Book Sanctuary

We’re delighted to announce publication of Fran Brady’s novel, A Good Time for Miracles, available from 21 October on Book Sanctuary. We asked Fran to share some information about herself, and her book, with you.

Tell us about yourself:

I spent many years in the field of charity management and development, working both for large charities and small local projects. I worked mainly in the field of direct, often home-based support to women, children and families and gained much insight into family dynamics and human nature - plus a wealth of stories and characters! I live near Edinburgh, in a village beside a river that often threatens to overflow into my garden. Apart from writing, I love reading, films, period dramas, theatre-going, hill-walking, wine-tasting and sharing a stinker crossword with a like-minded pal.

When did you start writing?

Just five years ago. It seems a lot longer. Can’t think how I lived before…

When did the idea for this novel come to you?

The first creative writing class I ever did had, as one of its exercises: ‘describe a family gathering from your past’. That started me thinking about the amazing Hogmanay parties that were so much part of my childhood and the characters started to grow out of those memories. Initially, they were loosely based on real people from the past but then new ones, purely fictitious, emerged. The characters shaped the plot. The emigration theme came from a realisation of what that meant in those bygone days of no cheap flights, no email, skype or texts – only letters six weeks apart and maybe a three-minute phone call twice a year. As a child, I accepted it as just what happened but now, as an adult and mother, I appreciate the wrench and continuing sadness it must have been. I always knew what the ending was going to be – it’s a fantasy scene I’ve had in my head all my life. Hogmanay is such an emotionally-charged time. Even as a child, I wove stories about and around it. It’s surprising how often it comes into films – I started noticing that after I’d written Miracles.

In your dedication you thank your father for the memories that acted as a foundation of this novel. Do you feel that you invested a lot of yourself into the writing process?

Well, yes, it was the first novel I wrote and there was a lot of pent-up ‘me’ to come out. I was very aware, as I wrote, of the voices in my head straight out of my childhood. That’s why there is so much Scottish dialect. They were my father’s relations, Fife mining folk, and he loved them dearly. He was always desperate to get over the water (we lived on the other side of the River Tay in Dundee) for Hogmanay. A good singer, he was always in demand when the parties started. The more I wrote, the stronger the memories became and the louder the voices.

As you were writing, did you share your work with family and friends, and how much did this help you?

I started off tentatively showing each little bit I wrote to my daughters, who were very encouraging, but as the novel took hold I just immersed myself in it and kept going. Once I had a first draft, I set up a reading group of ten people I knew, different ages, gender and background, and asked them to read the book and give me feedback. I gave them a prompt sheet to use if they wanted. I invited them all for lunch about 3 months later and that created a kind of book group. Their comments and suggestions were really helpful for the rewrite.

How long did it take to write A Good Time for Miracles?

I started in November 2006 and finished the first draft in September 2007. I was on a month long touring visit to my Canadian cousins, fitting in a visit to New York. I was so near the end when we left for Canada that I simply took my laptop everywhere we went and got up very early in the mornings to get some writing done each day. I actually typed the words THE END a 6.30 am in a Times Square hotel, 19^th floor! I did the first rewrite over the next year and the second one the following year. So, about 3 years altogether is the short answer!

Without revealing too much of the story, what is the main ‘message’ of the novel?’

It is set in the 1950’s, against a backdrop of: post-war austerity; old-fashioned moral and religious absolutes under challenge; the lure of emigration to a better life; the increasingly articulated needs of women and their emerging emancipation; and the changing relationships between men and women, parents and children, workers and employers. It explores loss, exploitation and abuse but also friendship, hope and self-fulfilment. Most of all, it testifies to people’s wonderful ability to persevere, to change and to triumph over terrible circumstances.

What writing projects are you currently working on for the future?

I have just finished a third novel (Eleanor’s Journey) and am considering what to do with it. My second novel, The Ball Game, was published in 2008.

I have written a children’s book (The Honeysuckle Bird Café) which I am having printed to sell for charity this Christmas.

I’m a member of a writing group which meets weekly and that spurs me to write several short stories and pieces over the year. I put fifteen of them into a collection last Christmas (Tales to Dip Into) and sold it for charity. The group produces anthologies of the writers’ work as well.

I have the germ of an idea in my head for a new novel so just doing some initial research at the moment. I love the Hebrides, holiday there every year and would love to write a novel set in that area. A recent re-reading of RLS’ Kidnapped and a visit to the Writers Museum in Edinburgh have intensified my interest. And it would be a great excuse to spend more time in my favourite place!