AUTHORS INTERVIEWING CHARACTERS: ANNA KENT

Author Anna Kent interviews Abi from her new novel The House of Whispers. It tells the story of talented but flawed artist Abi, whose life starts to unravel when her old university friend, Grace, comes to stay. 

Abi’s husband Rohan has asked to be present for the interview. 

Rohan: [aside to me before we sit] If I feel she’d getting upset, I’ll move things along. Okay? I don’t want her upset.

[Side-eye to Rohan, then turns to Abi]: Good morning. Thanks for agreeing to see me today. I have to say, I’ve just been looking at your exhibition online. The paintings really are… I’m almost lost for words… incredible.

Abi: [nods]

Rohan: She’s very talented. I’m very proud of her. Did you know The Sunday Times called her ‘one of the greatest talents of our generation’?

What a fantastic accolade, and well-deserved. But, obviously, I don’t think I’m saying anything that hasn’t been said before when I say that your work is quite disturbing. Where do you get your inspiration?

Abi: [looks away] 

Rohan: It’s fascinating to watch her painting. It’s as if she goes into some sort of trance. Her eyes half-close and her hand just moves over the canvas. It’s a process. I don’t think we non-painters can understand it at all.

Do you think that maybe your artwork expresses experiences you’ve had in your life, Abi?

Abi: [snorts a laugh] You’ve seen the paintings?

That’s why I was asking. I mean…

Rohan: [holds up one hand] Let’s keep it light, please. She ‘goes into a meditative trance and channels ideas from the universe’… let’s leave it at that.

Okay… and, Abi, you haven’t done any work since that exhibition, which was four years ago?

Abi: [dreamily] I was working on something – something really good – but…

[waits, then prompts] But? What happened?

Abi: [Shakes head, opens mouth and closes it again, looks down] 

Rohan: It didn’t work out.

I’m sorry to hear that… is that to do with why you’re in… here?

Abi: I’m not here for long. Just till Grace comes.

Rohan: [to Abi]. Darling, you know she isn’t coming. That chapter is over. Everything’s going to be okay now, okay? You’ve nothing to worry about.

Abi: She’ll come. She always finds me.

Who’s Grace?

Rohan: [quickly] Old university friend.

Abi: Grace is… 

Rohan: [aside to me] I think it’s best we don’t talk about Grace. 

Abi: Grace is my muse. It’s Grace who got me painting. I know you don’t like to hear it, but Grace is the reason why that exhibition was such a success. She makes me who I am. 

Rohan [lays hand on Abi’s arm]: Darling…

Abi: “Darling” what? She asked and I’m telling her. If you really want to know, Grace is the one who first got me painting. My dad pushed me into studying management science at university because he was all about ‘career opportunities’ and how ‘degrees in fine art don’t get people jobs’ but one night when we were watching TV, I drew a sketch of Grace. She’s so beautiful… [Abi’s hands draw a shape in the air]. It was just a doodle, and she was, like, ‘this is good. Why don’t you do more in your spare time?’ and that was the push I needed. It was like a revelation. Because of her, I went out the next day and got my materials and… it just went from there. 

Rohan: It wasn’t always positive, though, was it? Having Grace around.

Abi: You don’t know what it was like! We lived together for nearly five years. She was training to be a doctor, you know, so her degree was longer. All she wanted to do was save people.

Rohan: But it wasn’t always good, though, was it? And when she came back this time in particular.

Abi: You were away! You don’t know what it was like. You were in New York when she was here. 

Rohan: I saw the effect she had on you. The state of the house. The state you got into.

Abi: You still don’t get it. After everything that happened. [shakes head and stares out of the window]. 

[Looking from Abi to Rohan and back] And so it was Grace who got you started painting, Abi? Back at university? And those were the paintings that formed your exhibition?

Abi: [nods] And then Grace left, and I couldn’t paint anything for years. I was blocked. I was literally painting people’s pets for something to do. A rabbit, a cat, a couple of puppies. And I had this big canvas just blank in my studio, looking at me, waiting for me to paint some masterpiece on it. And the gallery manager going on and on about my next exhibition like I could just pull it out of a hat… you’ve no idea what it’s like. All that expectation. 

Rohan: It’s a lot of pressure.

Abi: I was blocked. Nothing was coming. Nothing! Grace left, and I couldn’t paint. That’s the nuts and bolts of it, Rohan. You get that, don’t you? [smiles] Then she came back and… 

You started painting again?

Abi: [nods dreamily] Yeah. She said she was coming back and, alright, I admit I was nervous about seeing her again after so long because she can be quite…

Rohan: Demanding?

Abi: She’s quite a strong person. But I started thinking about what it would be like to have her around again, and then it just came to me, what I had to paint. There were going to be ten pictures. You saw them, didn’t you, Rohan? Were they good?

Rohan: [steeples his hands to his lips] They were incredible.

Abi: See? It’s because of Grace that I painted them.

Rohan: Abs…

And so what happened to these ten paintings? Is there a plan to exhibit them, too?

Rohan: There are no plans right now. Do you have any other questions?

Just one: where is Grace now? Is it possible for me to speak to her, do you think? Get a different perspective, maybe?

Rohan: Absolutely not. I’ve no idea where she is.

Abi: She’s coming. She’ll find me. [starts rocking back and forth and looking anxiously out of the window].

Rohan: [stands] I think that’s enough for today. Thank you for coming, Annabel. I hope you got enough for your article. I’ll walk with you to the door…

—

Anna Kent has worked as a journalist, magazine editor and book editor as well as enjoying a stint as a radio producer. She’s written for numerous publications at home and abroad, including the Daily Telegraph, where she was a contributor for six years. Brought up in the South East, she loves to travel while maintaining a base in Gloucestershire. She’s married with two children. 

THE HOUSE OF WHISPERS

Some secrets aren’t meant to be kept…

When Grace returns to Abi’s life, years after they fell out at university, Abi can’t help but feel uneasy. Years ago, Grace’s friendship was all-consuming and exhausting.

Now happily married, Abi’s built a new life for herself and put those days behind her. And yet as Grace slips back into her life with all the lethal charm she had before, Abi finds herself falling back under her spell…

Abi’s husband, Rohan, can’t help but be concerned as his wife’s behaviour changes. As their happy home threatens to fall apart, he realises that there’s something deeply unnerving about Grace. Just what influence does this woman have over his wife, and why has she come back now?

A chilling story of guilt and obsession from Anna Kent.

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What readers are saying about The House of Whispers

‘I raced through this so make sure once you start you don’t have any other commitments. This is an addictive and compelling read’

‘I loved it. It’s one of those that is going to stay with me’

‘This book is a masterpiece!’

‘This is a novel which will not only grip you and keep you on the edge of your seat . . . it will give you spine tingling chills and shivers’

‘Creepy and intoxicating’

‘I LOVED reading The House of Whispers, it’s so well written, I wasn’t expecting the shock twist at the end but it was brilliant! I was hooked from start to finish’

 

The House Of Whispers:

‘A nail-biting read that absolutely gripped me’
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‘Haunting, dark and wonderfully atmospheric’
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‘Utterly compellig’
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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing