Novel occasion at last for book club

THIS month’s meeting was special in two ways. Most members were able to attend, either at the Gallery, for the first time since last October, or via Zoom.

Secondly we were delighted that Sinead Courtney could join us to talk about her debut novel, “What If?” and the logistics of self publication.

Sinead explained that the novel evolved from her experiences of living in Wimbledon, of flat sharing and of evaluating the what ifs in her life.

Annabelle is the central character, and has been thoroughly spoilt by her parents, never having any money worries. She did complete a business degree but only to please her father.

Her career in business was short lived as David, a successful businessman in the same company, married her, asked her to give up work so that they could start a family.

So Annabelle drifts from one course to another, trying to delay motherhood as long as possible.

After being left on her own so often she soon turns to Gary, her personal trainer, for comfort and companionship and an intense affair develops.

The novel is split into two storylines, which overlap in details. The first section is called Anna, and is written from the perspective that David is completely unaware of his wife’s affair.

The second section is called Belle, the name used by her father and Gary. This narrative is based on David seeing Anna and Gary together.

Anna is forced into an all male flat-share and then to moving back to her parents. Anna is left to ponder ‘what if’ David had never known about Gary.

Our discussion dissected the main characters. We decided that David really only wanted a trophy wife, and made the mistake of leaving Anna on her own for most of the time.

He put friendship with Jane, a work colleague, first. Also he played golf every weekend.

Anna was trying to find her way in life, and most of us thought that she had achieved this by the end of the book.

However some members though she was a born loser.

Melody was added to the story to add a ‘bit of spice,’ a girl that went to the same school as Anna but who was overlooked and was never a part of any peer group.

We thought that Melody was definitely a mental and physical threat to Anna, but when we realised the reasons for this, we were more sympathetic to her.

The novel was set within a society that many Ashbourne residents would not have experienced, but some of us remember the horrors of flat sharing.

We were however well aware of the pressures placed on women to give up successful careers to start a family.

Conversation between characters dominates the novel and it was interesting to see how language is evolving in the twenty first century.

It was really interesting to hear about the logistics of self publication. Sinead works in publishing for Penguin so knew how difficult it is for debut novelists to see their work in print. Self publication could well be the way in the future, using social media for book readings to publicise novels.

We are looking forward to reading Sinead’s next novel, a thriller set in South Africa. Copies of Sinead’s book ‘What if’ are available from the Gallery Cafe in St John Street.

Next month we will be reading ‘How to be both’ by Ali Smith.