BOOKCLUB: The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

This month on the Triskele Book Club, we're discussing The Keeper of Lost Things, by Ruth Hogan.

About the book: Once a celebrated author of short stories now in his twilight years, Anthony Peardew has spent half his life collecting lost objects, trying to atone for a promise broken many years before.

Realising he is running out of time, he leaves his house and all its lost treasures to his assistant Laura, the one person he can trust to fulfil his legacy and reunite the thousands of objects with their rightful owners.

But the final wishes of the 'Keeper of Lost Things' have unforeseen repercussions which trigger a most serendipitous series of encounters...

Discussion:


I thought there was something completely captivating about this novel from the first page to the last and couldn't believe it was a debut novel. What appealed to you about Ruth Hogan's style?

(GH)  I think the feeling of confidence that comes from 'good' writing, whether a debut novel or not. Confidence in the story, confidence in the characters, and confidence to deliver a satisfying read to their audience.

(JJ) I agree about the confidence. There's a gentle rhythm to the way she writes and you just know you are in good hands.

(LP) I enjoyed Ruth Hogan's charming, fairytale style of storytelling; the way she quietly moves you.


I would class this as my 'comfort read' of 2017 so far - did you feel the same?

(GH) Yes, although I came to the novel believing it would be quite a sad read, touching on love, loss and grief. And while there was certainly elements in there, it also had numerous touching and moving moments, glimpses of humour and jealousy, and a lot of happiness and awakening of minds. A real balance that couldn't help but put a smile on the reader's face.

(LP) Yes, I found this a quite a soothing kind of read, the heartwarming moments nicely balancing out the tragic moments.

(JJ) Exactly. Very human and although it takes in the sadness of loss, it was uplifting and left you feeling positive towards the rest of the species.


Although this is essentially a story of loss - from Anthony's wife to the assortment of lost items - it is also a 'feel good' book with more highs then lows - which is a clever balance. How do you think the author achieved her goal?

(GH)  It felt to me that the reader simply connected with her characters and let them get on with telling their story. That may sound simple, but it is anything but. However, I feel the writer was so in tune with the novel that she let the highs and lows write themselves. If it feels right to the author, it will feel right to the reader, and everything fitted perfectly in place here.

(LP) Yes, I did relate to it more as a "feel good" book, perhaps because of the clever, quirky moments, in particular with Sunshine, some of which were "laugh out loud".

(JJ) Well yes, there is loss but also recovery or at least learning to live with the absence. Plus the characters handle their misfortune in many different ways. Sunshine is certainly an endearing personality and wholly unpredictable.


The author examines many sides of human nature, using the lost items as a catalyst for each story, which I thought was uniquely clever. Did you enjoy this narrative - and could you name another book with similar structure?

(GH) I really enjoyed the narrative structure. I liked how the 'lost things' became plot points. And one of the main reasons I liked it was the uniqueness. I cannot think of a similar book!

(LP) Yes I too loved this unique narrative and can't think of another similar book.

(JJ) I've read/seen stories which feature items threading their way through different peoples lives, but not across such a range of time and place. The structure was perfect, with each sub-story retaining its own atmosphere.

Which was your favourite character - and why?

(GH) I'd like to say Sunshine but that's probably a little unoriginal. So, I'll say Anthony Peardew because without him there would be no story.

(LP): I didn't have a favourite. They were all enjoyable, unique and interesting in their own way.

(JJ) Eunice, I'd say. From a modern-day perspective, you could say she's not a great role model, but I admired her quiet dignity and generous heart.


The author carefully handled Sunshine as a character, not shying away from her Downs' Syndrome, but using it as a positive rather than negative trait. Did this work for you?

(GH) Sunshine lived up to her name. She brought an unpretentious quality to the story. Her simple honesty and genuine highs and lows were refreshing against the muddied lives of the other characters.

(LP) Very much so, as Gillian says, her child's innocence was a welcome break from the sadness.

(JJ) And rightly so. There's no self-pity in Sunshine, but a huge optimism and expectation of welcome. I thought she was great fun and a good lesson to many of us.


There was an element of the supernatural, particularly centred around Sunshine, that added an unexpected layer to the story for me. Did you feel the same?

(GH) I liked it but then I like books with an extra paranormal edge, and to be honest it felt perfectly natural to me that Sunshine would have a connection with the lost things. I felt as if Anthony always knew this, and it was all part of his big plan.

(LP) This was the only element of the story that I didn't really relate to. I found it a bit intrusive and not really necessary. However, it certainly did not spoil the story for me.

(JJ) I tend to agree with Liza there. The positive, moving-on thrust of the book was imbalanced by that particular thread. But we can't all love every element or it would be very dull.


There was little use of location in the book, except for Anthony's home, Padua. Did the description of the house and garden bring the setting alive to you?

(GH) I'm usually a big advocate of the use of location within a story. But Padua is the focus of the story so it didn't detract here.

(JJ) Padua would be my second favourite character. That's what got me looking for all the Shakespearian allusions, too.

(LP) Yes, I certainly felt "at home" at Padua, and could imagine it clearly in my mind's eye; even smell it!


One of my highlights was the mini stories inside the main plot - essentially the story of the lost things - did you enjoy these breakaway insights or did they detract from the main plot for you?

(GH) I loved them! Each little tale brought a smile (or tear) to my face. I thought it was so clever to sit and think about each item and bring to life the story behind it. It was one of most favourite things about the novel.

(LP) I agree with Gillian; I loved them!

(JJ) They were great fun and encouraged the reader to imagine what stories the other objects in Anthony's study might tell. It also relieved some of the  pressure on the main narratives, having some of these side stories to explore.


Many readers may not have heard of Ruth Hogan. Readers of which other authors do you think would enjoy this novel? Why should they give it a try?

(GH) I think it's a tribute to the author and the book that no names spring to mind! But I would say that Kate Hamer has a similar literary style, examining the tiny details and letting the bigger picture come to life by its own accord. But anyone who likes a modern day psychological thriller but with a more gentle pace would appreciate Hogan's writing.

(LP) Despite the fact that this is a very unique novel, a few authors who examine the finer details spring to mind, such as Kate Atkinson, Ann Patchett and Maggie O'Farrell.

(JJ) It does what it says on the cover - it's a feel-good story, perfect for when the nights start drawing in. Hogan's writing reminded me a little of Jojo Moyes in the way she handles emotion. I found it a cathartic read when managing a loss of my own.

Read an interview with Ruth Hogan here.

What We Read This Summer

As this summer draws to a close, the Triskele girls compare what they read on the beach, in a mountain chalet, lounging in the garden, or wherever ...

Here are a few recommendations from each of us:

Liza:

Close to Me by Amanda Reynolds: gripping psychological drama where a woman falls down the stairs at home, and wakes up in hospital having lost a whole year of memories. Then she begins to remember...

Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant: Despite the fact that most of the characters are unlikeable, I found this another unputdownable psychological suspense story, perfectly evoking the heat and oppression of one Greek summer.

Gillian:

The Breakdown by B.A. Paris: Highlight of the year for me, loved the eerie quality of the book, unsure if what you were reading was fact or fiction. The author has a talent for creating complex characters which worked well in this novel. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys the latest trend of psychological thrillers with a twist.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier: Bit late to this classic, I know. But following a visit to The Lizard in Cornwall in June this year, and having stood gazing out across Frenchman's Creek, I decided to work my way through Du Maurier's catalogue, starting with the darkly captivating Rebecca. I love the author's style, the use of location and the edge of tension she keeps running without. Can't wait for the next one!

Jill:

The Mirror World of Melody Black by Gavin Extence. Hard to categorise as the initial lightness of tone gives way to much darker layers. Abby pops round to a neighbour's flat to borrow a tin of tomatoes, but he's dead. This episode and her pragmatic reaction - she smokes two cigarettes, calls the police and takes the tomatoes anyway - soon leads the reader to realise Abby has problems relating to the world. Fascinating, well written and a curious insight into managing bipolar disorder.

The Sellout by Paul Beatty. No surprise this won The Booker. A book which makes the impossible plausible and in doing so, holds up the harshest of lights to illuminate our broken civilisation. Dickens, where Sellout was born and raised by a terrifyingly obsessive father, has been wiped off the map. But he has an idea how to get it back. By re-instituting slavery. A book to make you laugh and gasp, but most of all, think.

Kat:

I've picked two books about as different from one another as it is possible to be. The first is Sofia Khan Is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik. Sophia Khan wears skinny jeans, smokes, swears, has issues with deadlines and agonises about getting fat while scoffing muffins and lemon puffs. So far, so Bridget Jones. On the other hand, she wears a hijab, doesn’t drink alcohol, prays five times a day and has no intention of having sex before marriage. This is romantic comedy with real heart. Do not expect this to end with Sophia ripping off her hijab and going on a binge. Nor with her settling down to be a ‘traditional’ submissive wife. This is about how you can be modern, independent, strong-minded – and still a faithful Muslim. Something most Muslim women have always known; Malik is just letting the rest of us in on the secret.

The second is not exactly your typical beach read, but in the current state of the world, it could hardly be more important. In Why I Am No Longer Talking To White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge addresses (among other things) the erasure of Black Britons from British history, the nature of White Privilege, the failure of White Feminism to engage with issues of racism, the often overlooked intersections of race with class – and what white people should be doing to tackle racism. I want to put this book into the hands of every good-hearted, liberal-minded white person I know and say, ‘please read this; please try and understand. We are all complicit, but we don’t have to be.'

Jane:

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell: This was a wonderfully written book. You think you know the end, you think you know all the answers; you think the conclusion obvious. But as you race through the pages, you realise there's more to Ellie's disappearance, and the secrets unfold to the very end. Serious page turning material. 

If anyone has read a book they particularly enjoyed this summer, we'd love to hear about it in the comments section!

Creative Pulse - Week 10 - How To Turn Your Life Into Fiction

By Helena Halme
Images courtesy of JD Lewis

During my MA in Creative writing some 10 years ago, writing the story of your life was somewhat frowned upon. Yet, one of the most often uttered pieces of advice was to ‘write what you know’. So how can we use our own life as inspiration for a novel?

 

Get Inspired

 

Your first task is to do some research into your own life. Yes I know this sounds crazy, but you need to get those creative juices going. Use old photographs or letters to remind yourself of how you felt, and write a short paragraph on the girl/boy in the picture or letter. What was going through his or her mind, what was she or he looking forward to or fearing?

What is the Story You Want to Tell?

 

It may be obvious what the story you want to tell is. However, a fiction book needs a start and a finish, and a plot. Think of the most significant event in your life, and start thinking about how this event shaped your life. In Doris Lessing’s semi-autobiographical novel, A Proper Marriage, the significant moment is Martha’s realisation that her marriage is a terrible mistake. You could also think how an event could have changed the path you’ve taken if you’d acted differently. Start plotting a scene based on the significant event, changing (if you wish) the conclusion for better or worse, and then write a short scene about it focussing on how you or someone close to you felt. This most significant event is the main plot point of your novel.

Have an Exciting Start

Now you’ve got a plot, make sure you start your novel at an exciting place. What was the most central, critical point of the story? Start there.
In the ‘A Proper Marriage’ we meet Martha when she is at her unhappiest, just as she is deciding to leave her life in colonial Africa behind.
Write a paragraph or two, charting the scene, making sure you get the raw emotion of the characters onto the page. If the central character is you, don’t hold back, just write how you felt, explaining your emotions as if talking to a friendly stranger about your life.

Combine Characters

 

Do make your characters complicated and interesting. I’m not saying that your life is filled with boring people, but in order to make a story fly, it needs strong characters. Don’t include every real person in the novel. Too many characters are confusing to the reader. They make the story unnecessarily complicated and jarring. Combine a few characters to make them stand out and to increase the pace of the novel. As an exercise think of two people that could be combined into one, complicated character, and include them in a scene.

 

Write with Confidence

 

Don’t worry about letting your pen fly when you start writing. Since you know the plot – and the characters – already, writing the novel based on your own life can be very quick. If you decide later to change scenes, subplots or characters, that’s easy. If you don’t worry too much about how truthful – or not – the story is, your writing will become much more fluid and confident.


Helena Halme is a Finnish-born author of six novels. Her best-selling title, The Englishman is based on her own life story of how she met and fell head over heels in love with a Royal Navy Officer at the British Embassy in Helsinki.

Now based in London, Helena is winner of the John Nurmi prize for best thesis on British politics, and a former BBC journalist. Helena currently works as a Writing and Marketing Mentor, is Fellow of CreateThinkDo and Nordic Ambassador for The Alliance of Independent Authors.

Helena writes a regular blog on www.helenahalme.com/blog/ and can be found on Twitter (@helenahalme), Facebook (https://business.facebook.com/HelenaHalmeAuthor/?business_id=697172280414232) and Instagram (helenahalme). 

Helena’s  book, Write Your Story: How to Turn Your Life into Fiction will be out on 29th November. It is now on a special pre-order price of £1.99 on Amazon. http://mybook.to/WriteYourStory

Creative Pulse - Week 9 - How Do Your Characters Inhabit Their World

By Sunny Singh, via Catriona Troth

When you start to learn about writing the ‘Other’, one of the first things you are encouraged to think about is how different people inhabit the same space. A woman walking into a bar on her own and ordering a drink does not experience that bar in the same way that a man on his own does. A young gay couple walking down the street hand in hand does not experience that street in the same way an elderly straight couple does. And so on.

But how do you get deep enough inside the skin of another person to begin to understand that different experience well enough to translate it onto the page? Conversely, how do you gain enough objectivity about a character who is like you to understand the way they see the world in a fresh way and not simply as the ‘default’?

Sunny Singh is a Creative Writing tutor at London Metropolitan University. If you follow her on Twitter you will know that a lot of the work she does with her diverse student body is to make them aware of the way they inhabit the world and to allow that to inform their character building. I had the immense privilege of winning a one-to-one workshop with Sunny as part of the charity auction #authorsforgrenfell – which raised money for the victims of the terrible fire in Grenfell Tower earlier this summer.

I came away from the workshop feeling that my mind had been stretched in at least five dimensions – and that I had a huge amount of work ahead of me, but that I’d been energised to tackle it. With Sunny’s permission, I am sharing some of that work with you here.

First of all, for Sunny, it is important to pin a character down in a specific time and place (be that real or imaginary). The more specific you can be, the more detailed you can be about the factors that built their character in you story’s present.

So let us begin with a character who is like me. A white, middle-class, educated British woman in her late fifties. Sunny insisted I pin down exactly how old she was. What year was she born? Where? Who were her parents? When were they born? Did they become adults before or after the end of the War? What was the first political event that impinged on her? What was her impression of it? Describe how she looked on her first day at university? What are the first things she notices that day with her five senses? And so on.

The aim was to create a timeline of significant events in her life, and to think of those events in terms of the family, community and national and global events around her at those times. So not enough to say, ‘What is her favourite book?’ You need to find out when she first read it, what was happening around her at the time, why it became her favourite, what it means to her now given all that has happened to her since...

Of course, very little of what you find out will make its way into your finished work, but the fact that you know your character that well – that you have, in effect, lived for a while in their lives before they even enter your story – will mean that every decision you make about what they do in the story will be grounded in believable reality.

As Sunny says – there is no escaping the need for craft.

So now you have thought about your character’s life. You have done your research to understand the context of those lives (the music they listened to growing up, the political events that shaped the way they think...) Sunny now gave me three exercises to do. Two of them involve changing something fundamental about the character so you see them afresh (a bit like looking at a photograph in the negative to spot features you miss in the original). And the third involves seeing your character as others see them.

EXERCISE 1 Gender: Flip the gender of your character for key moments on their timeline. How does it change way they inhabit their world? What were you not noticing about the way the character originally inhabited it?

EXERCISE 2 Spatial Identity: Walk someone through your character’s home for the first time. (Even better if you have two characters, each in each other’s homes.) They don’t need a reason to be there. Just let them move through the space, poke their nose into every corner. What do they notice? What’s on the walls? In the fridge?

EXERCISE 3 Sexuality: What does your character find desirable in another person? Now flip the both the gender of the person they find desirable and the sexuality of the character (e.g. instead of a straight man fancying a woman, describe a gay man fancying another man). How does that change their focus? Remember, other things about this character (age, place of birth, education...) remain the same.