SPREAD THE LOVE
10 great romantic reads.
SHE’S one of The Future 40 – a sparkling list of 40 Scottish storytellers who publisher Canongate believes will dominate the next four decades of their art.
And her debut novel, The Gracekeepers, was heard by millions as one of Simon Mayo’s Radio 2 Book Club choices.
So readers could be forgiven for thinking The Gloaming, the second novel to come out of award-winning writer Kirsty Logan was a piece of cake. Not so
Glasgow-based Logan tells iN10: “When I first wrote this book I was 22. It was 10 years in the making.”
And she reveals that, neither Gracekeepers or her latest offering, would have been likely to see the light of day had it not been for her late father, who died before she had a chance to publish.
“I started The Gloaming when I was at university because I didn’t want to write my dissertation,” the Stirling graduate confesses with a wry smile.
“I thought I’d procrastinate productively so I wrote this novel, but it was dreadful, so I rewrote it from scratch – twice. It still wasn’t good enough to give to an agent. In the end, I had rewritten it four times.
“Each time it was completely different but the core of the novel remained the same – a girl forced to grow up before she is ready.”
She adds: “You look around and think, ‘I’m not a grown-up’ and then suddenly you find you are grown-up. I wanted to explore that idea.”
Set on a remote fictitious Scottish island inspired by the author’s sojourns on Lismore and Skye, it follows Mara, whose parents retreated to the isle to raise their children and escape their turbulent lives.
But there is a price to pay for living in this enchanted refuge. Mara’s world begins to unravel – until the irresistible Pearl appears and captivates her.
Logan, who also penned short story collections A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales, was brought up in a “bookish” home.
Her mother Eleanor had latterly worked for Publishing Scotland and her late father Ewan was a medical rep who dreamed of becoming a writer.
Says Logan: “My dad died suddenly five years ago. We don’t know what happened, but he had a number of illnesses.
“Not knowing the cause bothered me a lot but then I realised that knowing wouldn’t bring him back and I learned to live with that.
“I wrote the Gracekeepers because of him. I am indebted to him. I could not have written it if not for him,” she says of the man who read her work with enthusiasm, always offering encouragement.
She says: “He always wanted to be a writer. He used to write poetry and stories.
“He died before I got the deal for my first book so never knew that I had published, but I like to think he would have been proud.
“I inherited his notebooks and diaries, but they were not regular diaries, they were full of beautiful description and philosophical thoughts, more of a writer’s diary. I used some of them in one book of short stories, so my dad is kind of published posthumously.
“I still have my mum and she is amazing. She has just retired and lives quite near, my brother lives in Canada.
“Mum was in the book business for many years and I grew up in a very bookish house. We are a very small, but very close family.”
Family looms large in this latest book laced with mysticism.
It’s a spellbinding tale of first love, earth-shattering grief and the gap between fairy tales and real life.
“The Gloaming is a love story with a little trace of magic,” says Logan.
“I believe my readers want a bit of magic in their lives.”