I’m Katie, debut author with Orenda, still in disbelief that my first novel Everything Happens for a Reason is coming out this June.
I live in South London with my husband, two children, cat, dog and stick insects. I used to be a reporter at the Guardian and now I like to make things up instead. Having said that, the starting point for Everything Happens for a Reason is autobiographical. As happens to my main character, my son Finn died just before he was born. When I was at home on maternity leave without him, I wrote to him, imagining what we might be doing if things had gone differently. That later sparked the idea of writing my novel as emails from a grieving mother.
While trying to write in that form, I sought out other epistolary novels – ones written as letters or diary entries. I’m sharing my favourites here, as well as other books that inspired me thanks to their humour, voice and great characters. And I’ve snuck in a new one from a fellow #TeamOrenda writer because it’s giving me lots of food for thought for my next book.
The Trick of It by Michael Frayn
Writing letters to an old friend in Australia, a British academic tells the story of how he meets and falls for the woman novelist he has studied and taught on throughout his career. The academic and his subject become closer and a toxic mix of idolisation, envy and distrust develops. Our narrator also longs to write fiction, wishes he could crack “the trick of it”. The letters are natural, hilarious, touching and, at times, dark. Wonderfully done.
The Art of Fiction by David Lodge
I found my way to Frayn’s The Trick of It via this book by novelist David Lodge. A collection of essays on topics such as Surrealism, the Unreliable Narrator and Ending, the book is packed with examples from writers including Orwell, Ishiguro and Austen. It’s less a how-to guide and more an entertaining eye-opener to the tricks of the greats. For readers and writers alike.
Incendiary by Chris Cleave
This story of a fictional terror attack on London is told by a grieving wife and mother in letters to Osama bin Laden. The plot is twisty and intriguing and the feel is apocalyptic given the scale of the attack that launches the story. But it’s the voice that made this book so superb for me. The letters are packed with turns of phrase that are simultaneously unique, funny and devastating, and everything is told with such directness that I have rarely felt so close to a narrator.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
This funny, moving novel is written as a mix of emails, articles, first-person accounts and other documents. Semple gives us just enough of each character’s perspective and weaves everything together into a great page turner. The eponymous Bernadette is a wonderfully cynical character with a heart and her story is a clever reflection on missed opportunities and our conflicted feelings about fitting in.
Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years by Sue Townsend
I re-read this part of the Adrian Mole series while writing my book because I wanted to pick apart how Adrian sounds and feel in his thirties – a similar age to my narrator Rachel. I love the way returning to Adrian Mole is like meeting an old friend whose jokes I already know or anticipate, but I laugh at them just as hard anyway.
Moominpappa at Sea by Tove Jansson
A book for children and adults alike, this is the darkest tale in the Moomin series. It’s effectively the account of a father’s existential crisis – though children probably see it as an adventure story. Moominpappa’s family have grown up, worse still, they have grown independent. His realisation that he is no longer the chief protector is beautifully shown in a scene where the rest of the family put out a fire without his knowing. His response? To move the entire family to a remote, rocky island, where once again he is needed. My book is largely about our search for purpose – aren’t so many books? – and Moominpappa’s quest to make his life make sense was an unexpected source of inspiration.
May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Holmes
Full of dark humour and big themes of family tensions, this is one of my favourite books. It was on my desk throughout writing Everything Happens for a Reason. If I felt stuck, I would pick it up and read a few pages as a break and as inspiration. Holmes has a way of paring back and saying just what’s needed and of saying the unexpected, in dialogue particularly. Her characters can be brutally honest but are also vulnerable and kind.
I met her at an event in London when I had just started writing my book and told her she had inspired me to try writing a novel. She made me promise I would see it through to the end.
There’s Only One Danny Garvey by David F. Ross
I just love everything about this book. The writing is a beautiful mix of poetic and blunt, the characters are flawed but loveable, the setting is vivid, the backstories are so complex. The book I am working on now is also about someone returning to where they grew up so I had mixed feelings when I started David’s brilliant book – so much there to inspire me but it’s also mightily intimidating! I tell everyone to read this book – consider yourself told too.
