Writing is a form of therapy - Graham Greene
In 2008 two award-winning Irish authors and close friends travelled to Berlin. This proved to be one of the final adventures of the great writer and broadcaster Nuala O'Faolain as less than two weeks later she lost her life to metastatic cancer. Her travelling companion was fellow writer Hugo Hamilton whose latest book, ‘Every Single Minute’, is a fictional tale based on this final journey with Liam taking on his role while Una plays the part of Nuala. Building on the success of Hugo’s novels and memoirs this story is a touching account of friends’ final moments together and a search for closure.
Though Nuala and Hugo are both known for their outstanding memoirs of childhood their styles of remembering differ in many ways. ‘The Speckled People’ tells of Hugo’s life in a nationalist household and the alienation he felt because of his father’s insistence on speaking on Irish or German. Nuala’s works on the other hand deal with her life growing up in Catholic Ireland and the bullying and philandering of her father ‘Terry O’. In the end Hugo’s works, while equally as candid, are less brutal in their portrayal of parents and adults than Nuala’s chronicles.
This difference in outlook raised its head many times as Nuala and Hugo argued on the degree of empathy parents deserve from their children. In ‘Every Single Minute’ the topic raises its head once again as Liam pushes the wheelchair confined Una from site to site. As the two traverse Berlin’s streets Una retraces the path of her life, looking back at the events and people that helped shape her. Aware of the nearness of Una’s death Liam urges her to try and find reconciliation, or closure, with her past.
Una sees no need in letting go of the negative experiences and emotions that have helped shaped what she sees as distinctly her life. This idea that Una’s life is simply her own is challenged in ‘Every Single Minute’ as Hugo asserts that our essence is not an internal thing but is shared and defined by all those who know and love us. ‘Every Single Minute’ is a touching book about friendship and memory and a fitting tribute for a great Irish writer and memoirist.
Susan talks with Hugo Hamilton about ‘Every Single Minute’, memoir writing, and his final journey with his friend Nuala O’Faolain. Join ‘Talking Books’ as we delve into the realm of memory and shared experience. What is it that makes us who we are? Is it our experiences or others’ experiences of us? And can we ever let go of memory?
Cover of 'The Jane Austen Book Club'
Rounding off the show Susan talks with Karen Joy Fowler about her hit novel, ‘The Jane Austen Book Club’. Published in 2004 this story of six book lovers and the intertwining of their lives through their book club was met with great success, staying on the New York Times bestseller list for thirteen weeks. The story sees each of the protagonists play host as the book club looks at a new Jane Austen novel each month.
It soon becomes clear, however, that there is a parallel between the books chosen and that month’s host. Begun by the headstrong and single Jocelyn, the Jane Austen book club is originally set up as a way to bring her recently separated friend, Sylvia, and the handsome stranger, Grigg, together. The club soon takes on a life of its own, however, and quickly begins to resemble a work of the club’s great namesake. Through the pages of this book, and the books they read, we see the characters and romances of Jocelyn, Sylvia, Allegra, Prudie, Grigg, and Bernadette blossom and evolve.
Join Susan and Karen as they look back at her bestselling ‘The Jane Austen Book Club’.
