Interview with Noelle Harrison - The Girl Across The Sea
Photo of Noelle Harrison by Lizzie McGhee
Interview with Noelle Harrison – The Girl Across The Sea
I’d like to welcome Noelle Harrison to my website and congratulate her on the release of her latest novel (Nov 10th, 2021) through Publisher Bookouture.
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A copy of my review of The Girl Across The Sea can be found here.
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Welcome! Please give us an overview and the inspiration behind your upcoming novel The Girl Across the Sea.
The idea for The Girl Across the Sea came from a trip to County Mayo in the West of Ireland with a friend of mine from Canada whose heritage is also Irish. We talked about our family histories, the secrets, miscommunication breakdowns and mysteries in stories of emigration from both our families. This was the seed sown for Ellen’s story in the novel.
At the same time, I wanted to write about a woman who experiences intense loss in her life from every single relationship close to her. Feeling abandoned and lost, how does she begin again? This was the inspiration behind Mairead.
My settings were drawn from my desire to link the histories of Ireland and America in the early twentieth century. The intense and painful era of the Civil War in Ireland, and the vast refugee crisis of the Great Depression. I wanted to tell this history of war and deprivation from a female perspective and create mirrors for my readers in the modern world.
Have you always written dual timeline stories and what is it about this story telling format that you enjoy? What are the challenges in pulling it off effectively?
Yes, most of my novels are dual timeline or told from two different perspectives. I’ve always enjoyed the structure of creating parallel worlds and the interweaving of two stories. It’s satisfying for me as a writer, and hopefully for the reader too. I find dual timeline stories keep the pace of the storytelling tight, there’s no room for sagging plot! It also interests me to learn which characters or timeline readers identify with the most.
Which character in The Girl Across the Sea do you most relate to?
There are aspects of Mairead and Ellen, I identify with but there are also parts of their characters which are very contrary to my own. My own mother passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2005, so the scenes between Mairead and her mother Brigid when she’s sick are very much drawn from personal experience. Having said that, I was very close to my Mum so my relationship with her was different from Mairead’s. I would like to think I am a bit more of a free spirit than Mairead at the beginning of the book, so I am cheering her on when she breaks free of her old life! But there are parts of Ellen which I really identify with too. Her deep connection to nature and how important female friendship is for her. Really, I feel it is the friendship with her best friend which is the love of her life!
If someone were to make a movie of your novel, what actresses would you like to see playing the parts of Ellen and Mairead?
I love Amy Adams and I think she would be perfect as Mairead! She’s an actress who can really draw in the empathy of the audience. For Ellen, Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) would be a great fit. Anya has a mercurial quality which I think Ellen also possesses.
I know you didn’t ask but every time I think of Brigid, I picture Nicole Kidman’s ethereal quality.
Your novel covers not only the Irish landscape but also some areas of the US and Canada. Have you ever visited the North American settings in your book?
Yes, I have visited or stayed in all the locations in the novel. I could never write a book set in a place I have never been to. I have been to US and Canada many times and the book features some of my favourite locations such as Arizona and Tofino, in Western Canada as well as New York, and Chicago.
What research did you need to do in order to write The Girl Across the Sea?
A lot of research! But I love history and for me I always view my research as an enrichment of my own knowledge. Most of my research time was spent looking into life in America in the twenties and thirties as well as researching the Civil War in Ireland in the twenties. This was a very violent and divisive time in Ireland’s history and I wanted to write about its trauma but through the eyes of a woman rather than a man.
The storyline in the eighties was easier for me as I was alive myself and a young woman. I must admit I felt a deep nostalgia for an era with no mobile phones and technology. Although on the other hand, it was shocking to remember that divorce, as well as being gay, were still illegal in Ireland in the early eighties.
I have stated in my review that your novel ‘is a tale that is painful, beautiful and rapturous all at the same time.’ What does this statement mean to you in relation to your story?
What a lovely description of my novel! I believe this statement refers to the concept at the core of the novel. This idea that our lives are the hub of a wheel in constant motion. There will be times of deep sadness and loss, but then the wheel will turn, and we will experience joy and love. The point is everything changes whether it is painful or rapturous, but we have the opportunity to live fully in the present of these experiences. Each time we feel pain or heartache it serves to expand our hearts to receive more love and joy, and spread more compassion to others.
What key themes do you hope your readers see? What impressions do you want them to take away from the experience of reading The Girl Across the Sea?
My aim is for the readers to connect with one of the characters in the novel and empathise with their experiences. To weep for them and feel joy with them. Both Mairead and Ellen go on journeys, but these are not just external. They also go on an inner journey which changes them. I hope readers might be touched by these transformations.
On one level The Girl Across the Sea is about love, between a mother and daughter, between two best friends, a brother and a sister, and with a soulmate. With emigration and journeying to find a sense of home and belonging, one of the big themes of the book is identity. The question: Who am I?
I also wanted to weave in the history of Ireland and America. Raise voices of those maybe not so commonly represented, women from poor and working class backgrounds. As in my last novel The Boatman’s Wife, I wrote about a troubled era in Ireland’s history to highlight and illustrate its complexity. In the Civil War in Ireland there was no right side.
Your stories are quite poetic and deep. What and who has influenced your writing?
Thank you! I try to write from my heart and from a place of emotional authenticity. I find that music and visual art really influence my writing. These other art forms bring words and images into my mind and enable me to connect to my feelings. I love Isabel Allende’s novels too and the way she weaves magic realism into historical tales. For me the way a book is written is as important as the story. I love to be seduced by the language. Poetry is another influence on my writing, often bringing me pause to think about how nature and language can intertwine.
For those who may be new to your books, can you share a bit about your publishing history or journey and what inspired you to become an author?
I always wanted to be a writer, but I guess I began seriously writing in my early twenties. I started with plays and set up a theatre company in Dublin when I wrote and produced several theatrical productions. It was when I had my son and moved to rural Ireland, that I began writing novels. My first novel was called Beatrice and was published in 2004. I can’t believe that’s nearly twenty years ago now!
My aim has always been to make a living as professional writer, but of course that has entailed lots of other jobs along the way to pay the bills! Over the years, I’ve had twelve novels published, and been translated in over thirteen different countries. I also did a master’s in creative writing at Edinburgh Napier University to stimulate and challenge my craft as a writer. I believe writing is a practice and we need to ‘train’ every day to strengthen our writing ‘muscles.’
What enemies of productivity do you deal with as a writer?
I would list the main one is anxiety and stress. It can be so crippling especially if imposter syndrome hits. Believe me every writer has big doubts about their worth. The other huge block to my productivity is lack of time to write because I do so many other things to make a living, which I love too such as teaching. But sometimes it’s the administration of other work which does slow down my creativity. I think a big enemy of productivity is social media. At the same time social media is so important for me to connect with readers and sell my books so it’s a constant challenge to balance its presence in my life.
What favourite past-times help energise you between writing sessions?
I love dancing. Twice a week I go to dance classes, and these are great for my body and my brain. I completely switch off when I’m dancing. It brings me such joy.
Yoga, meditation, and journaling are other very important activities in my life. I wouldn’t call them pastimes as I teach them on my online wellness platform Rest and Rise but I find their combination such a powerful tool for unlocking creativity.
A morning ritual of drinking raw cacao warmed with oat milk and maca powder really sets me up for a day of creative writing.
Walking in nature feeds my creativity and my soul. I particularly love walking in woods. At this time of year in Scotland it’s just magical.
Going for a massage is both restorative and energising and ensures I don’t get injuries when writing.
When you begin a story, what comes first: setting, plot or characters?
Depends on the book. Setting is very important but usually it’s the characters. Before plot comes my purpose. The reason I want to tell the story and the themes I wish to explore.
What book did you read this year that moved you so deeply it made you cry?
Oh, so many! It’s rare a good book doesn’t make me cry at some point.
I absolutely adore historical fiction so favourites which brought me to tears at certain points this year were: Hamnet, Mrs. England, The Once and Future Witches, and The Seal Woman’s Gift.
If you could spend six months in any timeline to do firsthand research for an upcoming book, which era/year and location would you choose?
What a great question this is! It’s hard to choose as I am fascinated by so many different periods of history. On the one hand I would choose to be a young woman in New York in the sixties and seventies which would be extremely helpful for my next novel but on the other hand I am very intrigued by the lives of druidesses in ancient Ireland. There’s so little known about their lives but I like to think their wisdom was respected and as wise women they had more autonomy in Pre-Christian times.
If you were hosting a dinner and could invite two of your favourite authors (from the past or present), who would they be and what meal would you serve?
I think I would invite authors living in a time and place which really fascinates me so I could pick their brains on how life is like from them!
I would like to meet Daphne du Maurier to tell her what an amazing inspiration she is and how I really can’t find a novel better than Rebecca. I would love to ask her about her process and experience of being a female writer at a time when only male writers were given literary acclaim.
My second guest would be Enheduanna who was a High Priestess in Ancient Sumeria and the first known poet. I’m very intrigued by Ancient times so would love to learn about her culture.
I hope they would like a vegan dinner which I would bribe my son to make as he is a fabulous vegan cook. Most likely, it would be his roast chestnut baked wellington, and vegan sticky toffee pudding, or we might go spicy with tofu, vegetables, kimchi and noodles. Choice of wines of course too!
Can you give us a few hints of what creative project you are working on now?
I am currently working on my next novel to be published by Bookouture in October 2022 which moves from Brooklyn Heights in New York in the seventies to County Limerick in the southwest of Ireland in the seventies and late nineties. I don’t want to give too much away but it’s about three sisters, secrets and lies, and the dark heart of thwarted young love!
Thank you so much Noelle for being my guest and for sharing the wondrous ideas, creative journeys and inspiration behind your writing.
For those who would like to contact Noelle and read more about her books follow this link.
Thanks, too, to her publisher Bookouture for publishing her heartfelt poetic novels!
Noelle Harrison - photo by Chloe Salvi