On Writing: Anne Enright

Many years ago, when I was a writing student at the University of East Anglia, a guy said to me, “I know nothing about your characters, I don’t know where they live or what kind of wallpaper they have.” I think he was talking about class – the Irish novel, in those days, was not interested in class the way the English novel used to be. I knew all this, but even so I was left with an abiding and secret obsession with my character’s wallpaper. I always know their house style (and also their class, though that is by the by). These photos were taken from web when I was writing the middle chapter of the book: Rosaleen sitting in her house, with layers of history on every wall.

I also pinned other images, including a reader’s picture, in the Guardian, of his father on a beach. I liked the togs. A free signed copy to the first person to identify where they all occur in the text!