Meet the Author: Tamsin Keily

Tamsin Keily studied psychology before completing a post-graduate degree in primary education. She now lives in Berkshire with her husband and cats, where she juggles writing with her job as a primary school teacher. Daisy Cooper’s Rules for Living (2020) was her first novel. Tamsin's new novel, The Surprising Days of Isla Pembroke, was published by Orion in September and is available on our catalogue.

1. Who were your heroes as you were growing up and when did you first start writing?

I was a bit of a geek growing up, and still am one today, if I’m honest! I was massively into Doctor Who and the character of Rose Tyler, the Doctor’s companion played by Billie Piper, was a huge inspiration and hero for me. I think the fact that she was this totally ordinary girl whose life was completely transformed always really stuck with me. She was also unafraid to speak her mind (something I’ve always wished to be able to do more of!) and was one of the first female characters I encountered on television with a real depth to them.

Obviously there was also lots of amazing book characters who really stuck with me as well; Holly Short from Artemis Fowl, Violet Baudelaire from A Series of Unfortunate Events, Roald Dahl’s Matilda. As for when I started writing, I can’t really remember a time when I haven’t written, so it must have been very young! I have always had notebooks on my person and I remember being about thirteen years old and feeling very sure that I would be the youngest published author, with that wonderful confidence you have as a child!

2. How do you balance teaching and writing? Were you never tempted to write a children's book?

It’s a juggling act for sure, and especially now I have a thirteen-month old daughter to juggle as well! I think I luckily possess quite a lot of self-discipline, which I think I’ve always had, possibly thanks to my mother whose mantra was always do the maximum, not the minimum. Obviously that drove me mad as a child, but it’s clearly stuck! I think I have quite clear defined lines between the different jobs, so when I’m at school I put all my time there into getting the job done to my best ability (as much as you can in teaching!) and then when I’m at home and not with my daughter (when she’s napping, for example), I use that time exclusively for writing. It works because I enjoy writing, so it doesn’t necessarily feel like a job, but also I’m always very conscious of how lucky I am to have this opportunity to be a published author; there are so many people desperate to be in my position so I very much feel like I mustn’t waste it!

I would love to write and publish a children’s book one day, it’s certainly an area I’m interested in. Children have so much natural belief in the impossible and the magical, and I have such a love for magical and impossible elements in stories, so it would be great fun to write for them one day!

3. What is your writing routine? Do you have a favourite place to write? What is the view from your window?

It used to be a rather luxurious affair, with candles, tea, snacks, and inspiring music. These days, with time a bit more limited, I’m happy if I get a slightly lukewarm cup of tea to drink while I’m writing! I do always have music on though, usually instrumental or one of my favourite musicals. Recently I’ve been enjoying Studio Ghibli instrumental playlists, they’re so beautiful and calming! My favourite place to write is at my desk, which I treated myself to after finishing my second book, The Surprising Days of Isla Pembroke. It’s a gorgeous wooden folding desk and it’s tucked into one corner of our conservatory so I can look out on the garden while I write. It all sounds very idyllic but there’s usually piles of toys and washing I have to ignore at the same time!

4. Your debut book was Daisy Coopers Rules for Living which was funny and moving at the same time. Where did the idea for Daisy and her 'situation' come about?

Daisy’s situation which, for those who may not have read her story, involves her dying at the wrong time and ending up working as Death’s assistant, came from a few different places I think. I’d always loved the idea of personifying Death, having read things like The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, so knew I wanted to do something with him as a character. The idea of having to be present at countless people’s final moments, and what that would do to a person, was something I found really fascinating. Daisy herself very much marched into my head one day, told me she’d died at the wrong time and that it was up to me to sort it out. Like many authors, I don’t often have much control over my characters! It was very much an out-of-the-blue type idea, but probably came from my own experiences with grief too. I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was eleven so, obviously, death was a very immediate and real concept in my life. It also was a very scary one, as I’m sure it is for many people, so I think the book was also about helping me (and hopefully others) feel less afraid of it, even if just a little.

5. Can you give Suffolk readers a flavour of The Surprising Days of Isla Pembroke?

The Surprising Days of Isla Pembroke tells the story of Isla, who is feeling thoroughly stuck in her life. She’s twenty eight but is still living at home, in a tiny Cornish fishing village, after her mother’s sudden death nine years ago shattered her family apart. Her father has never really recovered from the grief so Isla has been forced to put her marine biologist dreams on hold to help support him and her family. Meanwhile, her younger sister Morgan has been gone from the home, ever since she ran away aged seventeen.

The story begins when Morgan suddenly returns home and, at around the same time, Isla discovers a doorway into the past inside the mysterious stone that stands on her local beach. Isla soon realises that this stone has the potential to change her past and, possibly, her present and future. But of course with time travel it’s never that simple! The book obviously deals with the magic of time travel but I think it’s main themes and messages are about family, loss and how to find joy in the most surprising of moments.

6. Is there anything you can share with us about your latest project?

Not a huge amount, unfortunately! I can tell you there is a latest project, I can tell you that it is very early days in its conception but that I’m very excited about it as it’s something entirely different. But that’s it for the moment, just watch this space I guess!

7. One book or author that everyone should read?

Gosh, so hard to choose. I always like to tell people to try more new and debut authors, because it is tough for them at the moment, and there is such talent out there! It does often require a little more effort to find them but it is worth it! But in particular, I can’t stop raving about The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. It is just so amazing and full of such magic and heart. Nothing like anything else I’ve read, for sure. Also Uprooted by Naomi Novik is brilliant, and has some of the most wonderfully developed characters I’ve come across in a long time. Both of those books also have beautifully imaginative and creative worlds in them, which is something I always love about a story.

8. The best or funniest bit of feedback from one of your readers?

I’m always so touched when people say how a particular passage has really stayed with them; I remember a photo on Instagram where someone had all these little bookmarks for parts of Daisy Cooper’s Rules for Living that they’d found really poignant. I will never get used to that, or seeing strangers quote parts of the book! Someone else said how they had really needed this book at that particular moment, and that was also really touching. In terms of funniest, I will always remember my Dad, after saying how much how enjoyed it, commenting on whether Death, being hundreds of years old, should be dressed in modern clothes. His alternative suggestion was Death in full Tudor clothes, ruff included. The mental image of that always makes me chuckle!

9. Can you tell us one thing about yourself that your readers may not know?

I’m an avid fan of musicals, my most recent obsession being Hamilton. I’m embarrassingly proud of my ability to know a lot of the songs off by heart, and was delighted when my husband performed an extract of 'My Shot' at our wedding!