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Featured Author - Maggie O'Farrell


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Maggie O’Farrell was born in Northern Ireland in 1972, and grew up in Wales and Scotland. She now lives in Edinburgh with her family.

 

Her debut novel, After You’d Gone, was published to international acclaim, and won a Betty Trask Award, while her third, The Distance Between Us, won the 2005 Somerset Maugham Award.

 

She's a personal favourite of mine, so I'm honoured that she's agreed to be our FA for the month. Maggie will pop in when she can, and answer any questions you may have. :D

 

Interview

Review - The Distance Between Us

 

Thank you for your time Maggie...

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Hello Maggie and welcome to the forum!

;)

 

 

I've been a fan since I picked up After You'd Gone on holiday when I was 16, so I'm especially excited that Michelle has rounded you up, as it were. I even buy your novels as soon as they come out, so you're the only writer whose work I buy in hardback! :D

 

 

I think you're one the very best contemporary writers today and I think your writing has really gone from strength-to-strength with each novel.

 

 

My only complaint is that I end up reading them within days as I won't stop reading once I've started: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox lasted three days, and that was because I was deliberately pacing myself! :D

 

 

But, yes, a question... This may be a little vague, but I was wondering on how you feel you've developed, or even changed, as a writer from After You'd Gone through to The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox?

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Hello Maggie!

 

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox is next on my reading list (just got to finish The Earth by Emile Zola first!). I'm looking forward to reading it particularly as you are a new author for me.

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Hello Maggie, welcome to the forum.

 

I have never read any of your work but I have heard of you, I am reading 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox' and have to say it is excellent, I can not put the book down.

 

:D

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Sorry, sorry. I'm a bit of a ignoramus when it comes to websites and hadn't worked out how to do replies. But, with a little help from Michelle, I'm fully signed up, present and correct.

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Hello Maggie, welcome to the forum.

 

I have never read any of your work but I have heard of you, I am reading 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox' and have to say it is excellent, I can not put the book down.

 

:D

Thank you very much. Hope it's still enjoyable.

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Hello Maggie!

 

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox is next on my reading list (just got to finish The Earth by Emile Zola first!). I'm looking forward to reading it particularly as you are a new author for me.

Goodness, I'm a bit nervous to be coming after Zola ... that's a lot to live up to.

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Hello Maggie and welcome to the forum! :eek2:

 

 

I've been a fan since I picked up After You'd Gone on holiday when I was 16, so I'm especially excited that Michelle has rounded you up, as it were. I even buy your novels as soon as they come out, so you're the only writer whose work I buy in hardback! :D

 

 

I think you're one the very best contemporary writers today and I think your writing has really gone from strength-to-strength with each novel.

 

 

My only complaint is that I end up reading them within days as I won't stop reading once I've started: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox lasted three days, and that was because I was deliberately pacing myself! :D

 

 

But, yes, a question... This may be a little vague, but I was wondering on how you feel you've developed, or even changed, as a writer from After You'd Gone through to The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox?

Hi,

 

I like your Moomin picture. I'm a big fan of the Moomins.

 

I don't know if I'd see it in terms of 'development'. I've certainly changed in that time - I'm seven years older, for a start. I think you learn a great deal from writing each novel and of course from the things that happen in your life. So I suppose it's inevitable that your writing would change too. As Evelyn Waugh said, "Change is the only sign of life."

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Thank you. I hope you're still enjoying it. Is that lavender in the photo with you?

 

I think you mean me!! Yes it's Lavender and that's my daughter although she is not quite as angelic as she looks.

 

I have finished Esme now - thoroughly enjoyed it :D

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Goodness, I'm a bit nervous to be coming after Zola ... that's a lot to live up to.

 

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - I loved the way you used the different perspectives to reveal the truth and the pace at which it unravelled was perfect - I was left guessing to the end. Compelling reading but sad and thought provoking.

 

I look forward to reading your other novels.

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Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - I loved the way you used the different perspectives to reveal the truth and the pace at which it unravelled was perfect - I was left guessing to the end. Compelling reading but sad and thought provoking.

 

I look forward to reading your other novels.

You are so kind. I'm really, really pleased that you enjoyed it.

 

Maggie

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I think you mean me!! Yes it's Lavender and that's my daughter although she is not quite as angelic as she looks.

 

I have finished Esme now - thoroughly enjoyed it :D

Ah, your daughter. I did think she looked rather young to be reading grown-up books...

 

Lavender is one of my favourite plants.

 

Very glad you liked the book.

 

Maggie

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I loved Esme Lennox!

The way you made the story move around in time without being confusing was very clever, what made you decide to do this?

What should I read next?

It moved around in time because it was a story which was spread over a long period of time. I don't really see why stories have to be chronological and ordered - I don't think real life is like that. Life is messy and disordered and complicated and I hope my novels reflect that. Also, it was a story split between three people - Iris, Esme and Kitty - so it was bound to be a little splintered. Does that answer your question ...?

 

As for what to read next, have you tried Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper? More women imprisoned against their will ...

 

Maggie

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Maggie - did you always feel that you would one day become a writer and how did you start writing?

Hello,

 

No, I didn't always feel I was going to be a writer - I hoped I would, which is a very different thing. I've always written, from a very young age, but never told anyone, as I thought people would tell me it woudl never happen. I went to writing workshops when I was a student, and after I left university. I'd written about 20,000 words of what became After You'd Gone when I went on an Arvon Foundation course, which was a brilliant way to galvanise me to finishing the book. i'd recommend Arvon to anyone who wanted to write.

 

Maggie

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It moved around in time because it was a story which was spread over a long period of time. I don't really see why stories have to be chronological and ordered - I don't think real life is like that.

 

As for what to read next, have you tried Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper? More women imprisoned against their will ...

 

Maggie

 

It put me in mind of Virginia's Woolf's style of writing in that she sought to restructure the traditional format of a story. I thought it was really effective particularly as it dealt with madness which can sometimes be a matter of perception.

 

I would recommend The Yellow Wallpaper too - very scary prospect.

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It put me in mind of Virginia's Woolf's style of writing in that she sought to restructure the traditional format of a story. I thought it was really effective particularly as it dealt with madness which can sometimes be a matter of perception.

 

I would recommend The Yellow Wallpaper too - very scary prospect.

Well, that's the nicest thing anyone has said to me all day. I love Virginia Woolf. Mrs Dalloway and The Years are my favourites.

 

Maggie

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Hi Maggie, I just finished The Vanishing Act.. too. I was just wondering if you had any explanation why Esme did not know she was having a baby. It could be due to her madness od couse, but you know her best.

Because unless someone had told her what signs to look out for she wouldn't have known, wouldn't have had any idea. I don't think it's to do with her madness (she's not mad, of course). Esme comes from the kind of family that wouldn't talk about things like that, so there is no way she could have suspected. I think a lot of girls, especially in the earlier part of the twentieth century, were kept in the dark about reproduction and sex. Kitty, of course, also falls foul of this, in her marital relations with Duncan...

 

Maggie

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I love Virginia Woolf. Mrs Dalloway and The Years are my favourites.

 

Maggie

 

I enjoyed her short story Kew Gardens - it's a very clever piece of writing which helped me to understand her writing style and what she was trying to achieve.

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Because unless someone had told her what signs to look out for she wouldn't have known, wouldn't have had any idea. I don't think it's to do with her madness (she's not mad, of course). Esme comes from the kind of family that wouldn't talk about things like that, so there is no way she could have suspected. I think a lot of girls, especially in the earlier part of the twentieth century, were kept in the dark about reproduction and sex. Kitty, of course, also falls foul of this, in her marital relations with Duncan...

 

Maggie

 

No one with schizophrenia is mad..:D

 

I understand that girls then wouldn't know as much as we do, but when there is something moving around inside you and you are growing bigger, it is very hard to ignore.

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