A pair of new books showcase the talents of acclaimed British author Lisa Jewell - one written by her, one written about her. Sinead Crowley digs deeper...
"How do you do it?"
It's a question writers get asked all of the time, second only to 'would you like it to be made into a movie?’ But while the answer to the second is a simple ‘where do I sign?’, the first requires a lot more elaboration.
The fact is, there are as many ways to write books are there are authors in the world and it’s impossible to actually finish a novel until you find your own rhythm and your own way.
The Truth about Lisa Jewell, therefore, can’t teach aspiring authors how to write like the British bestselling author, but what it does do is show how Jewell goes about her work, puncturing quite a few myths about the creative process along the way.
Lisa Jewell began her writing career with Ralph's Party, published to great success in 1999. Although that book was a work of commercial fiction, later novels saw her introduce elements of mystery, suspense and domestic noir and her work can now be found shelved in the psychological suspense category.
Her latest book, The Family Remains, is a sequel to the international bestseller The Family Upstairs. To write a sequel to a book that sold over 800k copies is daunting enough but Jewell was then persuaded to allow another author – academic Will Brooker – to observe her while she wrote and write his own book on the process. Throw in a global pandemic and you have one brave author.
Thankfully, the experiment works and lucky readers get, not just a new Lisa Jewell thriller but also a unique look at an author in full flight as well as an examination of the current state of commercial fiction, a genre not usually opened up to such academic scrutiny.
First, let’s look at the fiction. The Family Upstairs told the story of a group of people connected with a large, rambling house in London and contained many of the elements Jewell is known for – a middle class London setting, a family with secrets, an ‘outsider’ who gets dragged into – or down into - the mess. Although it provided the resolution demanded of books in the crime/ thriller genre, the book’s ending also contained a cliff hanger, which in turn provides the jumping off point for The Family Remains.
This new book contains all of the elements of the classic crime novel - the discovery of a body, a dedicated police officer and family members who aren’t telling the whole truth, even to each other – as well as the richly drawn characters for which Jewell is renowned. Meanwhile a subplot which features a woman subjected to coercive control is chilling, sadly believable and extremely well drawn.
The Family Remains is, then a typically satisfying read and will make Lisa Jewell’s many fans very happy indeed. But what of the book of the book? The Truth about Lisa Jewell is, in its own way, just as much of a page turner. Although the process of shadowing an author is not unique – Andy Martin did it with Lee Child, for example – Brooker also had to contend with Covid, meaning many of his early meetings with Jewell were on zoom. He was not, therefore able to be ‘in the room’ on all occasions but this actually makes the book a faithful representation of the creative process in 2020/21 when most communication between author, editor and other members of the creative team had to be done via a screen.
Writers of fiction are often divided into ‘plotters and pantsers’ - those who plot out every element of the story before they write a first draft, and those who fly by the seat of their pants. Jewell is very much in the second category and readers who haven’t written a book themselves will be fascinated at the way she takes the gist of her novel and just dives into the writing, preparing to make major swerves along the way. This is not a particularly unusual way of writing a novel – I’m holding my own hand up here – but it is very refreshing for writers and readers alike to watch Jewell tease out her plot points and twists in real time. Such is her reputation; she also has to work under the added pressure of knowing that her 20th novel has an online presence and pile of pre-orders before she has written a word.
Will Brooker is an academic and he treats Jewell’s work as he would any other literary text. Although some of the connections he makes are a little far-fetched, on the whole I found his treatment refreshing, as it gives commercial fiction a respectful consideration it doesn’t always find elsewhere. Jewell herself comes across as a person you’d like to have a drink with – a posh cocktail in a high-end London bar, naturally – and although she can be self-deprecating at times she clearly takes her work and her genre very seriously. As a commercial writer however, with a family to support she also knows she can’t wait around for the muse to strike, there will be a Lisa Jewell book on the shelves in summer 2022 and she is - global pandemic and other hiccups notwithstanding - going to finish it in time.
As social restrictions ease, Brooker and Jewell eventually meet and Brooker even begins to wonder if he is having an influence on the novel in progress. He sees chapters being tweaked and even cut, and notes the changes in Jewell's writing process as the deadline draws near. Brooker also writes about the work that writers have to do now in order to stay in the public eye and sell books with zooms, public interviews and public appearances all considered essential, but also acting as speedbumps in the road to getting the word count up and the next novel delivered. It's all very practical stuff - but there is magic in the act of creation too, and Brooker and Jewell act together to lift the curtain on the process – at least part of the way.
There is no doubt but that The Family Remains will be a hit this summer, and deservedly so. The Truth About Lisa Jewell is also a very useful purchase for anyone who has ever wanted to write a novel - or anyone who has ever said 'I could do that'.
The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell and The Truth about Lisa Jewell by Will Brooker are published by Cornerstone.
