An interview with Catherine Dunne, author of A Good Enough Mother published by Betimes Books.
How long had you been writing before your first book was published?
I’d been writing for years, mainly short stories and poetry. I had sent some stories into New Irish Writing in the Irish Press and, while I wasn’t published, I received good feedback from David Marcus who edited the page at the time. Then I won a prize for poetry at the Gerald Manley Hopkins summer school and that gave my confidence a boost and encouraged me to keep writing.
When did you decide to write your first novel?
My first novel actually started life as a short story. It was when I got as far as forty thousand words that I realised that this was going to be a novel. It became In the Beginning and was published in 1997 and translated into a dozen languages. It was particularly successful in Italy.
How did you get a publisher for your first novel?
I was teaching full-time, had a young family, and wasn’t in any writing group at the time so I wasn’t sure how to go about getting published. A friend of mine introduced me to a publisher and they offered me a contract. That’s when I realised that I needed an agent to guide me through the legal quagmire associated with signing contracts. I would advise any writer being offered a contract, who doesn’t have an agent, to join the Irish Writers’ Union as they have the expertise to advise authors in this situation.
So you got yourself an agent?
I had the same agent for 25 years and we had a great relationship. She was based in the UK as there were very few literary agents operating in Ireland at the time I was looking for representation. Things have changed a lot since then and there many agents available to authors in Ireland now.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
My writing is very organic. I always start with a character. A scene will present itself to me and I will grow and develop that and see where it takes me. Often times when I am writing one character’s story another character will present themselves and I will incorporate them into the story also. In my latest book there are many different characters who are all inter-related but I started the book with just Tess and the scene where she comes home to find a garda car parked outside her house.
For me the process is everything. I don’t plot or plan before I sit down to write. The story develops naturally. It’s like driving in a fog, as the author E.L. Doctorow said, you can only see so far in front of you, not the end destination. But that’s okay as the destination might change along the way, which it often does.
Do you have a writing routine?
I treat writing as a day job. After all, I was a teacher for many years before I took up writing full-time so I was used to having a routine. I write every day and I think it’s important to do so as, if you stay away from the page too long, the story can stall and be unfamiliar when you go back to it. Obviously if I am conducting a writing workshop or have some other event to attend I won’t get to write on those days but writing every day is a good habit to get into.
Your books often seem to deal with social issues or events that are current in Ireland. Is that deliberate on your part?
I start with my character facing a dilemma of some sort. Obviously, dilemmas come from living in this country and the societal issues affecting us all. While I don’t deliberately set out to write about certain subjects, I am obviously influenced by what’s happening around me when I am writing.
For example, in my book The Things We Know Now, I started with an image of a boy on a bicycle cycling madly and I had no idea where he was going. I had to write his story to find out. I was aware of the rise of incidences in children taking their own lives due to cyber bulling and this is what happens to my main character. I think writers can sometimes feel things in the atmosphere, a zeitgeist if you like, and that’s why they write about matters that are current at the time.
It has been said that you are more famous in Italy than you are in Ireland. Why is that do you think?
I have had the same publisher in Italy for the last twenty five years who was interested in nurturing my career as an author rather than just publishing one book. I’ve been told my way of writing appeals to Italian readers because I deal with everyday feelings and relationships without sentimentality.
Are you a member of a writing group?
After my first novel was published, I joined a writing group and the support and encouragement I received from them was invaluable over the years. I am currently a member of the WEB writing group.
Do you attend many book festivals or other events?
I used to attend a lot of book festivals and conferences before the pandemic, but not so many anymore. Although I am off to the Belfast Book Festival later this week and look forward to meeting authors and readers in person. I loved teaching and very much enjoy running creative writing workshops. It is important to attend events such as the Belfast Book Festival especially when you have a book to promote, but I think social media has taken over in many ways now in terms of the promotion of a writer’s work.
Who is your favourite author?
One of my favourite authors is Margaret Atwood whom I discovered when I lived in Canada, years before she became known in Ireland. I will always try to attend her events because she’s a fascinating writer. But there are any number of wonderful authors writing and producing work today that I enjoy reading.
© Catherine Neville
About A Good Enough Mother by Catherine Dunne:
Two women meet in a Dublin café on a winter afternoon – an encounter that will change both their lives forever.
Tess has no idea who this woman Maeve is, or why she has approached her like this, out of the blue. She says that she has important information about Tess’s younger son, Luke, and she insists that Tess needs to listen.
As Maeve’s story unfolds, Tess has the strangest feeling that she knows her from somewhere – but she can’t locate her in any of her memories. As the evening darkens and the café around them seems to grow still, Tess listens in growing distress. The safety of the life and family she has created begins to come apart at the seams.
The fractured lives of mothers and children are woven together in this multi-layered narrative, reminiscent of the creation of a patchwork quilt.
A Good Enough Mother, winner of the inaugural European Rapallo Prize for Fiction 2023, is already a bestseller in Italy.
Order your copy online here.
