Mary Lawson joins us to talk about all her novels – welcome to episode 122!
I can’t quite believe I’m writing this, but THE Mary Lawson – Canadian author of Crow Lake, The Other Side of the Bridge, Road Ends, and A Town Called Solace – joins us in this episode to talk through her work. We discuss how she approaches writing a novel, some of her creative decisions, and a little hint about her next book.
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The books and authors we mention in this episode:
Temptation by János Székely
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Skylark by Dezső Kosztolány
Embers by Sándor Márai
Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Father by Elizabeth von Arnim
Introduction to Sally by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim
Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert
Margaret Laurence
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald
‘For Esmeé—With Love and Squalor’ by J.D. Salinger
Alice Munro
Margaret Atwood
Mick Herron
Anne Enright
Sebastian Barry
Colm Tóibín
L.M. Montgomery
Thomas King
Michael Crummey
Michael Ondaatje
Brian Moore
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
Arthur Miller
Road Ends by Mary Lawson
Elizabeth Strout
Sheep’s Clothing by Celia Dale
Harriet Said by Beryl Bainbridge
This is a *fantastic* episode! Thank you all so much for having this conversation and letting us all get to listen :)
Thank you! Definitely my favourite Tea or Books? episode – such a privilege to talk to her.
That was a brilliant listen Simon and Rachel. Thank you so much.
Deb
Thanks so much, Deb!
Simon & Rachel & Mary: This was a wonderful episode. You should have heard me get all excited when I saw that Mary would be the guest. Well done, all.
Thank you, Susan! I still can’t believe she was a guest – so amazing.
How amazing to have Mary Lawson on tea or books! Really interesting to hear about how she conceived her characters and stories and the writing process. I appreciated Rachel’s comments and encouragements on this too; Mary was incredibly humble given her successes and seemed quite touched by these. Thanks Simon and Rachel once again.
She is so humble, particularly given how very brilliant she is. I hope we encouraged her – particularly Rachel’s rousing and entirely accurate gesture of support!
This was a very enjoyable listen, I’m also a big Mary Lawson fan … but I have to point out an error in your book list. I got kind of excited when I saw the name Nick Herring mentioned, as he’s a former student of mine who just published his first book last year (Some Hellish, which went on to win the 2022 Atwood Gibson Writer’s Trust prize) … but the author Mary was actually talking about in that segment was Mick Herron, who’s the author of the wonderfully entertaining Slow Horses series. I think everyone should read all of those books anyway – Nick’s, Mick’s, and Mary’s!
Ah thank you very much for that! Will rectify.
You might be interested in reading the espionage thriller Beyond Enkription but we suggest before reading Beyond Enkription that you read three brief news articles published on TheBurlingtonFiles website. One is about Bill Fairclough (August 2023), characters’ identities (September 2021) and Pemberton’s People (October 2022). What is amazing is that these articles were only published many years after Beyond Enkription itself was. You’ll soon be immersed in a whole new world!
That will add a lot to your understanding of this unusual thriller. By the way, please don’t forget that the author of this “novelog” (which as noted on the website was originally intended to be a film script) was not a professional career writer like say John le Carré and not even an aspiring author. Beyond Enkription is an enthralling unadulterated factual thriller and a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots.
Nevertheless, it has been heralded by one US critic as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”. Little wonder Beyond Enkription is mandatory reading on some countries’ intelligence induction programs. Why? It deviously dissects just how much agents are kept in the dark by their spy-masters and vice versa.
I love Mary Lawsonand read all of her books. Did she happen to mention whether she will publish another one soon??? (I didn’t have the time, yet, to listen to the whole thing but will so soon.)
She said she is writing another one, but not to hold our breath… so not soon, but one day!
Brilliant. Thanks for that.
I was so happy to hear this wonderful episode, Rachel and Simon. Thank you both!
thank you, Debra!
I had never read anything by Mary Lawson before but after listening to this episode I listened to Crow Lake and really enjoyed it. I’ll definitely be reading more of her books. Thank you for the introduction!
Oh brilliant, Miriam, I’m so glad!