Mumsnet book club: January book of the month, Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey. Join the discussion and put your questions to author Emma Healey on Wednesday 28 January, 9-10pm.

[TillyBookClub]

Our January choice is a debut novel that comes with a whole heap of accolades: ELIZABETH IS MISSING is currently shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2014, and was shortlisted for the National Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year 2014 and for the National Book Awards New Writer of the Year 2014. It also comes with high praise from previous Mumsnet web chatters Emma Donoghue and Jonathan Coe, among other fans. The book is narrated by Maud, who suffers from dementia, but knows that something has happened to her friend Elizabeth. Clues and mysteries are interwoven with her childhood memories, as Maud's confused mind jumps between past and present. It is a gripping suspense story, as well as a compassionate portrait of a 'missing' woman's struggle to find the truth.

You can find out more at our www.mumsnet.com/books/bookclub/2015/elizabeth-is-missing-emma-healey, or at Emmas's own website.

If you weren't lucky enough to bag one of the free books we have given away, you can always get a copy here.

We are delighted that Emma will be joining us on Wednesday 28 January, 9-10pm to discuss Elizabeth Is Missing, her tips on writing plus much more. Please feel free to discuss the book here throughout the month (avoiding spoilers if possible) and then come and meet Emma on the night, and ask her a question or simply tell her what you thought of the book.

Look forward to seeing you here on the 28th.

@barricade

How much did your own family relationships influence you characters actions and personalities?

They were more important than I realised at first, I think! As I've just mentioned below the 3 generations of women in Maud-Helen-Katy very much mimicked my own situation with my grandma-mum-and me. But I was also conscious of trying to distance myself from just writing autobiography because I found that inhibiting. I needed to look at relationships from the outside in order to write about them. And inventing is part of the fun too.

I'm so glad you found the depiction of the relationships resonant though - it is something I'm really interested in, how people feel connections even when they've left things unsaid.

I love to read a book about Elizabeth's life. It sounds like there's a rich story there.

I'm going to give my copy for my husband to read, I'll be interested if he relates to it as much as me, in terms of female to male characters ratio. I would be interested to know if women are more likely to identify with books with prominent female characters and men with male characters, and if you've had any feedback regarding this.

Sincere thanks for your detailed reply, Emma.

And thank you for your kind comment, 'penguin'.

Emma once again,

I agree with several of the posts above ... Some great responses ... In particular, it's really interesting reading about your thought & writing process during the construction of your novel. A final question if I may (you already have tons of better ones, but here goes) ... There have been several novels released recently to mark the centenary of World War One and the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two (The Undertaking, by Audrey Magee, Opal Plumstead by Jacqueline Wilson, Leningrad Siege and Symphony by Brian Moynahan, etc., etc., etc. )

Did you deliberately plan the release of your first novel to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two?

@Arti

One thing I did find difficult about the book though was how the first doctor In the book was portrayed- someone who was completely insensitive, impatient, uncaring-Emma, I would be interested in whether this was based on your own experiences or whether his attributes were exaggerated for the purposes of the story. I would also be interested in the experience of other mumsnetters with relatives who have dementia, about whether they have had similar negative experiences with doctors or whether they have had a more positive experience, and what one piece of advice you would give to a doctor to help make their interactions with patients with dementia (and their carers) better.

Oh no! This is one of those awkward moments. I had something similar when I went to do events in libraries this year (Maud is pretty rude about libraries). I'm really sorry that you found this part difficult. I know there are a lot of doctors out there who are brilliant with people living with dementia and I have certainly witnessed that. But, yes it was partly based on the way I saw both my grandmothers treated by doctors. I think, actually, things have improved already - so much more is known about dementia and a whole host of other things now. And most doctors are amazing anyway. I wanted Maud to be as isolated as possible at the beginning of the book, so the doctor had to be a bit brusque, but I also felt that Maud was probably seeing and remembering only one side of him.

P.S. So glad that Maud has stayed with you!

We're just about to run out of time, although Emma might be answering a few more as I type this...

It has been such a vivid and thoughtful discussion, thank you to everyone for taking part and for all your questions.

And Emma, you have been remarkable in your generous and articulate answers, and in giving us so much information about your writing process and ideas. It has been such a privilege to hear about the creative machinery (if that makes sense!) within your brilliant book.

Congratulations again on all your success, and please come again and tell us about your new book when it is published, we can't wait to read it.

Many, many thanks once more for joining us and best of luck with it all.

Thank you so much for answering my question, and all the other questions. It has been so interesting reading your responses and getting a feel for the background of the book. I am really looking forward to reading your next novel!

@JennyWreny

Can I ask you which part of writing the book did you most enjoy and how long from first planning it to finishing it has it taken you?

I love that moment when you can start to weave things in (e.g. the larder moment in the past leading to the larder moment in the present) - it begins to feel like a jigsaw puzzle and I feel as though I'm setting something up for the reader to enjoy. It's incredibly satisfying. But of course every time you shift one piece of the puzzle ten other pieces have to move to accommodate it, so it's pretty time-consuming.
I had the idea for the book in 2007 and began writing properly in 2008. I finished five years later after a lot of re-writing!

@MrsRedWhite214

Ooh another book. When do you think it will be ready?

Ha ha! My publisher has been asking the same question. I hope not too long! (Encouraged by your question though, so thank you.)

Thank you very much for your time. I have really enjoyed this discussion and will be looking out for your next book. All the best and well done for all you have rightly achieved with your first novel.

@whatwoulddexterdo

hi Elizabeth, I really enjoyed your book, and found it very emotional but in parts frustrating. At times I was confused at to which time era we were in. I am not sure whether that was me being a bit thick or whether that was your intention to portray the confusion of Maud as the narrator?

Towards the end Maud's idea of the past and present do become confused, but the present is always in the present tense and the past always the past tense so I hoped this wouldn't be too confusing. It's a tricky balance getting the feeling of bewilderment across without losing your reader altogether!

Thanks a lot for your reply Emma. And please don't feel awkward- the difficulty for me is probably more about reflecting on the fact that sadly there are people who have had these negative healthcare experiences at exactly the points in their lives where they need support, patience and understanding-reading your book brought to life for me the impact on the patient and I have already noticed myself being more understanding with and less rushed with patients with dementia as a result. Thank you!

@Penquin

Did you always know it was Frank? (Do we definitely know it's Frank?) Or were you thinking it could perhaps have been Douglas while you were writing the book?

I toyed with the idea of it being Douglas, the mad woman, even Maud herself. But ultimately I wanted to write something that felt as close to reality as possible, rather than a tricksy, twist in the tale story, and so I felt it had to be Frank. It's a mystery rather than a thriller. In my head Frank made a stupid, violent mistake and regretted it all his life.

I'm two-thirds of the way through this book and am really enjoying it. It struck me initially as quite an usual subject matter but actually works really well. I like the structure of the book, with the (more coherent) flashbacks, and am finding it very readable.

The portrayal of Maud seems a very warm one, and provides a good insight into the mind of someone who I imagine quite difficult to actually spend time with in the 'real' world. There are some small aspects of her dementia that I can relate to - not quite being able to remember what a shirt is called (for instance) seems like just an extension of struggling to find the correct word for something, which I think happens to everyone from time to time.

I don't have any questions (which is probably just as well since the chat is coming to an end!) but wanted to say thanks to mumsnet for alerting me to this book and thanks and congratulations to Emma on writing such an excellent novel, I'm glad it's achieving so much (well-deserved) success!

Aha! ... You heard it right here, folks! ... Live and Exclusive!! It was not Kenneth Lloyd Holmes (the serial killer), the Mad Woman, Douglas or some rando murderer.

Frank is definitely the Killer!!

(lol)

Thank you, Mumsnet, for the opportunity to join this discussion tonight, and sincere thanks, Emma for your gracious replies to our questions.

Wish you the very best of luck with your future 'productions'.

Barricade.

:)

@barricade

There was recurring trend throughout this book. It seemed that Maud's father was the only really decent male character within the story... Douglas leaves his mentally ill mother to fend for herself while he moves away into comfortable lodgings. Frank, despite helping many people with transporting their belongings during the aftermath of the war, is a foul-mouthed alcoholic arrested for rations fraud (and that is even before any suspected murder). Elizabeth's son, Peter, appears to have in own interests at heart more that the care of his mother. We had the male serial killer. We had Maud's son Tom who is happy to leave his amnesia-afflicted mother to his sister's care while he lives in another country with his own family. Even the male police officer was quick to make fun of Maud rather than be a little more sympathetic of her condition.

Was this incidental, or did you actually intend for this to be the case?

Incidental! I promise. Though a tutor at UEA did ask me if I had a problem with men after she'd read a part of my manuscript! I don't, really. But I needed to have suspects and realistic suspects, and that meant throwing suspicion on to most of the men in the book.
From my point of view Douglas had this awful time and then thought his mother was dead and he could move on, while grieving, and was thrown completely at finding her alive again, but still tries to do something for her. Peter is a lot less bad than Maud thinks him (he's just understandably angry at being called in the middle of the night and accused of doing away with his mother), the policeman thinks they're having a laugh, and hasn't understood how much it's upset Maud, Tom cares for his mother, but has another life in Germany, and the serial killer was based on a real serial killer so I can't take responsibility for that!
However, I totally see your point. I will try to make up for that with my next book!

P.S. Thank you very much for the congrats!

.... that should have been spelt * random

(sorry about the numerous typos and spelling errors)

@MrsRedWhite214

Did you let your family read parts of the book whilst in progress or did you keep it back until it was complete?

My mum, dad, and boyfriend all read parts of it at various stages, and my grandmother with dementia even read a bit (she said she didn't like it because it was 'too real'). I felt it was important to have feedback from them sometimes, and I'm lucky enough to have parents who love reading and have written (though not novels) and a boyfriend who is kind but not likely to let me get away with writing rubbish!

@whatwoulddexterdo

What is the significance of Maud`s childhood illness?

Interesting question. I guess I wanted to give Maud a temporary physical impairment in the past to mirror her impairment in the present. I also wanted to give her a moment of delusion - of thinking she's seen Sukey in her room - to mask her actually seeing the mad woman in her room.

Re:- Post Above - Wed 28-Jan-15 22:21:00

Thanks, Emma. And it's cool. For the purposes of narrative composition, I think it's perfectly acceptable to portray a gender, or specific group of people a certain way (within limits, of course). After all. it's FICTION, right?

Sincere thanks, again.

;)

@MrsRedWhite214

How does it feel to be thrown into the spotlight for your first novel?

Very strange indeed - especially for a writer who is used to sitting in a room on her own. I thought if you published a book it was like getting a licence to become a hermit. Little did I know! But I'm incredibly grateful too.

Thanks so much Emma for answering my questions.
Good luck with your future books, I will be reading!

@TillyBookClub

I'm interested in what you said about finding Maud's voice and finally being able to commit to the project, having written (and presumably rejected?) other things. Did the UEA Creative Writing course help you feel your way towards that voice? What would you say was the biggest effect of doing the course?

I'd already written about 40,000 before I got to UEA, so the voice was set. The MA really made the book richer. Before that it was a thin story - woman living with dementia loses friend, looks for friend, finds friend. The past was thinner too. I realised how much more I could do when I got into those workshops and began to analyse other writers' work. For me it was the year's saturation in reading and writing that was so amazing and the opportunity to talk about books all day (heaven!). I saved myself years of wrong turns going to UEA and found I could genuinely improve if I set my mind to it.

@Pebble1

I enjoyed the book but I found it quite upsetting at times - my nan is elderly and whilst does not have dementia, many of the scenes described felt close to home. My question is - did you likewise have moments of feeling upset as you wrote the book?

Yes, absolutely. I think if I hadn't the book wouldn't have had the right emotion to it. The first drafts were sometimes very difficult to write, and the second drafts too, though by draft 12 or 15 I was just thinking of the language.

I'm glad you enjoyed the book, despite finding it upsetting.

@0ryx

Did you study the novel-writing process, or did it just come naturally to you? I would love to write but find the process difficult, and my methods too unscripted!

I started by doing an Open College of the Arts course, then a couple of short courses with private tutors (Vicky Grut and Anne Aylor - both wonderful), then I found a workshop group in London which was invaluable, and then I went to UEA to study for an MA in Creative Writing. I am not naturally very good in academia (I freak out, basically) so that last step was a big one for me, but really worth it.

Finding the process difficult is part of it I think - don't let that put you off!

P.S. Glad you enjoyed the book and so glad you love I Capture the Castle too - I have never read The Blind Assassin - must put it on my TBR list.

@barricade

Did you deliberately plan the release of your first novel to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two?

I wish I could say I had that kind of foresight/planning/organisation! But no, if I had tried to do that I'd have failed.