NOVELS THAT SHAPED MY WORLD

 

I loved talking with Katie Gledhill, Principal Librarian for Reading and Engagement, at West Sussex Libraries, as part of the Libraries Connected and BBC's Novels That Shaped Our World campaign.

Question: How have you found reading over lockdown?

Reading is my haven, as it has been through my life, but during Lockdown I tried to avoid dark books. I couldn’t understand why people wanted to read Albert Camus’ THE PLAGUE. I looked for books that have an element of hope or redemption in them. Some favourite Lockdown reads have been:

BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD by Attica Locke

THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST by Anne Tyler

THE DUTCH HOUSE by Ann Patchett

THE APPEAL by Janice Hallett

Question: What were your favourite books as a child?

My all-time favourites were THE BORROWER books by Mary Norton. They really stimulate the imagination. I loved the idea of a little people borrowing, not stealing, the things they need. They had their own code of honour and were never wasteful. Their names - Arriety, Homily and Pod Clock are inspired because they are just that bit non-human. It's a wistful book too because I seem to remember that the Borrowers had got smaller and smaller because of their fear. Now that is a powerful idea.

I also adored ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery and read the entire series. Anne is such a spirited character and I got much pleasure from reading about the sparring between Anne and Gilbert Blythe. This was the first love story I read and it follows the familiar pattern of initial antagonism blossoming into love. 

I must give honourable mention to BALLET SHOES by Noel Streatfield too. I read it when I was eight years old and ballet-mad.

Question: Did you read much as a teenager? Do you have a memory of the first 'grown up' book that you read?

Yes! I read my way through the fiction shelves of Sheringham library, Georgette Heyer one week, Aldous Huxley the next. Sheringham is a small seaside town in Norfolk and we didn’t even have a coffee bar then. The library was my source of entertainment, and I’ve loved libraries ever since.

My first grown up book was I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith. I was 13, I think, and remember feeling very grown up as I read about the fascinating Cassandra Mortmain - now there's a name!  It is such a charming coming of age story and I read it again recently and enjoyed it.

Question: Is there a series of books that you've really enjoyed getting stuck into?

Espionage novels. John Le Carre's George Smiley trilogy is magnificent. You have to work at understanding the intricacies of the plot and nothing is as it first appears. The last in the trilogy, SMILEY’S PEOPLE, is my favourite because it centres on the deep relationship between Smiley and Karla, the Spymaster of the KGB.

I’ve also hugely enjoyed the novels in Mick Herron’s series about a bunch of washed-up spooks with a monstrous but clever boss called Jackson Lamb. The first one in the series is called SLOW HORSES and the seventh one, SLOUGH HOUSE, is just out. I’m looking forward to that.

Queston: Who are your favourite detectives in fiction?

SEAN DUFFY, who is a Catholic detective working in the largely protestant RUC in Northern Ireland. He’s the hero in Adrian McKinty's novels set during The Troubles. The first one is: THE COLD COLD GROUND and there are six in the series. They are gritty, realistic and dark and he captures the dread of those times, but there are also some lighter moments.

I also love INSPECTOR MAIGRET by Georges Simenon.  I think there are 75 Maigret novels so still many left for me to read. Some of my favourites are: THE LATE MONSIEUR GALLET, THE JUDGE’S HOUSE, MAIGRET’S HOLIDAY and MAIGRET GOES TO SCHOOL.

Question: Why do you think people love crime books so much?

I think because a crime sets a story in motion and the process of discovering who did the crime, the pursuit of the truth, gives the story a forward momentum which can be irresistible. And characters are revealed when they are most under pressure. It is also satisfying to have the crime solved and the world returned to order by the end of the book.

I’d like to give a special mention to DENISE MINA who is an excellent crime writer. I’d recommend STILL MIDNIGHT and THE END OF THE WASP SEASON.

Question: Do you like comic novels?

Yes. Funny books are precious and they are good for getting us through difficult times. My favourite comic writer is Sue Townsend. I love the Adrian Mole novels, especially the ones where he has grown up: THE WILDERNESS YEARS, THE CAPPUCCINO YEARS and my all-time favourite THE PROSTRATE YEARS which is bittersweet. Sue Townsend makes me laugh out loud. I have huge respect for writers who are funny as I know this is something I could not do.

Question: Who is your favourite character in fiction and why?     

It would have to be PIP in GREAT EXPECTATIONS. I identify with Pip and his struggles to understand how the world works. He’s a bit of an innocent and misreads situations and he has a strong conscience and becomes ashamed of his snobbery. I love the way Charles Dickens has inverted the moral order in the book. Miss Havisham, the lady, uses Pip very shabbily and it is Abel Magwitch, the convict, who is his true benefactor and the real gentleman in his actions.

Question: Do you have an all-time favourite novel?

Can I have two please?

GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens.

And 

THE SHIPPING NEWS by Annie Proulx

This has everything I love in a book: a despised and hapless hero in Quoyle; a wonderful sense of place in Annie Proulx's depiction of Newfoundland, the land of Quoyle’s forefathers, and a journey of redemption for Quoyle. I do not like hopeless books. I like there to be some light at the end.  

Question: Tell us about your latest book.

I am still working on a new domestic noir novel. My heroine Holly Hilborne receives a surprise inheritance of a large and dilapidated house in Brighton. The novel combines gothic elements with psychological suspense. I've loved writing a novel where a decaying Victorian house, and its long overgrown garden, are key players in the drama. Also, a first for me, I had to research how you renovate a house.

My novels are available here

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