Local writer Jess Kidd is receiving acclaim for her first novel. Rosanna Greenstreet reports on her long journey to becoming a published author
Success has been a long time coming to local author Jess Kidd. Now, aged 43, she has finally seen her debut novel published. Praised by The Guardian, her fiction has been endorsed by bestselling author Louis de Bernières and even optioned for the screen. She has been written about in Elle and Vogue and the latest news is that Sunday Times Style Magazine has come calling.
“It’s ironic, as my natural state is shuffling about in a dressing gown and I have spent the last year writing in my pyjamas,” Jess laughs, as we chat over a cuppa in my kitchen.
I have known this small, determined woman – dressed today in jeans, jacket and an enviable pair of blue suede boots – for eight years. We both took the inaugural Creative Writing in the Community MA at St Mary’s University in Twickenham in 2008 and, back then, she was the undisputed class star.
She continued at the university, taking a PHD in Creative Writing Studies and producing Himself, the story of an abandoned son searching for his mother in a small Irish town full of secrets and lies. An agent and book deal with the publisher Canongate followed. For Jess, who has spent her whole adult life writing and studying, Himself is just the beginning, as she reveals that she has written two more novels.
“Canongate is publishing the second, Hoarder, next year. It’s a contemporary crime novel set in Petersham. My third is set in Victorian London and has an extravagant cast of characters. I have also started a collection of short stories and I want to do a play.”
Born in Richmond, Jess is part of a large family from Mayo and her Irish roots, which show in her dark hair and big brown eyes, have always loomed large.
“My mum is one of 11 and she moved to England because her sisters were here. I was brought up in London but we were always visiting Ireland. I never wanted to come back to London so I would frequently run away. I have spent my life wanting to live in Ireland and I am hoping to make the move next year.”
Ardmore, Ireland
For now, home is Ham. Jess, who was at Orleans School in St Margarets and went on to Richmond College, is a single parent to her daughter Eva, who is a student. Jess fell pregnant with Eva during her first year of university (she was studying English Literature and Irish Studies), and had to drop out after she was born prematurely at seven months.
She says, “I continued my degree with the Open University; it took me seven years. I also had to work but I picked jobs that could support writing and studying. I have done all manner of things: a care worker specialising in brain injury, a teacher of creative writing for Kingston Adult Education and as PA to the rector of All Saints in Kingston.”
During Jess’s PHD years, I was privileged to read an early version of Himself. Then the book was called Mulderrig, the name of the imagined west coast town of the story. The book shifts between two time periods and you don’t doubt the authenticity of the Irish voices on every page. Jess’s influences include Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood and the Irish playwright,
J M Synge’s portrayal of rural society in The Playboy of the Western World.
“My father had the Richard Burton recording of Under Milk Wood and I remember hearing this amazing lyrical book. I wanted to do something similar and thought it would be great to have an Irish version of Llareggub. There are tributes to Under Milk Wood in my book – boats bobbing on the bay and a dream sequence.
There are parallels with The Playboy of the Western World because my central character, Mahony, like Christy Mahon in Playboy, is a stranger who comes to town; I too have a widow and, like the town in Playboy, Mulderrig is a place of violence,” she explains.
Himself is a tricky book to categorise; it is a crime novel and it contains magic realism – the chief protagonist sees dead people. This hasn’t fazed Andy Serkis though, whose production company, Imaginarium, has been quick to snap up film and TV rights. As I read Himself, I pictured the hero as Colin Farrell, but Jess has other ideas.
“It’s got to be Mr Poldark – that’s the reason I wrote it!” she laughs, adding, “I dream of Julie Walters playing the widow, Mrs Cauley.
Although Jess is aware of the phwoar value of Aidan Turner, she does not actually own a television.
“I haven’t had a telly for two years – or any furniture. When I split from my last partner, he took his furniture and I never replaced it because I am always trying to move to Ireland. It’s a bit eccentric – if you come to my house you have to sit on the floor,” she says, adding. “I have two desks though. I start [to write] early, about five or six. On a good day I won’t stop, but there are days when I get sidelined by Twitter or buying shoes – or looking at houses in Ireland!”
I am so pleased for my brilliant friend. She has worked hard for so long and, at last, her talent is recognised. I wonder how she will take to fame.
“You know me,” she smiles, “I’ll be hiding in Cork or Galway or wherever, in my dressing gown.”
You can order a copy of Himself on Amazon by clicking here
Himself currently has a rating of 4.25 on Goodreads, check it out here
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