In the latest in our books series, eighteen-time novelist CATHY KELLY shares her admiration for VILLAGE LIFE in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, mental health, and why she REFUSES TO CLEAN HER DESK …
Cathy Kelly is an author that almost needs no introduction. With a writing career spanning nearly twenty years, she has published an impressive eighteen novels. Her books have sold millions of copies around the world, with bestsellers in the UK, Ireland and Australia. She is also an Ambassador for Unicef Ireland, raising funds and awareness for children orphaned by or living with HIV/AIDS.
Cathy initially worked as journalist as well as an agony aunt and film critic, while penning fiction in her spare time. The result was her first novel, Woman to Woman in 1997, which shot straight to the top of The Irish Times and The Sunday Times bestseller lists.
Her most recent offering is Between Sisters, a heart-wrenching tale of abandonment expertly woven together by a seasoned creator of strong female characters.
Cathy will appear at Dalkey Book Festival this weekend, in conversation with Dr Harry Barry, a medical doctor with a special interest in mental health. They will discuss Dr Barry’s new bestseller Flagging Anxiety and Panic, exploring issues that Cathy has covered in her own writing.
Cathy lives with her husband John, their twin sons Dylan and Murray, and their three dogs in County Wicklow. She is currently working on her next novel.
On home
I live in Enniskerry just outside the village on a wonderful, tree-lined road – unless you feel like walking, in which case you may be mowed down as it’s winding and narrow. Our house is an old Arts and Crafts copy, around eighty years old and unusual, and it sits on a great spot where we have fields sweeping away from us and we can see the sea and the Sugarloaf.
My favourite spot in the village, outside Spar and Magee’s Chemist (I should have a tent there) is Kennedy’s, run by my friends Santina and Andrew Kennedy. We are blessed with coffee establishments in the village, including Kingfishers, run by lovely Patricia and Poppies, run by Peter, but I go to see Santina where we can talk, laugh and where the whole village turns up so that the table situated on a higher level beside the barista bar is a hive of locals and we all drop in, and unload our laughs and problems. It really is like Cheers, that Ted Danson Boston pub – everybody knows your name, the coffee is divine and the fun…. I could set a million novels there.
Enniskerry is the prettiest village (which once stood in for a Scottish village in a BBC production of September, the Rosamunde Pilcher novel) with a triangle instead of a square, idyllic shops and houses, and is five minutes down the road from the glorious Powerscourt Estate, the wonderful Powerscourt Hotel and the golf club, all of which make it a tourist haven and Mecca to cyclists. It’s wall-to-wall lycra round here in summer. It’s rural, which I love, and there is a sense of community. I know everyone, almost, and honestly can’t go to the shop for five minutes without it taking half an hour. To get to us, if you don’t go the N11, you have to go the winding Scalp Road and you might see a goat blocking your way with a ‘this is my road, honey’ expression on his face. Fabulous!
On creating
I have always written at home and write in a study downstairs with glorious views down the valley to a hardwood forest. It has bookcases, candles – which I light when I write – photos and, mid-book, a lot of random bits of ‘important’ papers flung around. I have always been keen on the concept that a clean desk is the sign of a boring mind. I don’t tidy it mid-book, not for any superstitious reasons, but more because it takes so long and I could be writing. This is also why my wardrobe/fridge/airing cupboards are such disasters. When we bought this house more than fifteen years ago, this room was initially a bedroom but I wanted it because it felt right.
On bookshops
I do love The Gutter Bookshop in town because I adore lovely Bob who runs it and because he does wonderful launches, where I wander and find about ten books I want to buy. That said, I love all bookshops and libraries too. Bookshops and libraries have supported me so much in my career and I am such a wild reader that I am never happier than being amid the stacks, piling up things to buy.
On literature
When I am writing a novel, the back of the cornflakes packet seems more well written to me than my current opus. I suffer from writer’s high anxiety, which is a condition without a cure. Right now, I am hideously wishing I’d written the fabulous Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld because it is brilliant and I broke with my habit of reading crime or biography during the end of a novel to read it, and it’s so good, I have to stop myself thinking of it when I am writing or I would stop and actually tidy my desk.
On escapes
I am a huge fan of the lovely Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, Co Waterford, where we go perhaps twice a year because Ardmore is magical (one of my heroines, Molly Keane, lived there). As a family, it’s fun rediscovering places like Paris with my sons. I am keen to go back to Greece where I did so much sightseeing years ago. I am not a sunbather, although sitting in the shade with a book is heaven, but I adore places of historical interest. My current fad is to go to the Galapagos Islands as we are on a bit of a Darwin love-in in our house but it may have to wait a while…
On inspiration
I can only say that some divine being gave me a gift of having a mind that never stops – this can work against you, particularly late at night. My mind never stops with ideas. I wish I could write faster to keep up with it. And I love people. Meeting people is the best way to write. You see, observe and how could you ever be short of ideas.
On Dr Barry
I’ve known Harry and his marvellous work, like Flagging the Screenager, since he began writing. He is truly inspirational and even though I am finishing a novel, I am delighted to break off to interview him for the festival. He writes about subjects I have written about, like depression, suicide, mental health, and he is at the coalface of these subjects in Ireland.
Between Sisters (€10.99, Orion Books) is now available on paperback from bookshops nationwide.
Dr Harry Barry’s event with Cathy Kelly is on Sunday, June 19 in The Secret Garden in Dalkey, Co Dublin at 4pm. Tickets are €15 and available from www.dalkeybookfestival.org
Sophie Grenham @SophieGrenham
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