we soon learn of the private battles they are facing. Tom is struggling to come to terms with the aftermath of fighting on the Western Front in the First World War and Isabel is desperate for a child.

After suffering traumatic miscarriages and a stillborn baby, Isabel retreats into a dark despair; her life empty without the children she so longs to share it with. Tom deals with their losses by throwing himself into his work; the methodical rhythms of the lighthouse giving him a sense of purpose and perspective. Only the regular visit of the supply boat from the mainland brings any sense of the rest of the world to the young couple.

When the boat is washed ashore, containing the body of a dead man and a crying infant, Tom and Isabel make a life-changing decision. From that moment on, the peaceful solitude of life on Janus Rock is left behind, and Tom and Isabel’s life begins to fall apart as they struggle to find a way to contain their secret within their relationship. While Tom is wracked with guilt about what they have done, Isabel remains steadfastly resolute; certain that it was God’s will and that they have done nothing wrong. Until, that is, they return to the mainland and discover the truth about the baby.

With a wonderful cast of characters, who each add their own story to that of Tom and Isabel’s, this is a novel which has a believable plot, beautiful writing and is ultimately a book you simply can’t put down. The story is about many things: the relationship between a husband and wife, the relationship between a mother and her child and the ties that bind a family. With a haunting sense of loss ever present, there is real emotional depth to the narrative.

Although the novel is set in 1926, it never feels as though it is dwelling in the history of the post War period unnecessarily – and actually reads like a very contemporary novel with real human issues and emotions at the forefront throughout. Through her beautiful writing, M.L Stedman handles the difficult, traumatic issues which lie at the heart of the novel, sensitively and assuredly.  There is also a lovely lightness of touch in places, which brings in some tender moments between mother and daughter and a beautifully depicted innocence in the way the child’s dialogue is written.

By creating an unimaginable dilemma for her main characters, M.L.Stedman has crafted a compelling story and as the fate of the central characters moves towards its surprising conclusion, I couldn’t put it down.

In our hectic, modern lives, it often feels like a luxury to curl up with a good book, never mind treating ourselves to buy it in the first place. Our time, and money, is precious and we want the investment we make in reading a book, to be worthwhile. Reading The Light Between Oceans was not just time well spent; it was time thoroughly enjoyed. And I, for one, feel all the richer for having read it.

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I was lucky enough to meet the author recently. Here, in her own words, are her thoughts on the process of writing this wonderful book.

Where did you first get the inspiration for ‘The Light Between Oceans’?

When I write, I just let a picture or a voice or a sentence come to me, and follow where it leads. For The Light Between Oceans, I closed my eyes, and I could see a lighthouse, and then a woman at the lighthouse. At first I thought maybe the story was about her. I could tell that it was set a long time ago, on an island off Australia. Then quite quickly a man came along, and I knew he was the lightkeeper and it was really his story. Then a boat washed up, with a dead man, and I discovered there was a baby in it too, so I had to keep writing to see what happened!

Was this always the title, or did the book have a different working title?

The very earliest drafts were just stored as ‘Lighthouse Story’ in my computer, but The Light Between Oceans came up within a couple of months. I toyed with other titles, but nothing quite stuck. Publishers often change the title of books, too, so I was happy when they said they were going to keep it.

Were there any memorable high or low points during the writing process?

I started writing it in Spring 2008, and finished the first draft of the novel in June the following year. I did a few more drafts after that, but I wasn’t working on it full time, so all together it probably took a little over 2 years. High point: any day on which I got to sit down and just write for as long as I wanted. That’s my idea of heaven. Low point: having 3 irrecoverable hard drive failures on my Mac, and having to piece together my files. Fortunately, after the first one I became obsessive about backing things up.

Why did you choose this particular period of history as the setting?

It just emerged as the time in which the story was set, rather than being a conscious choice. And it’s such a rich period of Australian history that it offered a great deal of scope in exploring themes like right and wrong, loyalty and forgiveness.

What would be a ‘typical’ writing day for you?

There really isn’t such a thing as a ‘typical’ writing day for me, except insofar as I only write in the daytime – never at night. I’m rather allergic to rules about writing, and chafe against edicts such as ‘you must write at least an hour a day’ or ‘you must plot everything in advance’. My philosophy is ‘find out what works for you, and do that: everyone is different’. So I wrote this book on my sofa, in the British Library, in a cottage by the beach in Western Australia, on Hampstead Heath, and anywhere else that felt right.

Can you tell us about the research you carried out for the book?

As to location, I grew up in Western Australia, so the ocean and light and wild
weather and vastness are in my blood. When I was writing, I did spend some time down in the area near where the story is set, just getting the feel of the particular place, and sitting gazing out over the ocean or exploring the dense forests in the area. As to the more technical aspects, I adored researching them. The British Library has some excellent histories of Western Australia’s involvement in the Great War, as does the Australian War Memorial, where there’s a wealth of original records accessible on line. The stories they tell are plainly told and intensely moving. For lighthouses, I read some fabulous books on the history of their development, and visited West Australian lighthouses. I also went to the Australian National Archives, and trawled the lightkeepers’ old logbooks and correspondence files. It was a very peculiar feeling to open the pages of these fragile leather registers, knowing that the person who wrote in them could never have imagined that in the next century, a writer would be looking through them. I felt enormously privileged to read about their daily lives in their own words.

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The Light Between Oceans is published today, 26th April 2012 by Doubleday. Thank you to Alison Barrow for the review copy and to the author for her fascinating insights above.

www.facebook.com/lightbetweenoceans

#lightbetweenoceans

Book trailer

‘I am on my way. All you have to do is wait. Because I am going to save you, you see. I will keep walking and you must keep living.’

Very occasionally, I read a book which I love so much I keep picking it up to look at it again, to turn the pages in admiration for what is written on them, even when I’ve finished it. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is one of those books. Highly original, brilliantly written and utterly compelling, this is a wonderful book which I will be urging everyone to read.

Recently-retired Harold Fry receives a letter one morning from an old work colleague, Queenie Hennessy, telling him that she is dying of cancer. Compelled to write to Queenie to express his sadness at hearing this news, Harold finds he is unable to simply post his letter. Feeling that this is an inadequate response for a woman who has, clearly, had much more of an impact on his life than we at first realise, he starts to walk to her instead. There are 627 miles between them.

With this simple, yet extraordinary idea of an elderly man walking all the way from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed in the hope that he will give his friend a reason to keep living, I was completely drawn into Harold’s life and his, seemingly impossible, journey. And yet I didn’t doubt him for a second.

Harold’s is a journey which is littered with complications – not just because of his inadequate walking gear and total lack of preparation – but by the turbulent memories of his life which his walk unlocks.  As Harold continues – against all odds – to put one foot in front of the other, the complexities of his childhood, his marriage, his working life, his connection to Queenie Hennessy and his relationship with his son  are slowly unraveled.

Meanwhile, back at home in Devon, we are drawn into the life of Harold’s wife, Maureen. As her husband walks slowly away from her, she finds herself slowly drawn back to the man she has forgotten how to love. Maureen is a wonderful character, as is the next door neighbour, Rex, who becomes Maureen’s unlikely ally in her struggle to come to terms with Harold’s journey.

Harold Fry is a richly drawn, loveable, hero –  a Forrest Gump for the 21st century. An ordinary man who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances and whose faith, determination and sense of duty to a woman who made a sacrifice for him in the past, keep him going on his unlikely pilgrimage.

With beautiful descriptions of the nature which surrounds Harold as he walks, and with some lovely touches of black comedy and fabulous insights into very real, human emotions, there is much to keep the pages turning.

Ultimately, Harold’s journey is about much more than reaching Queenie Hennessy, and there are many unexpected emotional twists and turns as the story reaches its climax and Harold reaches his destination. I, for one, wept tears of sadness and joy.

Harold Fry will stay with me for a very, very long time. I certainly look forward to reading more from this highly talented author.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is published by Doubleday,  in hardback.

Diving Belles, by Lucy Wood is like nothing I have ever read before – and that’s a good thing!

I’d heard a lot about this book and had read the very high praise it was receiving so was intrigued to see what all the fuss was about. I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The jacket sleeve alone is enough to wax lyrical about, with it’s enticing  imagery and wonderful colours.

Diving Belles is a collection of twelve short stories, all of which are set around the Cornish coast and which, to offer a simple explanation, combine Cornish folklore with the everyday. But these are not simply stories about tin mines, pixies and fishermen. Far from it and I’m sure Lucy would wince at the thought!  These are intriguing, magical, other-worldly, truly original stories which really defy genre or description.

As the blurb on the inside of the book states: ’Along Cornwall’s ancient coast, the flotsam and jetsam of the past becomes caught in the cross-currents of the present and, from time to time, a certain kind of magic can float to the surface….Straying husbands lured into the sea can be fetched back, for a fee. Magpies whisper to lonely drivers late at night. Trees can make wishes come true – provided you know how to wish properly first.’

It doesn’t feel quite right to say here what Lucy’s stories are ‘about’ – I think each reader will decide that for themselves – but I will admit to particularly enjoying ‘Countless Stones’ and the title story, ‘Diving Belles’.

This is certainly a book for lovers of words and imagery, for readers who want a book to immerse them in another place completely, to whisk them away from their suburban sitting room and deposit them among the standing stones, underwater worlds and soaring clifftops of Lucy’s creation. It is, perhaps, the best sort of fairy tale book for grownups.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lucy’s stories and while I was certainly taken into the world of Cornwall’s ancient coast, I suspect Diving Belles could become even more magical if read while sitting on a bench on a windswept coastal path.

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Lucy Wood has a Master’s degree in Create Writing from Exeter University.  She grew up in Cornwall. Diving Belles is is her first work.

Diving Belles is published by Bloomsbury in hardback. Many thanks to Eleanor Weil for sending the review copy.

When Amy Chau’s ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’ was first published in 2011 and an excerpt appeared in the Wall Street Journal, a huge media backlash began, condemning Amy for her Chinese parenting techniques and seriously questioning the concept of the ‘Tiger Mother’.

I had my own opinion on the matter and wrote on my blog about how shocking it all was and why I would never be a ‘Tiger Mother’ myself. But I hadn’t read Amy’s book. Now, having read the paperback edition which is published by Bloomsbury, my opinion has changed slightly.

‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’, apart from anything else, is an excellently written, humorous, intelligent and, at times, self-deprecating  memoir. Amy’s writing is sharp, her account of family life is brutally honest and yet she isn’t afraid to laugh at herself and point out her own flaws.

From the outset, Amy paints a revealing picture of family life with her husband Jed, her daughters Sophia and Lulu (and the dogs who eventually join the family – Amy’s Chinese Mother approach to ‘parenting’ a dog is part insanity, part hilarious account of how she recognises she cannot always be in control).

Of course, Amy’s approach to raising her daughters is vastly – and sometimes shockingly – different to the approach taken by the majority of ‘Western’ parents. And yet, having read ‘Battle Hymn’, I’m not angry with Amy, as I expected to be. I don’t despise her, I don’t even condemn her. I actually applaud her unbelievable self-discipline and drive, even if I cannot understand it and certainly don’t feel that there would be a place for it in my own home.

Her continual, and often very dramatic, battles with her daughters over piano and violin practice may be extreme, but there is a part of me – the coaxing my children to eat their dinners part – which completely gets where Amy is coming from, as a mother, putting herself into an unpleasant situation in the belief that you are trying to do what you believe is best for your children.

There are some very painful low points between Amy and her daughters, but these always seem to be countered by the most amazing high points as they reach a seemingly unattainable goal and shine in their public performances, playing the piano or violin. Amy’s pride and absolute love for her girls, at these times, is hard to deny.

From the gasp-inducing episode of the ‘Birthday Card’, to the relentless pursuit of excellence which involves booking the grand ballroom of the hotel they are staying in while on holiday so the girls don’t miss out on any piano practice time, to dealing with two family illnesses, to the final showdown with her youngest daughter in a restaurant near Red Square, this is an account of family life which I couldn’t put down.

With the paperback edition comes a post script from Amy, which gives us an additional insight  into her reaction to the media storm which followed the initial publication of the book. Her re-telling of just one of the many interviews she experienced is hilarious. We also have the letter written from Sophia which was posted in the New York Post: ‘Why I love my Tiger Mother’. This, perhaps above all else, tells the real story of ‘Battle Hymn’.

Perhaps all parents face their own battles when it comes to raising children. ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’ certainly makes you think about your own parenting style. Ironically, I read the closing chapters of the book as I sat sipping a coffee, waving occasionally to my children as my husband played with them in the swimming pool. I could almost feel Amy breathing over my shoulder admonishing me for my shockingly lazy parenting techniques!

Amy Chua’s battle is definitely one to open your eyes – and one which you simply cannot offer an opinion on until you’ve read the book.

‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’ is published by Bloomsbury.

‘Even Better Than The Real Thing?’ is based around the life of Eve Cole, a single girl and artist who specialises in painting fake Van Goghs. An interesting, and very original concept which had me intrigued from  the outset – especially with the tantalising prologue which is set ten years in the past and sees two men selling a painting in clearly dubious circumstances.

Eve’s life is complicated: her father died a few years before we meet her and Eve and her mother are now looked out for by their father’s good friend, Robert. Eve lives in a half-built apartment block, sharing her building with the Party People downstairs and Larry, an ex-con (albeit a very handsome one) who lives in the apartment opposite hers.

When Eve is commissioned to paint an original piece for a wealthy art collector, she starts to doubt her ability – she only deals in fakes, right? But this crisis pales into insignificance when ten million euro is discovered in one of her late father’s bank accounts.

Under pressure to explain how this money got there, Robert confesses to Eve that he and her father sold one of her fake Van Goghs as the real deal. Terrified that she will in some way be implicated in this crime, Eve sets out to get the fake painting back – and neighbour Larry steps in to help.

Moving the setting from Dublin to Florida, where Larry discovers the painting is now held, Eve and Larry become Evelyn and Michael (a wealthy art collector and her adviser), the plot thickens as we follow Eve’s paranoia and suspicions that all may not be as it seems with Larry.

For the die-hard romantics, there is plenty of love interest in the novel, with Eve struggling to deal with her attraction to bad-boy Larry and he, seemingly, playing on her vulnerability. And who is he emailing from Florida and who is the little girl in the photo he takes everywhere with him?

I won’t spoil the ending here, but suffice to say that Martina Reilly provides a satisfying, clever, detailed, intricate unravelling of the truth behind the painting and behind Larry.

Even Better Than The Real Thing? was inspired by the exploits of the author’s favourite con artists, such as former confidence trickster Frank Abagnale (as portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can). This is a fresh, witty, well-plotted novel which tackles a tricky and very original subject matter extremely confidently.

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Martina Reilly started writing when she was eleven years old – and hasn’t stopped since! She wrote several highly acclaimed teenage books before turning to adult fiction ten years ago. Martina lives in Ireland with her husband and their two children.

@MartinaReilly

http://www.tinareilly.info/

The opening line of a book says a lot about what’s to come. It sets the tone, captures our attention – makes us want to read on, and the opening line of Ciara Geraghty’s ‘Finding Mr Flood’ does just that….‘Dara Flood always said that the most interesting thing about her happened before she was born.’

Intrigued? I most definitely was and read on, and on and on. In fact, I couldn’t stop reading this excellently written, brilliantly plotted book.

The issue of ‘Finding Mr Flood’ is the dilemma which runs through the heart of this book; Mr Flood being the father of Dara Flood, a father who, before she was born,  went out for a packet of cigarettes one day and never returned. With Dara’s sister Angel now suffering from ‘end stage renal failure’, Dara sets out to find her father, in a final, desperate hope that he may be a match for her sister. It’s a fascinating hook and one which is further developed through the reluctance of anyone to discuss Mr Flood, let alone find him.

Dara Flood isn’t your usual heroine. She isn’t a ‘girly-girl’, lives at home with her mother and sister, works at a dog-pound and likes cooking, salsa dancing and pizza with her two work colleagues. That is about as exciting as Dara’s life gets, being somewhat consumed with worrying and caring for her sister.

‘Finding Mr Flood’ is mainly set in Dublin, but with scenes which take us to other parts of Ireland and eventually to Paris. With brilliantly observed dialogue and accent and meticulously observed character traits, Ciara Geraghty creates an impressive and credible cast list – not only in her principal characters of Dara and the unsuspecting, unexpected romantic male lead, Stanley Flinter, but also in those who surround Dara and Stanley’s lives: Mrs Flood, Angel, the next door neighbour Miss Pettigrew, Dara’s work colleagues Tintin and Anja and even the numerous dogs who each have their own starring roles. Everyone has a unique voice, a unique appeal and a part to play in the path Dara eventually takes to start to track down her father.

This is by no means a predictable novel, with the author taking the reader on several twists and turns, yet constantly (and very cleverly) reminding us of what is at stake here and what it is that drives the main characters to act as they do. With enticing snippets of first person dialogue from an unknown character dotted throughout the book, we are never quite sure what the outcome is going to be and of course, with Angel’s condition worsening all the time, there is an ever-present sense of frustration and urgency.

Ciara Geraghty has been hailed by some as the new Marian Keyes. With this excellent novel, she is definitely a worthy contender to that crown.

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Ciara Geraghty lives in Dublin in a house with one husband and three children and an imaginary dog called George (who can roll over, play dead and shake paws with visitors). It is a noisy house which is why she had to become a writer. Writing is a perfect excuse to leave the noisy house and hole up somewhere quieter (like Dublin airport) to get some work done. In this way, she has managed to write three books and some short stories. Hobbies include giving up cigarettes, looking at the pictures in recipe books and reading brilliant books, mostly because they’re brilliant but also because they make her want to be a better writer.

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Finding Mr Flood is published by Hachette Books Ireland. Ciara’s previous novels are ‘Saving Grace’ and ‘Becoming Scarlet’, also published by Hachette Books Ireland.

You can contact Ciara on Twitter @ciarageraghty and on Facebook

Sometimes, a novel comes along which is timed perfectly to tap into modern culture. Maria Duffy’s debut novel ‘Any Dream Will Do’ is one such novel, exploring our obsession with social media and how we can sometimes be fooled by what we are seeing on those screens in front of us.

The novel is told through the honest, witty voice of single thirty-year-old Jenny Breslin. With an emotionally distant/deranged mother (who acts more like a teenage rebel than a mother), a boring bank job, an awful boss, a lacking love-life and friends who seem to be living the perfect family life, Jenny turns to Twitter for company, where she establishes stronger friendships and a better social life than she has in the ‘real’ world. Far from fiction, this is something which happens every day and through her characters, Maria Duffy explores the implications of social networking on our relationships and friendships.

When Jenny drunkenly invites three of her Twitter friends to spend a few days with her in Dublin to meet up in person for the first time, her assumptions about the people she has got to know ‘virtually’ are turned completely upside down, leading her to re-evaluate her own life and realise that perhaps it isn’t that bad after all.

Any Dream Will Do is a funny, heart-warming novel which sparkles with rich Dublin wit throughout. With Jenny Breslin, Maria has created a Bridget Jones for the social networking generation – Jenny’s disastrous love-life, endless, toe-curlingly embarrassing incidents, the brilliant Mammy Delaney and the anticipation of a white Christmas keeps the pages turning and the plot building to a surprising climax.

From the seasonal, eye-catching cover to the touching personal acknowledgments at the end, this is a debut of which the author should be very proud.

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Maria Duffy

I spoke to Maria about the novel and how it feels to be a debut novelist.

Where did you get the inspiration for ‘Any Dream Will Do’?

Any Dream Will Do was born from my ever so slight… okay, okay… my massive addiction to Twitter! Since I joined the Twitterverse two years ago, I’ve been hooked. I love the brevity of the tweets and the immediate interaction with others. I knew that I wanted to write a book that had a connection with twitter as I am fascinated by the relationships we form on social network sites and I find it interesting that we can be whoever we want to be. So, I suppose I’d have to say that Any Dream Will Do is a twitter inspired book.

This is your debut novel – can you describe how you are feeling about becoming a published author?
I feel wonderful, fabulous, excited,delighted, terrified – there’s a myriad of emotions running around in my head at the moment. I worked in a bank for fifteen years, got married and had four children and adore being a mother, but still dreamed of writing a book. Now that the day has come when I can hold my book in my hands, I feel overwhelmed. My publishers can confirm that, as they have to follow me around with copious amounts of tissues as I blub tears of joy every time I see the book!

Can you describe your main character Jenny – what do you love about her most?
If I had to describe Jenny in three words, I’d say she’s fun, feisty and fabulous! She’s the quintessential girl next door –  not glamorous or fashionable, nor is she politically correct. She spends half her life with her foot in her mouth and the other half trying to get it out again! On the surface, she’s far from perfect, but as we begin to dig a bit deeper as the book progresses, we find she has layers and layers underneath.

Are your characters and plot purely fictitious, or are any elements based on real people or real experiences?
The plot and characters are completely fictitious, but real life experience definitely comes into it. I think that writing about something you’ve actually experienced will always come across as more authentic. For example, Jenny in Any Dream Will Do has a spectacular, knickers-on-display, fall in a restaurant. I was that soldier!

Writing your ‘Stars in the Twitterverse’ blog for Hello has led to some interesting encounters. Which celebrities have you been most excited to meet, and why?
Oh that’s a difficult question because I’ve honestly loved every single interview I’ve done for various reasons. Mikey Underwood and Angellica Bell stick in my mind because they were the first ones I interviewed and were just so lovely and willing to give of their time. Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford were fantastic too and have been really supportive. Oh and I’d have to mention the mad-as-a-box-of-frogs Jedward. It was the most crazybut strangely enjoyable interview I’ve ever done!

What are you reading at the moment?

I’m reading something that’s a little different for me at the moment. It’s a book called ‘Click, Click’ by Joyce, June and Paula Kavanagh. It’s a true story of three sisters whowere abused by their father throughout their childhood. It’s a harrowing story but also inspiring, heart-warming and even peppered with humour.

What can we look forward to next from you?
I’m just finishing my second book at the moment,which should hit the shelves in time for summer next year. I’ve loved writing it just as much as Any Dream Will Do so I hope readers will enjoy it too.

And finally……all Jenny wants for Christmas is some snow. What’s on your Christmas wish list?
My dream wish-list would consist of things like an extra 12 hours in a day or to grow an extra hand! But realistically, all I want for Christmas is to have time off to relax with my husband and children. The last year has been a whirlwind for me and I’ve been non-stop busy. I try to get the balance right between home and work but sometimes, when there are deadlines to meet or the words aren’t coming quick enough, something has to give.We didn’t have a family holiday this year so I’ve just booked for all six of us to go toNew York in February. I can’t wait! So Christmas this year will be lots of sleep, lots of family time and gearing myself up for another busy year! Here’s hoping!

Any Dream Will Do is published by Hachette Ireland. Thanks to Joanna Smyth for sending the review copy and images onto me.

‘Lola’s Secret’ is the latest novel from bestselling international author Monica McInerney. It is a sequel to Monica’s 2003 release ‘The Alphabet Sister’s’ and is set in the searing heat of Christmas in the Clare Valley region of South Australia. This is a charming, witty novel in which Monica’s assured writing sparkles and which, when you reach the end, will leave you feeling like you’ve been given a huge, warm hug.

Lola Quinlan, the central character, is brilliantly observed and immensely enjoyable to read. She’s certainly not your usual eighty-four-year-old woman; dressing  flamboyantly, preferring a G&T to a cup of tea and spending her spare time surfing the internet. She also doesn’t hold back when dishing out advice to her family members – advice which her squabbling granddaughters Carrie and Bett seek constantly.

In addition to the usual issues and dramas experienced among families, Lola and her family are also trying to come to terms with the death of her third granddaughter, Anna, the person who Lola always turns to for help in her own hour of need.

As Christmas looms, Lola encourages her extended family to head off and leave her ‘home alone’ in the sweltering heat at the Valley View Motel. But her protestations that she will be perfectly fine on her own are not strictly true. In secret, she uses her time on the internet at the local charity shop she volunteers at, to advertise a Christmas break at the motel. The bookings she receives are not entirely straightforward however and as Christmas gets closer, Lola, her family and her intended guests come to realise that Christmas really is a time for families to be together – whatever emotional obstacles or distances have to be overcome to get there.

Monica McInerney deals with a number of themes in ‘Lola’s Secret’ – grief, sibling rivalry, depression, ageing, motherhood and empty-nest syndrome. Her dialogue is witty and touching in equal measures, her characters are richly drawn and the plot moves smoothly and assuredly between Lola and her family and the lives of the guests who are intending to travel to her motel.

It is only towards the latter stages of the novel that we are introduced to Alex, a man who Lola once loved and hasn’t seen or heard of for many, many years. This is a wonderful, and unexpected, sub-plot and pulls the entire novel together to a moving and satisfying conclusion.

Ideally, this is a novel to be read sitting out on a verandah, sipping a G&T and overlooking the stunning Clare Valley vineyards. If that’s a little too far to travel, curl up on the sofa, pour a glass of red and escape to the heat of an Australian Christmas while the rain lashes at the windows and the wind howls outside.

Some novels are simply very special. This is one of those novels.

Monica McInerney

I spoke to Monica about her writing career and about ‘Lola’s Secret’.

‘Lola’s Secret’ is the sequel to your previous best-selling novel ‘The Alphabet Sisters’. What was is like revisiting your previous characters?

It was great fun. I wrote ‘The Alphabet Sisters’ in 2003, but the family at the centre of it, the Quinlans, has always stayed in my mind, especially Lola, the elderly, eccentric Irish grandmother. As a reader, I often wonder after I’ve finished a book where the characters might be in five or ten years time, how their lives might have changed. Writing ‘Lola’s Secret’ allowed me to find out what had been happening to the Quinlans – the only catch being I had to write the book before I could read it!

How long does it take to write a novel like ‘Lola’s Secret’?

I usually take more than a year to write each of my books, but ‘Lola’s Secret’ took just over six months from idea to final edit. I had the idea out of the blue while I was in Australia on a book tour last October for my previous novel ‘At Home with the Templetons’. A missed flight meant I unexpectedly found myself in a motel in the Clare Valley of South Australia, my home town and the setting for ‘The Alphabet Sisters’. I went to sleep thinking about that book and the Quinlan family, and woke up at 5 am with the entire plot of ‘Lola’s Secret’ in my head. When I got back home to Dublin a fortnight later, I immediately started writing it, working seven days a week. It seemed to pour out of me. I also developed insomnia midway through the writing, which proved very helpful deadline-wise – I was able to get up and write during the night as well as the day.

Apart from unscheduled stopovers in motels, where do you get your ideas and inspiration?!

From every person I meet. I write family comedy-dramas and the wonderful thing is every person I talk to has a unique treasure trove of family memories and experiences. I’ve never met a person who hasn’t had one extraordinary story to tell from their family history, be it an adventurous ancestor, a dark secret, wonderful times or moments of great sadness.

Lola is such a brilliantly observed character – is she entirely fictional, or based on a real person?!

On behalf of Lola, thank you very much! I really loved writing Lola’s scenes and dialogue – she’s so much fun, so forthright, loyal and loving, but also, as an 84 year old, fearless with her opinions. I didn’t know my own grandmother Maude, my mother’s mother, but I grew up hearing many stories about her – she was very social, a bit eccentric and apparently also threw great poker parties. I’m sure she was the starting point for Lola, and also a way for me to invent my own fictional ideal grandmother. I’d love to have a real Lola in my life.

Coming from a large family yourself, are you naturally drawn to writing about family drama?

I know that all my books spring from my own family background. I’m the middle of seven and there was always so much going on in our house – comedy, drama, lively arguments, lots of laughter, constant visitors, teenage angst, broken hearts, just so much noise and action alongside the good times and sad times that fill everyone’s lives. We grew up in a rambling house in a small country town where we knew everybody and everybody knew us, so we were also able to roam free. We made our own entertainment, put on plays and concerts, produced an annual family magazine, spent hours playing on the roof of our house, had a menagerie of animals and generally ran amok. I like to include that sense of fun and adventure in my books too.

What three words would you use to describe your style of writing?

Family-comedy-drama.

Which other authors do you admire and which book would you most love to have written?

I admire every author, because I know how difficult it is to write a book and fight through the despair and self-doubt that comes alongside the great writing days. I’d love to have written the Harry Potter novels, not for the fame or sales, but because it’s so clear how much fun JK Rowling had letting her imagination run wild.

What are you reading at the moment?

I’m re-reading ‘Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha’ by Roddy Doyle and loving it as much as I did the first time I read it, nearly 20 years ago.

What can we look forward to next from you?

I’m a quarter way into my next novel, which features a blended family, a step-brother and two step-sisters. I’m very interested in how different those relationships can be compared to a ‘traditional’ family, and especially how family members who have not grown up together cope in the wake of a tragedy.

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Monica McInerney grew up in a family of seven children in the Clare Valley wine region of South Australia.  She has worked in children’s television, arts marketing, the music industry, public relations and book publishing, and lived all aroundAustralia, and in Ireland and England.  She is the author of eight previous novels, including, most recently, At Home with the Templetons, Those Faraday Girls andFamily Baggage.  Those Faraday Girls was the winner of the General Fiction Book of the Year at the 200 Australian Book Industry Awards.  Lola’s Secret is the sequel to The Alphabet Sisters.  Monica and her Irish husband currently live in Dublin.

You can follow Monica on her Facebook page and her website www.monicamcinerney.com

‘Lola’s Secret’ is published by Pan MacMillan.