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Meet the Author

Meet the Author: Carys Bray

Carys Bray

Carys Bray is a British writer. Her first novel was the critically acclaimed A Song for Issy Bradley which has become a firm favourite with book groups. Her second novel The Museum of You was published in 2016 and her new novel When the Lights Go Out is due in November 2020 published by Hutchinson and also available through Suffolk Libraries.

Who were your literary influences as you were growing up?

Growing up, I read a lot of Enid Blyton – Malory Towers, The Famous Five, St. Clare’s and The Adventure series. I used to write terrible fan fiction and present it to my Year 5 teacher who kindly read it (or at least gave a convincing impression of having done so!). As a teen I loved Thomas Hardy and devoured all his novels. My high school English teacher introduced me to Margaret Forster and let me borrow her copies of Private Papers and Have the Men Had Enough? I remember switching loyalties several times as I read Private Papers and being aware that Forster was doing something clever – I think that was the first time I started to wonder how writers pulled off their tricks.

When did you first feel that you would like to write and how did you get the confidence to know you could do it?

I always thought it would be wonderful to write but it seemed very unlikely. I left school after doing my A Levels and was married by 20. Between the ages of 21 and 28 I had five children, so I was quite busy. I didn’t know any writers in real life, and I had this idea that writers were not ordinary people like me. However, when I was in my early 30s, I did a bachelor’s degree with the Open University and then I went to Edge Hill University where I did a master’s degree. I met lots of generous writers who offered help and advice.

A Song for Issy Bradley is a Suffolk Book group favourite. How was it to write and what message would you like readers to take from it?

A Song for Issy Bradley was my first novel. Having previously written short stories, I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to write something so long, but I enjoyed working on it and I kept myself going by approaching each chapter like a separate short story. I’m not sure what to say regarding messages – I feel like it’s not for me to dictate. Mostly, I hope readers enjoy the novel. I know it’s sad, but I hope it’s also funny and thought-provoking.

Can you give us a flavour of your new book When the Lights Go Out?

While Emma Abram prepares for Christmas, her husband Chris is fretting about starvation and societal collapse. He has turned off the heating. He treks his sons across the Moss in the drubbing rain. And he has other plans that, if voiced, Emma would surely veto. She longs to lower a rope and winch Chris from the pit of his worries. But he doesn’t want to be rescued or even reassured – he wants to pull her in after him. When the Lights Go Out is a novel about coming to terms with our changing environment. It’s about the effects of austerity on a small northern town. And it’s about what happens when your mother-in-law invites herself to stay for Christmas.

As a writer how did you survive lockdown and were you ever tempted to store rice and beans in the garage?

I was lucky because I didn’t have to do anything courageous – I just had to stay at home and as I have a garden, I was able to spend a lot of time outdoors. A packet of mixed sunflower seeds provided a tremendous amount of pleasure. I planted them in March, they started flowering in June and they’re still flowering now. Sadly, I don’t have a store of rice and beans in my garage – I do have some corn, but it’s for my hens!

Is there anything you can share about your latest project?

I’ve been working on a novel that takes place during the lockdown, though it’s not about Covid (like Tom’s Midnight Garden is not about measles, if you see what I mean). I’m having a little break from it at the moment because I’m not sure whether it is going to work.

What is the best advice you were ever given?

Oh, that’s a hard question! I’m not sure. When A Song for Issy Bradley came out I was worried – I’m a pretty quiet, private person, and a friend said, ‘What other people think of you is none of your business.’ It was a useful thing to hear and I remind myself of it, occasionally.

Can you tell us one thing your readers may not know about you?

I have only played Cluedo once and I performed so badly that, many years later, my children still joke about it.