Sarah Crossan: Enjoying the freedom of writing for grown-ups
Sarah Crossan has never shied away from tackling difficult topics in her acclaimed novels for young adults, whether that is dementia in her most recent book, Toffee, or the death penalty in the novel Moonrise. Her new book, however, has been raising eyebrows for different reasons. Crossan’s first novel for adults, Here is the Beehive is the intense and intimate story of an extra-marital affair, and some loyal readers of her YA books are finding it a bit of a transition.
“I know that some people who have read and enjoyed my fiction for younger readers were surprised by it — I do use the ‘C’ word very quickly in it,” she laughs. “Someone messaged me and said they needed to remind themselves that this was my adult book, that it wasn’t going to have the same flavour as the books I have written for children.” The author and former Laureate na nÓg, who is based in Hertfordshire in England, says that writing a book for adults freed her of responsibility.
“Writing for teens, I feel really aware of and responsible for my readers. I also think of myself as a mother and a teacher and I want to be part of a child’s life in a positive way. Writing for adults, I didn’t feel any social or moral responsibility toward the reader and I could just write what I wanted to write. It was really freeing for that reason.” The protagonist of Here is the Beehive is Ana, a solicitor whose life unravels after the tragic end of her affair with a married man. It was partly inspired by the experiences of her and her friends.
“I never know once I’ve written a book how it began but it’s always little threads of stories that people have told me, experiences I have had. A few years ago, I had a conversation with a few of my friends about secret relationships. There wasn’t one of us within the group who hadn’t at some point been in a secret relationship, whether it was an affair, a relationship with someone of the same sex, someone at work, or a teacher. Then we started to talk about how damaging these relationships were, yet how common they are. I started to think of the number of secrets we all keep. So I devised this character who is living with this awful secret and has nowhere to put her grief.” Ana, like Crossan, is the mother of a young daughter, and the double standards faced by women was a theme the writer was interested in exploring.
“I wanted to look at motherhood and how that impacts on relationships and on a woman’s sense of self. When I saw the early reviews, people were talking about how Ana wasn’t a good mother…again I found that curious because I don’t think there would have been that response if the character had been male, they would have said he was a bad husband but not necessarily a bad father. She does take on the role a man would traditionally take on — she is the person who is earning more money, she doesn’t do the school run, she doesn’t have much of an interest in that domestic drudgery. I think readers judge her harshly for that, whether they are feminist or not. There is something systemic in the sexism of our culture that we expect a woman to behave in a certain kind of way and if she doesn’t, she’s a bad mother.” Like much of Crossan’s work, Here is the Beehive is written in free verse — poetry without any strict rhyme or metre. It makes for a compelling and propulsive read, and early readers have been reporting how they devoured the book in one or two sittings.
“That is my goal, that someone will just sit down and read it and not stop. I love the idea of people racing through it, that people can complete it in a few hours, in the same way as you would a film or a play,” says Crossan.
However, she also says the verse format enables people to revisit the text and discover a new perspective.
“I hope that in the same way that people read my YA, people will come back to it and see need new things in it or that they will read a particular verse. A lot of the verses are standalone and you can have an experience by reading one in 30 seconds.” Due to Covid restrictions, Crossan will miss the chance to travel to Ireland to promote the book, which usually allows her catch up with relatives in Dublin and Donegal, and visit her father, who lives in Derry.
“I spend half the time in Ireland doing promotion for a book, I always have an Irish launch and an English launch — I won’t be having either.
We will try to mark the day in some way. It will be different. I know everyone is having the same experience. I’m just lucky that Bloomsbury have kept my publication date because a lot of authors had their dates moved,” she says.
Crossan is more disappointed with the impact of Covid on events to mark the end of her stint as Laureate na nÓg, during which she focused on making poetry more accessible to young people.
“The thing that was really scuppered was the end of my laureateship, there were a lot of events planned for that. I was disappointed for the kids because we had a show planned and they were all going to be performing. We found ways to make it up to them, for example, they got one-to-one tutorials with established poets and performers.” Crossan hopes to continue the work she started as Laureate, much of which was informed by her previous job as a teacher.
“We reached such a huge number of children, thousands of teenagers. They are often the ones who fall by the wayside as initiatives often focus on children and adults, and we tend to lose teenagers. I love teenagers, I taught them for ten years. When I taught them, I was very respectful and talked to them like young adults but I also in my heart knew they were children and needed to be invited back into literature and poetry, those things they no longer feel they can do because they’ve been told they’re no good at it or they’ve gotten the answers wrong in the past. We were able to work with children with special needs or who were non-verbal. The reach was huge. We also influenced teachers, and people who work with teachers. I want to be able to do more, I’m not finished with that entirely.”
Happiness, As Such by Natalia Ginzburg is on my bedside table at the moment. It is absolutely brilliant.
JoJo Rabbit, I loved it. And obviously, I’ve been watching Hamilton, it’s just fabulous. I went to see it live, we were up in the nosebleeds, then it was my daughter’s birthday and we went back and got nice seats. I’d go hundreds of times.
The Hamilton soundtrack is at the top of my list. I’ve also been listening to the soundtrack from Girl From the North Country, the Conor McPherson play, using the songs from Bob Dylan.
It’s been all about Schitt’s Creek, that has kept me going over lockdown, it’s light and happy.
