Oystercatchers - Softcover

Fletcher, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007250444 ISBN 13: 9780007250448

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2007

Synopsis

The second novel from highly acclaimed young writer Susan Fletcher, author of the award-winning ‘Eve Green’

Amy lies in a coma. Her older sister, Moira, comes to her in the evenings, sits beside her in a green-walled hospital room. Here, Moira confesses. She admits to her childhood selfishness which deeply hurt her family and to the self-imposed exile from the dramatic Welsh coast that had dominated and captivated her childhood; to her savagery at boarding school; to the wild, bitter and destructive heart that she carried into her adult life. Moira knows this: that she's been a poor daughter, and a deceptive wife. But it is as Amy lies half-dying that she sees the real truth: she's been a cruel sister, and it is this cruelty that has led them both here, to this hospital bed.

A novel about trust, loss and loneliness, ‘Oystercatchers’ is a love story with a profound darkness at its core.

About this title

Review:

Praise for ‘Eve Green’:

‘Few coming of age novels have the beguiling power of this one...its lyrical intensity reminiscent of Laurie Lee, this is a precisely observed, immensely compelling and ultimately redemptive first novel.’ Sunday Times

‘Evokes with a beguiling lyrical muscularity the peaks and troughs in the life of seven-year-old Evie.’ Guardian

‘Susan Fletcher is a gifted storyteller.’ Independent

‘An exceptional debut of grace and subtlety.’ Robert McCrum, Observer

From the Publisher:

Q and A
Sarah O'Reilly talks to Susan Fletcher

You've said that Oystercatchers enabled you to get to know yourself, as a writer, far better than you did before. Can you talk a little about how that happened?
After the success of my first novel, Eve Green, I jumped into Oystercatchers with enthusiasm, but it was a real learning curve. I found writing this book so tricky, which is attributable to lots of things: the so-called `second novel syndrome', and the fact that I put a lot of pressure on myself to write to a certain standard. But, in contrast to Eve Green, Oystercatchers also involved living for two and a half years with quite a spiky person (I would choose to be Eve's friend - but I probably wouldn't choose to be Moira's.) And because it is a novel about a downward spiral, it is darker than Eve Green emotionally, and perhaps that took its toll.
When I finished writing Oystercatchers I felt exhausted, as if I would never write again. I just didn't want to see words or do anything with books, or read anything for months! In the end I gave myself a big break, which was long overdue. I went to Africa for three months and it was wonderful.

What sort of regime do you set yourself when you are in the midst of writing a novel?
It sounds crazy but writing this book was the first time I ever had to set myself a regime. On an ideal day I would sit down at eight thirty in the morning and write until three o'clock in the afternoon and then go and do some kind of exercise or just go for a walk. It was only recently that I found out from a friend that that's what Hemingway always advised writers to do. Another thing I found helpful was to leave an incomplete sentence at the end of each day of writing so that I would have a reason to go back to my desk the next morning!

Critics have commented on your extraordinarily lyrical prose. Do you read poetry?
I try to, but no one in particular. I love the idea of poetry, though - of getting something exactly, with the minimum amount of words.

The characters in Oystercatchers seem roughly to divide into two sorts of people, as typified by Moira and Amy: sea-people and land-lubbers. Could you say which side of the divide you'd place yourself on?
It's interesting you've picked that up, because one of the themes I half abandoned along the way, and which relates to this, is the idea of fate. Aunt Til carries it through the book with her astrology and alternative beliefs, but it was originally going to be a much stronger theme, and initially I decided to give everyone an element. Even now, if you go through the book, you can see that most of the main characters have an element. Moira is water, Ray is fire, Amy is earth and Til is very much air, what with the pilot and her love of birds. But in terms of myself, I was born in Birmingham so I don't think I'm much of a water girl! But I have lived in Cornwall for several years now, down by the coast, so I think that the sea kind of seeped in to the novel. But it's hard to say.

Eve Green and Oystercatchers are both concerned with the theme of loss - whether it's the loss of a bracelet, a mother, a sister, or a life. Can you talk about why this theme resonates so much with you?
I think I'm interested in loss because I'm interested in how people cope with it. Though it's not a particularly happy thing to be interested in, it's one of the issues facing us as human beings. A great loss alters the course of a life; you either survive it, or you don't; it is a test of character. So what happens after a loss - that's what I'm really interested in. And in a rather callous way, it's also an interesting device to use in a book.

In both Eve Green and Oystercatchers the heroine is a young woman looking back over her childhood. What interests you about this period in our lives?
I'm interested in childhood because I imagine that a lot of what we are, and who we are, comes from that time. Someone said that our childhood is what we spend our adult life getting over and I think that is probably right. But I also loved writing from a child's point of view in Eve Green, and perhaps that's why I did more of it in Oystercatchers. It gives you more freedom; allows you to be bold in the way you tell your story.

It's said that a writer needs, amongst other qualities, an interest in other people. Is this an observation you'd agree with?
I think we probably all have that curiosity about other people, to a degree at least, but yes, I think that's probably right. I studied a lot of English literature at school and college and I always remember being quite interested in how most people don't change if you go back in time, in the sense that feelings don't change, from Chaucer's time, to Shakespeare's time, to our own time. Nothing really dates; nothing really changes. And I quite like that, that people remain constant.

Finally, can you talk a little about what you're working on at the moment?
Another novel, although it's very early days. At the moment I think it might be historical which will be an interesting departure. I'm only reluctant to say much more because it will probably change!

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0007250444
• ISBN 13: 9780007250448
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384