Tell us about your new novel, The Hotel Guest.
Kit Costigan receives an unexpected invitation to a hotel in the French Alps where, 10 years previously, she befriended a group of esoteric philosophers. After a tragic turn of events, they agreed to bury the truth of what happened but now their secret looks set to be revealed, unless Kit can do something about it ...
It sounds like an example of dark academia. Are you a fan?
Absolutely. Dark academia combines an atmospheric setting with a suspenseful plot and themes that get you thinking, so it’s right up my street!
Your second novel, The Favourite, was also compared to the original of the genre, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. Tell us about it.
The Favourite is about a grief-stricken law student who tries to find justice for her sister, whose death she blames on a professor. It invites the reader to consider whether the protagonist is justified in her actions or if she crosses the line into revenge when grief overtakes her reason. I think fiction gives us space to explore life in all its multifarious complexities.
Were you self-conscious setting it partly in your old campus, Trinity College Dublin?
I’d actually love to write more about Trinity College but I’m trying to restrain myself!
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Tell us about your debut novel, The Truth Will Out.
It’s about an aspiring actress cast in a play that tells the story of an unexplained death at a boarding school. It examines how the past can trap us and how we cope with uncertainty when life so often leaves us without satisfying resolutions.
You trained as a lawyer. “The law requires mental rigour and reason,” you’ve written, “whereas fiction requires experiment, creativity and flow.” Does your legal mind, though, inform your writing?
Definitely. Legal training teaches you to approach the facts from a neutral position and I see that in my approach to characters. I’m not sitting in judgment or taking sides: I’m trying to present them to the reader as they appear to me. I’m also keenly interested in how people respond to power dynamics and I think that comes from my legal training, too.
Which projects are you working on?
I’m working on two projects at the moment. One is a psychological suspense set in a gothic house on the west coast of Ireland. The other is about a legal dispute over the repossession of an ascendancy house at the start of the current housing crisis. I’m really enjoying the different challenges they present.
Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage?
Yes, my husband and I are huge fans of the Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel so when we were in London to see the theatrical adaptation of The Mirror and the Light, we went to find the site of Austin Friars, Thomas Cromwell’s home – a very fun side quest!
What is the best writing advice you have heard?
To paraphrase Dorothea Brande: separate the editorial part of your mind from the creative. Allow yourself the full freedom and joy of creating – and then edit mercilessly later.
Who do you admire the most?
At the risk of sounding twee: my husband.
You are supreme ruler for a day. Which law do you pass or abolish?
Well, of course, I’d have to pass a law to remove the arbitrary time limit on my term as supreme ruler. Once ruling indefinitely, I’d revert to good constitutional governance and call a referendum on a right to housing.
Which current book, film and podcast would you recommend?
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico is excellent on millennial expat culture. I really enjoyed La Chimera with Josh O’Connor and, as an Irish woman in my thirties, I’m obviously a devoted listener of My Therapist Ghosted Me.
Which public event affected you most?
One of my earliest memories of a public event was the IRA ceasefire in 1994. My parents had raced home to catch the news and I remember watching the coverage with them, not understanding anything, but knowing something really significant had happened.
The most remarkable place you have visited?
Skellig Michael and the Galápagos Islands – both were simply mind-blowing!
Your most treasured possession?
My grandmother’s watercolour paintings.
What is the most beautiful book that you own?
We have a beautiful copy of the Divine Comedy that my father-in-law gave us. I’m afraid the rest of our books have broken spines, dog ears and splotches of tea or coffee ...
Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
I think Hilary Mantel, Joan Didion and Donna Tartt would make a great dinner party.
The best and worst things about where you live?
We live on a terrace down a cul-de-sac and the best thing is the long front gardens, teeming with life. The worst is Dublin traffic!
What is your favourite quotation?
“What if the goal of life is to make for yourself a soul?” Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Who is your favourite fictional character?
Madame Bovary is a marvel!
A book to make me laugh?
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (but it’ll also make you cry).
A book that might move me to tears?
The Heather Blazing by Colm Tóibín.
The Hotel Guest by Rosemary Hennigan is published by Hachette Books Ireland on April 30th
