MAGGIE O’FARRELL
The best-selling Irish author brings the world of Renaissance Italy to life in her latest book
Was it hard to settle and write again after the tremendous success of Hamnet?
I was very insulated from it all because of lockdown – I think I only did two in-person events for Hamnet – and actually it was the least strange thing about that whole time.
Is there a book that made you love writing?
The book that made me pick up a pen and start to write was Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. The verve and spirit of her writing is very infectious; she always comes across as a writer who is thoroughly enjoying herself on the page.
What’s the best book you’ve read? So hard to choose just one. I love the symmetrical structure of Jane Eyre, the audacity of Alice Walker’s The Colour Purple, the hilarious solemnity of Billy Collins’ poetry, the range of Elizabeth Strout … it’s hard to stop listing my favourite books.
A book that had a pivotal impact on your life?
Moominland Midwinter, by Tove Jansson, which someone gave me when I was ill in hospital as a child. I was so struck by the description of Moomin waking in the middle of hibernation, alone, to a changed and unrecognisable world. I’ve never forgotten that scene’s mesmeric quality.
The book you couldn’t finish?
I try every few years or so to get going with Marcel Proust but I haven’t managed to get past page 50 yet … maybe one day.
Your earliest reading memory? Listening to my parents’ vinyl record of (the Beatles’) Sgt Pepper and realising that the words coming out of the speakers matched the letters on the shiny red sleeve notes open on my lap. Eureka.
The book you are most proud to have written?
Proud doesn’t quite convey how I feel about my past books: it’s a bit more nuanced than that, a mixture of curious, pleased, frustrated, shy, nostalgic, regretful, all depending on what day you ask me.
How do you read books (audio, e-reader, paper)?
Paper, always.
Your favourite place to read? Anywhere with a cat on my lap. What books do you re-read?
Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, Robert Browning, Gawain and the Green Knight, Amy Bloom’s short stories, Joan Makes History by Kate Grenville, Alice Munro, The Dubliners, Oscar and Lucinda.
What books are on your bedside table?
Donal Ryan’s new book, poetry by Ada Limon, Joan by Katherine Chen. What are you writing next?
I’m very superstitious about talking about books before I finish them – I always worry it will drain me of the desire to write them. So I’m afraid it’s a secret.