Telling it like it is
“I am so nervous about this book but I am so proud of it.” It’s one of the first things that Derry author Claire Allan says to me as we chat about her fourth domestic noir/thriller. The Liar’s Daughter focuses on the aftermath of Joe McKee’s death. The perfect stepfather, father and sainted pillar of the community, while many in Derry lament his passing, relief, not grief, is what daughter Ciara and stepdaughter Heidi feel. They know exactly the kind of person Joe was. We won’t spoiler it for you but expect an emotional and heartbreaking revelation, beautifully handled by Claire.
“I was so nervous about the subject matter and whether or not I was doing it justice and doing it sensitively and if there was enough in it to pull people in,” she says. “I found it difficult to write; I think because of the subject matter, I found I couldn’t sit down and write in long chunks, it was really a case of 500 words and then I had to step away from it.
“Joe’s a bad article and an awful human being but not pulling it over into caricature. He is the only villain I’ve written who actually really disturbed me, and this is the only book I’ve written where I’ve had to walk away from it at different times. I would be quite upset and would purposedly go and do something lovely to decompress from it.
“It was really emotionally draining to write but at the same time I felt it had to be written. I never considered scrapping it or moving onto a different subject matter.
“Hopefully people will see it as important but also I hope they also enjoy the read. It’s difficult to say, ‘I really hope you enjoy this book… but I know it’s going to be a difficult read.’”
Fiction, like non fiction however, should represent a portrayal of all subjects, be they deemed unpleasant or otherwise.
“Just because we’re afraid of it or it’s unpleasant, doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a discourse about it,” says Claire.
The Liar’s Daughter focuses almost exclusively in Heidi’s former childhood home and it is this claustrophobic location – too many people trying to co-exist – that adds to the tension.
“It’s the first time I’ve done that, purposedly kept that small sphere and I purposedly want the house to come across that way because bad things happened there,” says Claire.
“It was a really happy home at one stage and then a negative presence came in. That was challenging but it was fun to write, to create that atmosphere and how I’ve described the settings, the dusty furniture and his books everywhere because he totally just completely took over the place.”
With four thrillers to her name, as well as a host of commercial women’s fiction, plus her new alter ego as Freya Kennedy (her first title will be published in May), Claire is busy but loves this particular genre. We ask whether she feels more confident in her thriller writing since the first book, Her Name Was Rose.
“I think thrillers are where I want to be and where I want to push myself as a writer. It’s where I actually feel like a writer. I think before now I felt like the girl who writes books. Writing these books, I feel like a writer and I think they’ve allowed me to feel that in myself and to feel that I’ve earned a seat at the table. Would I say I feel confident? I feel confident in that I know what makes up a book structurally but I try to push myself a wee bit further with each book, so you’re never too confident at all.
“From a technical point of view, they’re really well written, I know that, but there’s another part of me… perhaps it’s the Northern Irish thing that says, ‘Don’t be saying you’re good.’ We’re taught to play it down from an early age.
“I think I know what I’m doing and I hope that people like it and that it builds an audience and that I’m allowed to keep doing it.”
Another bonus is that she can write about her beloved Derry, the perfect place for a book of this genre she says.
“People from Derry love because they can recognise the places I’m talking about but people from outside love it because they can picture it. My editors would always be pushing me to put more Derry in, to really get the personality of the place, the appearance and the history.
“Why would you not write about where you know and what you know? Derry is the perfect place to set a book, I always say. It’s a city but it has that small town mentality. Geographically we’ve the river, mountains on one side, Donegal on the other, you’ve everything there setting wise, politically and historically.”
The Liar’s Daughter by Claire Allan (Avon) is available now
