Readers Place

*******************************************************************************

Susy McPhee answers questions about her book The Runaway Wife:

What was the inspiration for The Runaway Wife?

This might sound a bit macabre of me, but I really enjoy putting my characters in a dark place and then sitting back and seeing how they cope! When I wrote Husbands and Lies, life for Fran was pretty sweet at the beginning, even though her best friend was terminally ill. She had a great job, a devoted husband, a gorgeous daughter – plenty to take comfort in. The real problems started for her when she began to suspect her husband of infidelity, and frankly she brought a lot of her problems on herself because she let her imagination run away with her and didn’t tackle the problem head on – a trait which, certainly from the feedback I’ve had, is something a lot of us can recognise! With The Runaway Wife, I put Marion in the darkest place she could be right at the start, and the novel became the story of her journey back into the light. Deciding what had brought her to that dark place was difficult: I had to spend some time just thinking about what would make her want to take her own life. The idea of losing a child must be every mother’s worst nightmare, so I began with that premise and took things from there.

The Runaway Wife starts with your heroine contemplating suicide after the loss of her daughter and the break-up of her marriage. Did you find it difficult to blend this tragedy with the lighter elements of the book?

Really difficult! I didn’t want to make light of Marion’s situation, but at the same time the subject matter is so depressing! Getting the balance right between respecting the place Marion’s in and not making the reader want to slash their own wrists was very tricky, particularly in the beginning. But then Marion herself is such a wonderful character, a real survivor: eventually she came to my rescue and just took over the story.

If you were only allowed to write one or the other, would it be comedy or tragedy?

I think you need both for the story to work, otherwise either one could become a bit relentless. Comedy itself often has a cruel side to it – someone’s usually the fall guy in the jokes we tell, and it’s that cringe-making I’m-glad-that’s-not-me, or even the oh-that-could-be-me, that makes us laugh. I think my writing’s more tragic than comic: the comedy is the light relief to help the characters get through it all.

Which book has made you laugh? Which book has made you cry?

My brother recently lent me Jeffery Archer’s A Prisoner of Birth, and when I got to the last word I actually laughed aloud. I could see it coming a few sentences beforehand, but that only added to my anticipation. I wandered around the house afterwards with a big grin on my face and the feeling that all was right with the world. As for crying, well, I hate to be a total sap, but I did bawl my eyes out at Marley and Me. I’d defy anybody who’s even remotely doggy not to feel the tears prickling at this one. Mind you, I also laughed a lot along the way as well. I cried at places in The Poisonwood Bible, too, and in A Thousand Splendid Suns. And I cry at some of the stuff I write myself, which is ridiculous really given that I made it all up! But maybe that’s a symptom of general mental deterioration: the girls reckon it’s only a matter of time before I’ll be able to hide my own Easter Eggs . . .

Which book would you never have on your bookshelf ?

Anything I’ve read that’s disappointed me. I just put a stack of books out for the charity shop this weekend because they were such a let-down. I wouldn’t mind, but a fair proportion of them had won or been shortlisted for awards. One of them – an international bestseller, apparently – had been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. That made me laugh. Longlisted? How long’s the list? I tell you, it must have stretched to Antarctica and back. The book was covered in quotes telling you it was spellbinding, vivid, brutal, exhilarating. I really, really wanted to like it. But I couldn’t. It was awful. And then I felt as though there was something wrong with me for not liking it when all these other people had raved about it. So it made me feel guilty as well. Disappointing and guilt-inducing. It had to go.

Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?

I hate to tell you, but I never really felt inspired to be a writer! I never got to the end of a book and thought, hey, I could do this! Writing is just something that’s inside me and needs to get out, a bit like a dodgy appendix. That’s not to say I don’t find certain books or authors inspiring. I love John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. The idea of holding fast to your dream, however small or mundane that dream might be in other people’s eyes, is really what I would call inspiring.

What is your favourite word?

I don’t have one favourite word that stands out above all others, but some have caught my attention over the years and usually raise a smile. ‘Moist’. That’s a great word. I particularly like it because my daughter Carolyn can’t stand it and will visibly recoil if you say it in her presence. I have
a friend who was speaking recently about her time at boarding-school, and she mentioned the time they came back from somewhere and made a ‘beezer’ chili. I loved that – straight from Enid Blyton! I also like ‘some’ and ‘chocolate’ and ‘have’, particularly when they’re ordered correctly. And I like ‘yes’. It’s just a much nicer word than ‘no’.

Why do you write?

Well, I tried brain surgery, but I wasn’t cut out for it. Also, dogs aren’t allowed in the theatre, apparently, which is a mistake if you ask me. Dogs are known for their therapeutic value.

Which book are you reading at the moment?

The Rothbard-Rockwell Report. It’s a collection of essays by the libertarian economist and historian Murray N. Rothbard, who died in 1995.They’re witty, insightful, opinionated, and scathingly uncompromising.

Dream casting time: who in the movie of The Runaway Wife would play Marian? What about Sam?

I’d have someone like Emily Mortimer for Marion, with Emma Watson playing Con. I think they’d work well together. And Sam? Maybe Jeremy Northam or Greg Wise. Someone who looks good in a chunky sweater. Sam is definitely a chunky sweater kind of guy.

Hector plays a very important part in the story. Is Hector based on anyone? What’s your dog-owning history?

Hector was named after a dog I met walking up the hill one day, but his personality is absolutely taken from my own dog, Mishka, although I think Hector is better-behaved: I can’t imagine him ever stealing an entire tub of party rings or munching his way through a whole layer of Marks & Spencer chocolates while his owner was in the bath. I’ve had dogs all my life: at one point there were eleven flatcoated retrievers living in my house, nine of them under a month in age. The kitchen was a sea of black furry bodies in the morning. They would come sweeping towards you on a tide of piddle and attach themselves to the hem of your dressing-gown by their tiny but nonetheless sharp milk teeth, and not let go until you gave them their breakfast. My husband’s as bad, to be honest, but I can usually beat him off with a spoon.

What are you working on at the moment?

Well, in between helping my daughter Helen and her husband Oliver renovate their very old and crumbling Victorian house, I’m on my next book, which is about an identical twin who steals her sister’s life. More dark stuff: I think I’m getting a bit of a taste for it.

Read an extract of The Runaway Wife here.