Books Anne Griffin has the write stuff
Anne Griffin’s debut, the bestseller When All Is Said, won the Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2019 and was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. The winner of the John Mcgahern Award for Literature, her work has been featured in, among others, The Irish Times and The Stinging Fly. Born in Dublin, she now lives in Mullingar, with her husband and son. Listening Still is her second novel.
How did Listening Still first come to you?
I wanted to capture one of those precious moments in life when you get a glimpse into who you are and what really matters. But I wanted it to be in an unusual setting. I’ve always been curious about what lies behind the solemn façade of the business of undertaking. So I built the world of Masterson Funeral Directors in which the very ordinary and very unusual exist side by side.
What is your favourite opening line of any novel?
Not one but three:
‘Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.’ – Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grown Ups.
‘As a baby, Tom Avery had twentyseven mothers.’ – Carol Shields, The Republic Of Love.
‘Seated opposite me in the railway carriage, the elderly lady in the foxfur shawl was recalling some of the murders that she had committed over the years.’ – John Boyne, The Absolutist.
Is there a book from childhood that has stayed with you?
I wasn’t into having to work very hard at reading, plus I liked making up my own story or even better when my dad or big sister would do it for me. Later, I read Enid Blyton’s Mallory Towers and St Clare’s, amongst others, but really I didn’t fall in love with books in that ‘can-never-be-without-one’ way until I was in my 20s.
Which writers have most influenced you?
Right now, it’s Maggie O’farrell. I still can’t define what it is about her writing that makes me feel like I’m wrapped in the softest of duvets, being gently guided through tales that are heartbreaking. Her writing is so perfect in its light touch that she leaves very little for me to do only bathe in a brilliance that is enviable.
Why do you write?
I ask myself that a lot, especially when I face into a scene, of which I know the ending but haven’t a clue how to get there. I write because at some stage in that mess of creativity, there is flow and deep immersion: when my heart is at last at ease and the world is simply perfect.
What is the one book you would have on that desert island?
Usually, it’s Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo, but today I’m choosing Maggie O’farrell’s Instructions For A Heatwave. Gretta is an Irish mother living in London whose husband has disappeared. Her grown-up children return home, bringing their damaged histories with them, to solve the mystery. Gretta is a spot-on, eccentric Irish mother. I simply love her and each of her children.