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interview
What was your inspiration for the novel?
The inspiration for The Good Wife grew out of the subject of my previous Revenge of the Middle- Aged Woman where a marriage is destroyed. I thought it would be interesting to take the opposite stance and examine a marriage which endures on the premise that marriage is both an institution and a mental state which can be fruitful, devastating, a refuge, stagnant, successful, a source of consolation and deepest frustration, subject to vast change: sometimes all at the same time.
Have you ever been/are you a 'Good Wife'?
Depends how you define ‘wife’. Two generations ago, to be a ‘wife’ was virtually a woman’s existence. Now, the role of the wife is slotted between other roles and I have been lucky enough to be one of those women who have enjoyed being a wife and a mother, but also found infinite satisfaction in pursuing a career. Am I a good wife? I am useless at warming the slippers and the fridge is frequently empty and I am still working on the humour, flexibility, compassion, tenderness - and an effective prayer to the Sock God who could tell me which sock belongs to whom.
Given this is a marriage of two people, how intentional was it to write only from the wife's point of view?
I was initially reluctant to work with the first person as I suspected that it might restrict the novel. To my surprise, I found quite the opposite. Using the ‘I’ voice, it is possible to drive deep into the psyche and achieve an intimacy which is what I wanted for the subject. Although, The Good Wife is written from a feminine perspective, the crisis that Fanny has reached - Where am I going? What am I doing? Do I want to change? is one that affects both sexes.
Is this a novel really about a coming-of-age?
Yes and no. It is partly about knitting together elements from the past the choices and the experiences, both good and bad which are part and parcel of growing into the skin. There is the metaphor of a life, and the spirit, having many rooms running through the book, and Fanny is moving from one room into the next.
How important is the Italian theme? And what areyou trying to show with this?
The Italian theme is very important. As a sun-lit Elysium, Italy offers the chance to escape from normal life. At the same time, Fanny has been indoctrinated by her father that Italy is her ‘real’ home where he feels the right values of family and constancy are to be found. Yet, what Fanny does discover there teaches her that nostalgia and memory are not a basis for the truth. The Italy that she ‘knows’ no longer exists, however seductive. At the same time, its beauty, magic and heat prove to be cathartic.
How did you research your characters?
They grew with ideas that underpin the novel. But Fanny was there, right from the beginning, more or less complete. Will and Meg took a bit more time and evolved over the drafts. I cannot say that I ‘researched’ them as such. Just ran them through my head over and over again.
Are Meg and Fanny really the same person?
Again yes and no. It could be argued that Meg represents the dark, anarchic, self destructive side of Fanny and she has to battle with it for most of her married life until the Italian interlude when it is finally conquered.
Which authors do you enjoy reading?
Claire Tomalin, Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Marika Cobbold, Richard Holmes, Rose Tremain.
Could you recommend two books for us?
Bad Blood by Lorna Sage (Fourth Estate, £6.99) an astonishing piece of autobiography. Bitter Fame: a Life of Sylvia Plath by Anne Stevenson (Penguin, £9.99), a fascinating and totally absorbing interpretation of her life and work.
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Author interviews
