Unravelling Oliver - Liz Nugent - Author Guest Post

I am very pleased to welcome author Liz Nugent to the blog today!

Her first novel, Unravelling Oliver, is published by Penguin Ireland on 6th March 2014

I asked Liz what drove her towards this genre and subject matter, and how her other writing - drama/theatre - does or doesn't impact her novel writing style. Her response is below.

Author guest post by Liz Nugent

Thanks so much Lindsay for taking such an interest!

I’ve always been very interested in flawed male characters in literature: John Banville’s Freddy Montgomery in the Book of Evidence, Sebastian Faulk’s Engleby, and of course Heathcliff. On television too, Tony Soprano and Walter White from Breaking Bad fascinated me but when I started writing this novel, it didn’t occur to me that I was writing a genre. I just wrote the kind of story I’d like to read and the result is something that isn’t quite crime or thriller or noir- I think the best description of it so far was that it was a story of ‘psychological suspense’ but I know that’s not exactly a genre.

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The first chapter was a stand-alone short story about a dark character, but I wrote him from the outside as simply a ‘bad’ man. When I went on to develop him, I realised that there must be some humanity in him, there must be reasons for his darkness, so I listened to him and he just very gradually revealed himself. I find it hard to accept that people are born bad. More often than not, it is environment and circumstances that mould the man. Oliver did not have a good start as he was socially isolated, neglected and all but abandoned. Because I lived in Oliver’s head for so long while I was writing the book, I really empathised with him by the time I was finished and found myself quite offended when readers told me what a monster he was!

The other characters who relate Oliver’s story only see the surface, but each of them sees a different side - vulnerable, charming, successful, tortured, industrious or confident. His fraudulent nature is not apparent to them- except for Eugene, who despite his learning difficulties, sees through Oliver from the start. Eugene is the prophet of the story.

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Writing for radio and tv is entirely different because it is such a collaborative process. Even if you write the script, you can’t really call the finished product your own work. The layers of editorial input, the directors, the production values and the actors all bring something to the script- and sometimes take something away- but it really is no longer ‘your’ story.

Writing a novel is your work alone until you think you’re finished and then your publisher appoints an editor. But maybe as a result of that collaborative training, I had a great relationship with my editor Patricia Deevy. You have to trust that your editor wants your book to be the best it can be, so you are working together towards the same goal and there is only the two of you. The writer has the final say and I could have objected to a lot of her suggestions but you should at least try them and see if they work or not.

Also, working on a soap opera taught me a lot about hooking your audience/readers. I don’t want them to book the book down so I hint and tease about what might come and try to leave every chapter with a cliff-hanger. It’s a great discipline.

About the book...

'I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her.'

Liz Nugent's gripping novel of psychological suspense, UNRAVELLING OLIVER, is a complex and elegant study of the making of a sociopath.

Oliver Ryan is a handsome and charismatic success story. He lives in the leafy suburbs with his wife, Alice, who illustrates his award-winning children's books and gives him her unstinting devotion. Their life together is one of enviable privilege and ease - enviable until, one evening after supper, Oliver attacks Alice and puts her into a coma.

In the aftermath, as everyone tries to make sense of his astonishing act of savagery, Oliver tells his story. So do those whose paths he has crossed over five decades. What unfolds is a story of shame, envy, breath-taking deception and masterful manipulation.

Only Oliver knows the lengths to which he has had to go to get the life to which he felt entitled. But even he is in for a shock when the past catches up with him.

About the author...

In her early career Liz Nugent worked as a stage manager in theatres in Ireland and toured internationally. More recently, Liz has written extensively for radio and television drama. She has been shortlisted for the prestigious Francis McManus Short Story Award. She lives with her husband in her native Dublin. UNRAVELLING OLIVER is her first novel.

The Back Road - Rachel Abbott

I was impressed by Rachel Abbott's addictive debut novel, Only the Innocent - you can read my review here - I found it a genuine page-turner, hard to put down, and I wrote at the time that I was excited to see what she would create next. Having heard that she had completed her second novel, The Back Road, I was therefore very keen to get between the pages and discover the secrets contained within.

The Back Road introduces us to half-sisters Ellie Saunders and Leo Harris. Ellie is living with her family in what was the sisters’ childhood home, now fully converted from the place it once was. We learn that there were dark times in the sisters’ pasts, and returning to the village of Little Melham is a major step for life coach Leo considering the deep unhappiness she recalls from her time there when she was younger; the girls share starkly conflicting feelings as to the role their father played in their lives.

Then the author introduces us to a wider cast of characters who come together for a dinner party at Ellie’s home. Prior to this though, there is an intriguing opening to the novel and we learn of a desperate flight be a fourteen-year-old local girl Abbie and know that someone is in pursuit. She is knocked down and left for dead in a hit and run incident, which happens on the significant back road in the town. Ellie is a nurse and was called to tend to the girl when she arrived in hospital.

The scene is very nicely set-up for us to observe and get to know the dinner guests as they interact with each other, and various aspects of their behaviour and personalities began to arouse my suspicions. Several of their stories don’t necessarily seem to ring true and I started to question who amongst them I could trust; what secrets are hidden behind the beautiful façade of this home and village?

‘The mood around the table was strange. To Leo it seemed as if everyone was acting a part that was different from any version of themselves she had ever seen. As an observer of this intriguing phenomenon she had the best seat in the house…’

There is a welcome return for the character of Tom Douglas who featured in Only the Innocent as a police detective. This time he appears in a civilian capacity as one of the neighbours who attends the dinner party. We catch up with him having moved to be nearer to his daughter, and it’s interesting to see him in this different role. 

Rachel Abbott has created a clever scenario and written an intriguing crime story here, incorporating twists as the tale progresses, and created some highly suspicious characters; she does a good job of making them open to question by the reader, with the secrets and rumours that abound. She is skilled at showing insight into the motives and psychology behind her chracters’ behaviour, and had me thinking about each of them as I read; what were their motives, their secrets, their relationships, who was concealing what here, I wondered, as I tried to decipher whodunit from amongst the lies, looking for the hints and gradual revelations. A clever psychological crime and mystery novel. 

Thanks to the author for kindly providing an early ebook copy of this novel to read and give an honest review.

You can follow the author on twitter @_RachelAbbott  and visit her website here.