Exeter
Writer member Cathie Hartigan has just published her second novel,
Notes from the Lost, set in WW2 Italy and Exeter in 2000.
Amazon
reviews:
‘The
days of the war ended but the repercussions of events were still
rippling through to the year 2000. Get the tissues out because boy
will you need them. I was so very involved with the past as it
unfolded and loved how things were developing in present day.
Ros didn’t just hold her own future in her hands she held the destiny of the people that she now knew as friends. What an incredible story. I loved the songs, felt like I could hear the music and adored the ending. Truly a wonderful read.’
Ros didn’t just hold her own future in her hands she held the destiny of the people that she now knew as friends. What an incredible story. I loved the songs, felt like I could hear the music and adored the ending. Truly a wonderful read.’
‘The
characters are vivid and compelling - Alfie is utterly lovable. I
could not put it down and now my book club are all reading it and
loving it too!’
Q:
Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell us about your
writing journey?
I
was a hobby writer for a long time, but I took a creative writing
correspondence course about fifteen years ago and my wonderful tutor
encouraged me to take my writing more seriously. Since then I’ve
won a few prizes for my short stories and co-authored a series of
writing guides with Margaret James, the first of which is The
Creative Writing Student’s Handbook.
My first novel, Secret
of the Song achieved
one of those lovely yellow Best
Seller
flags on Amazon and
was
a runner-up in the
Hall and Woodhouse/Dorchester Literary Festival novel
competition. I’m part of the team that runs the Exeter Novel Prize.
Q:
What was the inspiration for your second novel?
A
television programme and then a chance conversation with a friend led
to Notes
from the Lost.
I was chatting about the programme because I had found it so moving.
It featured the story of many Allied soldiers who were captured and
then escaped into the Italian mountains during WW2. What struck me
was the bravery of the poor Italian families who risked their own
lives by sheltering these young men. My friend then told me that his
father was one of those soldiers and he had many of his diaries. When
I read them, it became absolutely clear to me that I would write a
novel which would in part be loosely based the experience of Captain
William Wright. In the event, rather like Secret
of the Song,
I wrote another dual time frame book, so there is also a modern-day
heroine who unwittingly reveals some family secrets that had been
hidden for decades.
Q:
If you could, which fictional character (from your own book(s) or
someone else's) would you like to invite for tea and why?
Definitely
Alfie Lovelace from Notes
from the Lost.
He’s always cheerful and kind in spite of having to overcome
disappointment and considerable difficulties. We’d have great
conversations about music, living independently, and the quality of
Italian coffee.
Q:
Is there a writer whose brain you would love to pick for advice? Who
would that be and why?
It’s
got to be Kate Atkinson, because she can do everything.
I’d love to find out how she plots so tightly and yet makes the
writing feel so spontaneous. Jackson Brodie is a wonderful character
and I love the stories, but the depth of emotion and compassion she
shows towards Teddy in A
God in Ruins
had me gasping.
Q:
Are you a plotter or do you go with the flow, as a pantser?
I
know approximately where I’m going, and the appropriate tone, but
I’m not a detailed plotter. I like the discovery as I go along, and
I rely on my story instinct to keep me from drifting in the wrong
direction. If I do go astray, then I’ll cut hard on the redraft.
Q:
Can you give novice writers some tips?
Firstly,
join a group and/or seek help from those who are further along the
writing road. I’ve been a member of Exeter Writers since 2008 and
it’s the best thing I ever did. Not only did I meet some fantastic
writers, but my own writing received honest critiques. I do think
that one of the wisest things I have heard about being a writer is
that you have to be sensitive in order to empathise with your
characters and your readers, but also have the skin of a rhinoceros
in order to deal with the advice! It seems to me that it can often be
more painful, the closer it is to the truth.
Secondly,
think of your reader – make sure that what is in your head is clear
on the page so that someone who doesn’t know you at all will see,
feel and understand what you mean.
Thirdly,
and most importantly, never send off your first draft.
Q:
Last question, can you give us a snippet from your book?
Yes,
of course! This is the opening of Notes
from the Lost.
It’s October 1943 in the Italian Apennine mountains:
‘Get your kit, Alfie.’
Frank’s
voice hisses in the dark, so close I can feel the heat of his breath
on my ear.
Goodbye
dreams of singing to my darling Dottie at Covent Garden. While I’ve
been having forty winks, he’s done it. Smashed through the bolt
with the smuggled pickaxe. I go to stand, but the swaying and
juddering of the cattle truck is so violent, we end up half crawling
and half thrown towards the open door.
Cold
mountain air rips into every corner and down all the crevices between
cloth and skin. Marvellous. I want to jump now, but the train’s
going too fast. What’s the use of a broken neck? We’re in trees
here, but the line of the ridge is visible ahead. I see it for a
moment, before clouds smudge the bright moon. The air is fresh, but
there’s something else that raises the hairs on my arms.
Out
there, the big outdoors, forest, mountain, the inky sky of a million
stars, it all means one thing – freedom. At last, at long, long
last.
