Frances Fyfield is a criminal lawyer who lives and practices in London, where many of her books are set. She is the author of more than seven suspense novels, including SHADOW PLAY and WITHOUT CONSENT.
INTERVIEW
April
20, 2001
Frances Fyfield: criminal lawyer by day, master of understated, very British
suspense novels by night. Her vast experience with the devious minded lends
Fyfield's narratives a believability that her
novelist-by-day-novelist-by-night peers often lack. Hot on the heels of the
bestselling STARING AT THE LIGHT, England's premiere thriller writer is back
with her fourteenth novel, UNDERCURRENTS. Join Bookreporter.com writer Chuck
Lang as he presses Fyfield for information about her knowledge of India and
the hippie trail, why she opted to write under a pen name, that damn stray
dog that keeps popping up throughout UNDERCURRENTS and much more.
BRC:
Much of the book's emotional richness comes from excerpts of a journal
kept by the character Francesca. Why did you choose to use the diary style
scenes in your work? Do you keep a journal for yourself?
FF: I chose to have Francesca keep a diary because that is the only way she
can speak. When she is in prison, she cannot communicate with anyone because
she is afraid to say too much, so she communicates with a piece of paper. As
she gets used to it, and the first anniversary grows closer, she becomes
franker. I wanted to have a character revealed entirely by a voice.
No, I don't keep a diary myself; not since I was 12 and I found my sister
reading my diary out loud to her friends...
BRC: Much of the book's emotional richness comes from excerpts of a journal
kept by the character Francesca. Why did you choose to use the diary style
scenes in your work? Do you keep a journal for yourself?
FF: I chose to have Francesca keep a diary because that is the only way she
can speak. When she is in prison, she cannot communicate with anyone because
she is afraid to say too much, so she communicates with a piece of paper. As
she gets used to it, and the first anniversary grows closer, she becomes
franker. I wanted to have a character revealed entirely by a voice.
No, I don't keep a diary myself; not since I was 12 and I found my sister
reading my diary out loud to her friends...
BRC:
You have a very popular series starring the character Helen West. Yet,
in this book, you write from the perspective of Henry Evans. Do you find it a
challenge to write in the voice of someone who is not the same sex as
yourself? Is Henry at all like you or for that matter like Helen?
FF: I find no difficulty in writing about a male character. They are human,
after all. It's easier to write about someone who is kind. That is all he has
in common with Helen West, or me, for that matter.
BRC: For this book, did you do any research on India and the hippie trail? Or
for that matter, children with cerebral palsy? Or do these themes come out of
experiences in your own life?
FF: I did the backpack trail when I was in my twenties and I've been to India
several times since, so the research for that was there. I did a lot of
research into hemiplegia and acknowledge the doctor who helped me. I also
know a child with the same condition, who rather inspired me.
BRC: Is there any particular significance to the stray dog that keeps
reappearing in UNDERCURRENTS? The dog is not part of the plot or character
development, or am I missing something?
FF: The stray dog does have a part in the plot. It attaches itself to Henry
because it senses his decency. It has been a catalyst in the relationship
between Tanya's mother and her ex-husband, and it is one of the reasons why
Tanya despised Harry, because his sensitivity to the dog prevented her from
being allowed to keep it as a pet. It is also there at the murder, the mute
witness. It is also there because Henry has always wanted a dog and so have I.
BRC: UNDERCURRENTS abounds in graphic similes and metaphors. For example,
about the stray dog you wrote, "It had the gait, unhurried, even paced, like
a distance runner with a long way to go and no doubt of the destination."
Another example: "Walking yielded at each step with a crunching sound which
reminded him of someone eating breakfast cereal." Do you keep a notebook of
such picturesque phrases as they occur to you, then draw on that list while
writing?
FF: I don't keep a notebook of picturesque phrases. I think in metaphors and
similes all the time.
BRC: My favorite among your novels is STARING AT THE LIGHT. Is the
similarity to TALE OF TWO CITIES only in my imagination or is it deliberate?
Incidentally, the scene near the end in the dentist's chair I found grisly in
its realism. It just HAD to be an experience in your past life revisited. Any
comments?
FF: Is there a similarity between TALE OF TWO CITIES and STARING AT THE
LIGHT? If so, I didn't realize, but the comparison is very flattering.
Anyway, I'm glad you liked them both. You are obviously a person of great
discrimination and taste.
I had a lot of research for the grisly scene in STARING. I wrote it to mirror
my worst nightmare and to try and cure my fear of the dentist, but it didn't
work.
BRC: You are among a few authors who have published novels under a different
name. What leads a successful author to write under a different name?
FF: As the result of bad advice, mainly. I did it in order to write books
without policemen in them, and it was a mistake (not the books, the different
names). Both names are mine, though, Hegarty from my Dad and Fyfield from my
mother.
BRC: When you receive fan mail, who typically writes you? Women? Young
readers? Adults?
FF: Fan mail comes mainly from older readers, more often male and, latterly,
from dentists...
BRC: What type of reader do you envision, if any, in writing?
FF: I don't envision any kind of reader when I write, but I think more women
buy them than men.
BRC: Are your book tours enjoyable? Routine? Fun? Intrusive?
FF: I think book tours are arduous, intrusive and nerve wracking, with
moments of glorious fun when I find someone to laugh with.
BRC: What authors have been a primary influence on you, both personally and
professionally?
FF: All good writing influences me, but I don't think I'm influenced by any
individual writer. When I'm stuck, I read Le Carre and he unsticks me.
BRC: Are you working on anything new? Can you give us a sneak preview?
FF: I have just finished a new book called THE NATURE OF THE BEAST, which
features an animal sanctuary, (more dogs), an autocratic man, and a wife who
disappears in a train crash.
