Book review: A long time coming but Meaney is comfortable with chick-lit status
Clare-based writer Roisin Meaney has just published her 21st book 'A Winter to Remember'.
- A Winter to Remember
- Roisin Meaney
- Hachette Books Ireland, €15.99
When I chat to Roisin Meaney, she has just returned from walking the Portuguese Camino and is marking a significant literary birthday — the publication of her 21st book, .
She got the keys of the door to literary success a long time ago but it is still a significant milestone for the Clare-based writer.
“I can hardly believe it. Little did I think when I started out back in 2001 that I would still be at it all these years later. It’s wonderful but I hardly know how I’ve done it, it’s crazy,” says Meaney.
Her devoted readers would no doubt set her straight in a heartbeat — the consistent success of Meaney’s finely-tuned novels featuring engaging plots with relatable characters, finished with a feelgood sprinkling of romance, is testament to her storytelling skills.
Meaney is pragmatic about her success and grateful for the opportunity to continue doing what she loves.
Meaney’s first novel, , was published after she won a ‘Write a Bestseller’ competition.
“From then, I have always seemed to have luck on my side. Obviously there is hard work gone into it too but luck does feature in a lot of writers’ stories — they are in the right place at the right time, writing about the right topic,” she says.
She wrote several books while still a primary school teacher until eventually it came to the point where she had to decide whether to take up writing full-time.
“It was a total leap and a big decision. I deliberated for a good while whether to give up the writing or the teaching because I knew I couldn’t keep going with both.
"I was trying to sustain the two and I was under pressure. I didn’t want to do either if I wasn’t giving it my best shot.”
Writing eventually won but Meaney made sure to keep up the connection with children, which she greatly missed.
“I never had children of my own, they weren’t in my day to day life. So, first, I went into my local library and asked them could I come and tell stories every so often.
"Then I got on to Writers in Schools, the programme that Poetry Ireland run. I have just come from Rathkeale Library after meeting a group of schoolchildren, talking to them about writing and reading. I love when I can get away and do something like that, it’s brilliant.”
, Meaney’s latest book, as the title suggests, is the perfect seasonal read, and also features characters from some of her previous books.
The main protagonist, restaurant owner and chef Emily, finds her plans for a special Christmas celebration under threat when her partner Bill’s missing daughter, Christine, returns.
Christine is a recovering addict, and the book also deals with infidelity and parental estrangement. Meaney says she doesn’t avoid real-life issues, but nor does she deal in doom and gloom.
“I don’t shy away from the dark stuff, it’s part of life, but I always like to end on a somewhat hopeful note — I like to leave a reader with a positive rather than a negative feeling.
“In my first book, , I had a very sad ending but my editor at the time thankfully talked me out of it and said, ‘your readers don’t want that kind of ending for that kind of book, they want some kind of hope of eventual happiness at the end.’ I’ve taken that to heart with all of the books.”
Meaney also likes to include an element of suspense, to keep readers guessing. There is one reader, however, who keeps her on her toes in this regard — her mother, Rose.
“She always anticipates my endings. She is very annoying that way — she says ‘I knew that would happen at the end’.
Hopefully readers aren’t as cute as she is. She is 95 now and she flies through books. She reads a book in about two or three nights, I don’t know how she does it, I’m the slowest reader in the world. She’s amazing.”
Meaney’s books fall under the genre of commercial fiction, which has a mainly female audience.
"I don’t like to put too much gore into my books, I don’t go gory or graphic, and not in the romance either. I like to leave it up to the readers’ imagination, not to shock them.”
She says the relative lack of recognition for Irish commercial fiction no longer bothers her.
“I don’t worry about it as much any more. I suppose I felt a bit hard done by when I was younger and writing my books then. I’d be thinking, we get so little publicity and people look down on commercial fiction, calling it chick-lit or whatever.
“Now I don’t worry, I know I have my readers and that is who I write for. I’m not looking for fame and fortune, I’m looking for readers and steady sales of books that will keep me writing.
“People I know who write the same sort of books, I think they’re all of the same mindset. As long as we are still in demand by publishers and still being read by our readers, that is all we need and we look for. It would be nice to have a film deal, I haven’t given up on that,” she says.
Meaney says she marvels at the healthy state of Irish literature, no matter what the genre.
“I am in awe of some of the new voices coming up because they are so sharp and original,” she says.
She is also a supporter of author friends such as Donal Ryan and Niall Williams, who lives near her home in the Clare town of Miltown Malbay.
“Donal Ryan is such a lovely man and I absolutely adore his writing. He is a very brave writer and I wish I had his courage sometimes. I am delighted that he is getting the attention he deserves.
“Niall Williams is so undervalued, although I am delighted that the film of his first book, , is coming out next year. It is such a fabulous book.”
As for her own work, Meaney started on book number 22 when she returned from her Camino adventure.
While she is an experienced hand at this stage, she says every time she sits down to write a new book, she still feels the trepidation that comes with a blank page.
“You are always living in fear that you won’t get the next idea. That never goes away. But you kind of have a little bit more faith that you will eventually come up with something that works. But it is always an anxious time before you do and you always think it could all come crashing down.
“You are literally only as good as your last book, so if you don’t deliver a book that readers enjoy, they could fall by the wayside very easily. The pressure is always on to keep delivering what people want.”
