5 minutes with... ANN CLEEVES
The world-renowned writer behind Vera spills on her new book, The Rising Tide, and what it’s like seeing her words come to life on the screen.
The Rising Tide is the 10th book in the Vera Stanhope series. When you first created Vera, did you ever imagine she would have such longevity?
Not at all. The first book,
The Crow Trap, was planned as a standalone novel.
I hadn’t even intended that it would feature any police officers. But then I got stuck with the story – I never plot in advance – and Vera appeared, almost fully formed in my head. I had her name and described her as “looking more like a bag lady than a detective”. I grew to like her and I wanted to get to know her better.
What can you tell us about your new book’s plotline?
The Rising Tide is my lockdown book, not because the pandemic is mentioned,
‘Fiction makes us open-minded and openhearted’
but because it’s about a group of older people who have to face their own mortality. A group of teenagers first came together 50 years ago on Holy Island, a tidal island off the Northumberland coast. They have a reunion every five years in the same house. One of them – a journalist
recently accused of sexual harassment – is found hanged in his room. Vera has to decide if this was suicide or murder. Vera,
the TV show, is immensely popular in Australia – and around the world. Did you ever believe your book could translate so well into a series?
Of course not! I felt very fortunate that the books were optioned. I could never imagine that it would still be going 12 years later. That’s down to the whole team at Silverprint [Pictures], the production company behind the show.
Brenda Blethyn is now synonymous with Vera. Did you imagine her in this part when you were first approached for the show?
I didn’t imagine Brenda as Vera at first. She is very elegant in real life! But I’d seen her in the film Secrets & Lies, where she was brilliant. She got an Oscar nomination for that role. I knew that if she agreed to play the part, the show would be commissioned. Luckily, she did agree, and now I can’t imagine anyone else as Vera.
You are visiting Australia this month – have you been here before, and if so, how do you find your Aussie fans?
I have visited Australia before. I did festivals in Bendigo and Adelaide, and library gigs in other cities. I loved them. Possibly my favourite event anywhere in the world was in the library in Boort [in Victoria]. The whole community turned out to share their reading passions. And there was cake. I think that readers are much the same the world over – fiction makes us open-minded and open-hearted.
Last year, you launched an initiative called Reading for Wellbeing. What can you tell us about that?
Reading for Wellbeing comes out of my certainty that reading can be a distraction and an escape for people suffering chronic pain, or mild depression or anxiety. Reading for pleasure is a joy and we’re suggesting that they might also be referred to general reading groups. It’s being evaluated by a group of academics, and we hope that the scheme can be rolled out nationwide.
Can you name your top five favourite mystery books ever?
This is so difficult! I’ll name my top five crime writers instead – Dorothy Sayers, Georges Simenon, Ian Rankin, Sarah Paretsky, and for Australian readers, Jane Harper.
What’s next for you? Do you have any other Vera books planned?
Absolutely! I’m working on a Matthew Venn book now, but there’ll be a new Vera after that. I decided early on not to age her in real time.