Tell us about your new novel, Among the Ruins.
It’s a mystery novel set in Dublin in the summer of 1970. Newly-appointed women’s-pages editor Nicoletta Sarto gets drawn into a news story about an old lady, a missing nurse and a valuable painting gone walkabout, which threatens to derail her whole life, if she decides to tell the truth about what she finds out.
It is a sequel to your debut, Where They Lie, a crime novel set in the world of journalism in Dublin in the 1960s. Tell us about it.
Where They Lie is set in the winter of 1968 and introduces rookie reporter Nicoletta Sarto. Nicoletta finds herself at the centre of a tangled story involving Dublin’s illegal abortion industry when she gets a call on Christmas Eve to go out to a garden in Sandycove, where a woman’s body has been found.
What is the attraction of setting your fiction in the recent past?
I like that there’s a remove from the contemporary, which feels too immediate to process in the same way. But it’s not so far in the past as to be completely unrecognisable; it’s within living memory for many people. I also like the past as hopefully providing the backdrop for a transporting and immersive reading experience.
It was partly inspired by a tale from UCD’s folklore archive?
When I was in my late 20s, I completed a MA in creative writing at UCD. Part of it included a brilliant Archive of the Imagination module taught by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, encouraging us to read existing folk tales, fairy tales and story archetypes for inspiration. I wrote a response to an Irish folktale, from UCD’s folklore archive, called The Man Who Had No Story. I imagined a woman, a journalist, who had no story, but who was on a deadline. I put the piece away for a few years after that, but this character became the seed for the character of Nicoletta.
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What are the pros and cons of the sequel or series versus the standalone?
Writing a sequel is great because you get to pick up the threads of your story and tie up loose ends with characters you’ve already created. The heavy lifting of world-building is already done. However, that in itself is also a con – new ideas always seem more appealing when you’re in the middle of a draft, or edits.
How did a creative writing master’s help your writing?
It forced me to face my fear of having to show my creative work to peers and have it critiqued.
Do you identify with Elizabeth Gilbert when she says: ‘my fear and my creativity are basically conjoined twins’?
Yes, Big Magic, part memoir, part guide to accessing individual creativity, is a book I often re-read. Living a creative life in any respect is an enormous privilege but creating something from your own head and then showing it to the world can feel inordinately scary.
Fear is the theme of a short story anthology to be published this autumn that you’ve contributed to. Tell us more.
The idea arose from a conversation we had in our WhatsApp group for Irish female crime writers (we call ourselves the Irish Murderesses) and the end result will be an anthology with each individual writer’s biggest fear being the focal point for every story. All proceeds go to Women’s Aid.
Has your background in journalism helped your fiction?
Journalism taught me about the discipline of developing a daily writing practice, research, and how to structure a story.
Which projects are you working on?
I’m working on a third novel completely unrelated to the first two. It’s set in Dublin of the 1920s.
Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage?
I visited Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon when I was about 20.
[ Hamnet country: A stroll through Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-AvonOpens in new window ]
What is the best writing advice you have heard?
All writing is rewriting.
Who do you admire the most?
The people you don’t read about in history books.
You are supreme ruler for a day. Which law do you pass or abolish?
I’d make it illegal for huge companies to rinse authors’ intellectual property to train their robots. AI is fast encroaching on creative industries and laws should be enforced to protect them.
Which current book, film and podcast would you recommend?
The Night Stairs by Erin Kelly (not out until July); Amandaland (not a film but a TV show); How to Fail with Elizabeth Day.
Which public event affected you most?
9/11.
The most remarkable place you have visited?
Mljet, a beautiful island off Dubrovnik, in Croatia.
Your most treasured possession?
My laptop.
What is the most beautiful book that you own?
A framed poster containing all the text from Matilda by Roald Dahl, my favourite book.
Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Jackie Collins, Stephen King, Roald Dahl, John Updike, Jilly Cooper, Agatha Christie.
The best and worst things about where you live?
The best: the people, great places to eat, nearby beautiful countryside; the worst: increasing traffic and commuter chaos.
What is your favourite quotation?
“Nobody is ordinary if you know where to look.” - Maeve Binchy.
Who is your favourite fictional character?
Miss Marple.
A book to make me laugh?
Anything by Marian Keyes.
A book that might move me to tears?
See above.
Among the Ruins is published by Simon & Schuster on April 23rd
