‘Georgian London was a global hub, full of new things & ideas’
Author Imogen Hermes Gowar, whose debut novel, The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock, is getting rave reviews in Britain and has been shortlisted for numerous awards, speaks to Latha Srinivasan.
and keen observation: she is very smart about how pragmatically young women had to think about their marital prospects, and that’s certainly something that informed my own writing. But I I think I got more from her letters and juvenilia. Her teenage works (like Lesley Castle or Jack and Alice) are full of wit and exuberance and respond to the frank and even bawdy 18th-century literature contemporary with the period in which The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock is set. We think of Austen as very decorous and proper, but she was still a product of the 18th century, and she knew what was what. Her letters can be very wicked, and I found her humour, voice and observations very useful in my research.
Q. What is it about Georgian London that attracted you? A.
I lived in London for most of the time I was writing the book, and I’ve always found its history irresistible. I could never walk down a street without thinking about what had happened there in the past—who lived there; what reputation the area had. That’s just how I am. I like Georgian London because it was such a global hub at that point, full of new things and new ideas. The humour, the language and the possibilities felt right to me.
Q. You’ve been inspired by artefacts before. What was the inspiration for
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock?
A tiny mummified 18thcentury mermaid in the British Museum. It’s a genuine fake.
A. Q. Now that this book is a tremendous success, what are you working on next? A.
I can’t tell you much as it’s in progress and who knows how it’ll change in the edit. What I can say is it’s another novel set in London but in a very different time period.
“I’ve always found history irresistible. I could never walk down a street without thinking about what had happened there in the past; who lived there; what reputation the area had. That’s just how I am.”
Q. Who are some of your favourite authors? A.
Beryl Bainbridge, Muriel Spark, Carson McCullers.
Q. Any Indian authors you have read? A.
As a teenager, I really admired Anita Desai and Arundhati Roy, and now I’m excited for Rijula Das’ debut Other Town. Of course, it’s an honour to share the Women’s Prize longlist not only with Roy but also Meena Kandasamy. India has it going on.