AUTHORS INTERVIEWING THEIR CHARACTERS: Jane Shemilt
Jane Shemilt, author of LITTLE FRIENDS/THE PLAYGROUND interviewing her character Eve Kershaw.
LITTLE FRIENDS/THE PLAYGROUND has been described as BIG LITTLE LIES meets LORD OF THE FLIES; it is set in Dulwich in London and describes what happens when the lives of three very different families intersect; the adults are so busy watching each other that they forget to watch their kids. The consequences are devastating
Jane: Hi Eve, thanks for inviting me to your house and for agreeing to answer my questions. You have a fabulous place; it reminds me of a stately home!
Eve: We’re so lucky! I grew up here, my parents passed it to us and that’s exactly what we intend for our kids. I love that sense of continuity.
Jane: And what a garden; children could lose themselves out there!
Eve: (Laughs.) That’s exactly what my husband worries about but it couldn’t be safer. They play out here for hours at a time; this may sound a little complacent but when was the last time a child went missing in Dulwich?
Jane: (Smiles)Tell me about the teaching project you set up for children in and around the village.
Eve: My aim was to organise an out of school group for kids with dyslexia, helping them and my daughter to learn and have fun with friends in the neighbourhood.
Jane: Sounds ideal; I believe you are a teacher?
Eve: I trained as a primary school teacher but took a break to bring up my kids. My own mother wasn’t around much when I was growing up, and to be honest, it wasn’t ideal; I did an online course to learn how to teach children with dyslexia last year, so I’m all set up to work from home.
Jane: Did you have a good response from would-be pupils?
Eve: Really good. I advertised on Facebook but kept the numbers small to give each child plenty of attention; I’ve enrolled three children for specialised teaching, but with all the siblings around we have a group of seven, everyone learning from each other.
Jane: What would you say have been the biggest challenges?
Eve: I guess balancing all the needs across a group of different ages. The eldest girl is thirteen, luckily the younger ones are completely under her spell, in a good way of course. She looks after them for me in the breaks.
Jane: What kind of things do they get up to?
Eve. Oh I’m not allowed to know! (Laughs) Izzy takes them down the garden and brings them back later tired but happy. My little one Sorrel is on the shy side so I had to push her a little, to begin with, but now even my toddler tags along.
Jane : So basically one big happy family?
Eve: Exactly!
Jane: Your parents were involved with charities on a big scale; their parties were famous.
Eve: Things are a little quieter now, my husband likes the peaceful life.
Jane: He was your father’s gardener wasn’t he?
Eve: Landscape gardener, yes.
Jane: So you met in the garden? How very romantic.
Eve: Mmm, that feels rather a long time ago now. (Laughs)
Jane: This is a gorgeous kitchen; so much space. Do you have help?
Eve: It’s pretty relaxed as you can see by the mess! My mother had a large staff but I like looking after everything myself. My husband’s co- worker lives in the former nanny’s cottage in the grounds
Jane: I don’t see a cottage. (Peers through a window)
Eve: It’s completely surrounded by that belt of trees over there on the right We should cut them down; it must be very dark in there, but it means he has complete privacy.
Jane: Dulwich is such a cute village, it must be great to have friends in walking distance…
Eve: It certainly is; the parents of the children in our group have become close friends of ours already. One of the dads is the writer, Martin Cowan.
Jane: The Booker Prize winner?
Eve: The very same. He’s fascinating when you get to know him and at the same time- well- ordinary. (Blushes) Like you and me. He does all the dropping off and picking up so we’ve got to know each other quite well, his wife works all the hours. Martin looks after their kids and writes; amazing really.
Jane: And the other parents?
Eve: Melly and Paul live in a modern mansion that Paul designed, just a few streets away.
Jane: So you all get together often?
Eve: (Nods) It’s my little boy’s birthday tomorrow so we’re having a birthday party for the three families. Martin will be coming; he adores food and I adore cooking so I’m making bouillabaisse and salmon soufflé and crab tartlets. He loves fish.
Jane: Your little boy?
Eve: (Laughs) I meant Martin. Paul and Melly will be there; all the kids too of course. Eric is making them a bonfire specially; even though it’s mid- summer.
Jane: Eric?
Eve: Oh, that’s my husband. The children love bonfires you see. They dance around them, like little pagans enacting a ritual. Izzy organises everything.
Jane: I can see it will be a wonderful birthday party. Thank you, Eve Kershaw, for letting us have a fascinating peek into your house and into your very worthwhile work.
Eve: My pleasure.
—
JANE SHEMILT
BIO
While working as a GP, Jane completed a post graduate diploma in Creative Writing at Bristol university and went on to study for the MA in Creative writing at Bath Spa, gaining both with distinction. She was shortlisted for the Janklow and Nesbitt award, the Lucy Cavendish fiction prize and the Edgar Award for Daughter, her first novel. Daughter was a Richard & Judy pick in 2014 and was the bestselling UK debut novel published that year. She and her husband Steve, a Professor of Neurosurgery, have 5 children and live in Bristol.
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THE PLAYGROUND
Their children are friends first. They hit it off immediately, as kids do. And so the parents are forced to get to know each other. Three wildly different couples. Three marriages, floundering.
There are barbecues, dinner parties, a holiday in Greece. An affair begins, resentments flare, and despite it all the three women become closer.
Unnoticed, their children run wild. The couples are so busy watching each other that they forget to watch their children.
Until tragedy strikes.
Because while they have been looking the other way, evil has crept into their safe little world and every parent’s biggest nightmare is about to come true…
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Category: Interviews, On Writing
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