Come and chat to prizewinning author Sarah Hall about her brilliant new novel THE WOLF BORDER, our March Book of the Month, on 23 March, 9-10pm

[TillyMumsnetBookClub]

Our March Author of the Month is likely to be your best literary discovery of 2016. Sarah Hall has already been nominated for the Booker Prize (twice) and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, BBC National Short Story Award, Portico Prize for Fiction, John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the EM Forster Award. With the outstanding reviews for her fifth novel, THE WOLF BORDER, Sarah has definitely become, as the Mail agreed, ‘one of our finest fiction writers’. THE WOLF BORDER is set in Cumbria, on a private moorland estate owned by an eccentric Earl who is determined to reintroduce the Grey Wolf to England. Rachel Caine is the dynamic expert in charge of the project, recently returned home after a decade in Idaho. Both the wolves and Rachel share an untamed and solitary nature, and while Rachel contends with the public outrage, the political arguments and the complex demands of the regeneration project, she must also grapple with her impending motherhood and a reconciliation with her estranged family. Dealing with wildness, inheritance, hierarchies, sex and love, this is an absorbing, richly constructed novel combining political engagement and natural beauty. Read Sarah's books, and congratulate yourself on finding a particularly rare talent.

Faber have 50 copies of The Wolf Border to give to Mumsnetters: to claim your copy please fill in your details on our book of the month page. We’ll post on the thread when all the copies have gone. If you’re not lucky enough to bag one of those, you can always get a Kindle edition or paperback copy here

We are delighted that Sarah will be joining us to answer your questions about The Wolf Border, her previous award-winning novels and her writing career on Wednesday 23 March, 9-10pm. Please feel free to discuss the book here throughout the month and then come and meet Sarah on the night, and ask her a question or simply tell her what you thought of the book. It’ll be a fascinating chat, very much hope you can make it…

Evening everyone (or should that be a long howl)

Firstly, a large thank you to all those who have posted so far with perceptive responses and questions - I hope you are all able to be here with us tonight.

I’m delighted to welcome Sarah Hall - Booker nominee, novelist, winner of the Sunday Times Short Story Prize, creative writing tutor and all-round literary powerhouse - to Bookclub this evening. Sarah’s writing has won multiple awards and gathered extraordinary reviews and accolades. I am thrilled that we have the chance to talk about it all with her over the next hour.

Sarah, thank you very, very much indeed for giving us your time tonight. And congratulations on another outstanding novel.

We've already got a fair few questions to get through so I'll just add the standard Mumsnet ones that we like to ask all our authors...

What childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

What is the best book you’ve given someone recently?

And the best you’ve received?

Over to you...

Sarah, Welcome to the web chat. My first question tonight is did you ever plan to reveal who the man in the wolf mask is, or was it always to remain a mystery?

This seems an unusual subject matter for a novel, though Cumbria is obviously close to your heart, Sarah, so what is your link to wolves or what drew you to them. I also have to ask whether the character of Rachel is in any way based upon yourself?

I also wanted to ask if you were at all influenced by poets who write about landscape, since your writing is similarly dense and sensitive.

@TillyMumsnetBookClub

Evening everyone (or should that be a long howl)

Firstly, a large thank you to all those who have posted so far with perceptive responses and questions - I hope you are all able to be here with us tonight.

I’m delighted to welcome Sarah Hall - Booker nominee, novelist, winner of the Sunday Times Short Story Prize, creative writing tutor and all-round literary powerhouse - to Bookclub this evening. Sarah’s writing has won multiple awards and gathered extraordinary reviews and accolades. I am thrilled that we have the chance to talk about it all with her over the next hour.

Sarah, thank you very, very much indeed for giving us your time tonight. And congratulations on another outstanding novel.

We've already got a fair few questions to get through so I'll just add the standard Mumsnet ones that we like to ask all our authors...

What childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

What is the best book you’ve given someone recently?

And the best you’ve received?

Over to you...

Hi Everyone! Glad to be here. Good openers…

What childhood book most inspired you?

I’m not sure if inspiration is the right word… but I was very moved by Z For Zachariah by Robert C O’Brien. I read it when I was about 13/14 years old, I think, and really identified with the main character Anne who survives a nuclear war in a remote valley and must contend with survival and the appearance of a man in a radiation suit. It’s a very adult read, very political for young adult fiction, but is also a simple tale of high stakes in the environment that tests your mind a female reader. Now I’m reading books to my daughter – she’s twenty months – but I’m already wondering about the scarcity of real heroine protagonists… recommendations please!

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

Ask yourself why you want to write, and whether you have an aptitude for it, or a calling, or preferably both.

What was the best book you've given recently?

I give copies of James Salter’s books regularly – I adore and admire his work so much. A friend of mine was recently hospitalized and then had to recuperate at home. He’s an avid fell walker so I sent him a copy of Solo Faces, which is about mountain climbing, thinking he could live through those characters for a while until he was better. Salter is a unique writer, extremely skilled.

And the best you've received?

After having my daughter I wasn’t reading much at all… there was no time and I hadn’t the energy. My agent sent me a copy of Train Dreams by Dennis Johnson, which is this terrific, lean, beautiful novella. For a small book it contains a hell of a lot, great landscapes, characters and adventure scenarios, and even a wolf-child! She knew exactly what I needed to read just at that moment, I think, and delivered it! I’ve also been reading books as a judge for the Dylan Thomas prize – the books on the shortlist are great and I’m very proud to have helped choose that list. www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/22/international-dylan-thomas-prize-2016-shortlist

@Kt12x

Received my copy today, can't wait to get started on it tonight!!

Hope you like it! x

@Sunflower22

It's a great book but not quite my taste.

Sorry! More deer intestines next time? x

@AngelicCurls

Wolf border is a bit of a strange one, I wasn't hooked from the start but the latter third of the book was more engrossing and the end was a surprise to me. It is very descriptively written, but I felt sometimes this is at the expense of the flow of the story, particularly at the start of the book.

I struggled to warm to any of the characters and found them a little unbelievable, almost caricatures of what they might be in order to get the nature of their character across to the reader.

The descriptions of motherhood were mostly excellent, although there were bits about the pregnancy that seemed inaccurate, talking about peridural rather than epidural and discussing a video of a c-section showing the actual surgery which seems highly unlikely. Only little things but added to the 'over the topness' I thought sometimes prevailed.

The end was a decent twist, I didn't expect it, but I did feel after the twist that the book just ended, I turned the page expecting more and there was just the acknowledgement page.

In short, an average book, the writing wasn't altogether my style and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it-sorry 😞

Sorry it wasn't your cuppa! I watched a C section clip before I had mine! Big mistake!

Sarah, may I also say that I think The Wolf Border would make a great film. Have any of your books been filmed or televised?

Evening Sarah,

I really, really enjoyed The Wolf Border. I was completely immersed in Rachel's world and found I couldn't stop thinking about the book when I wasn't reading. I'd like to ask, When did you first start thinking about Rachel and who she was going to be? Where did she come from? Does she reflect any part of your own character?

@LocalEditorMerton

Hi Sarah

Posting on behalf of the Mumsnet Merton & Wimbledon Book Group.

I've become fascinated by wolves since reading The Loop (Nicholas Evans) some years ago, and more recently seeing the film The Grey. What drew you to writing a novel with wolves at its heart?

And what is next in the pipeline for you?

Thanks

Kate

I’ve always been fascinated by wolves – ever since I was a kid and saw them in the local wildlife park. They are such an extreme animal, so clever and good at adapting to most environments. I’ve always been interested in the environment and landscapes – probably comes with being brought up in the Lake District – and reintroduction of apex predators and the good effect they can have on a place seems to me to be a very important part of thinking about how we manage our wild places today, how we create a healthy ecology.

Next up is another collection of short stories (presently) called Later His Ghost. No wolves, but there is a story called Mrs Fox. I love that bit in the film The Grey where Liam Neeson tapes broken glass to his knuckles and squares up against the ‘alpha’ wolf! It is a very inaccurate film as far as wolf behavior goes though, even if it is a rollocking good watch!

Blogmum yes to film! Just imagine the landscape shots.

Obviously there was a lot about wolves in there but I found myself really thinking hard about borders - between human and animal, animal and landscape, the borders that we put between ourselves and others (and Rachel being "thawed" by not having a border between herself and another, besides a placenta I mean). Class borders, country borders, and the limits of endurance (I was so GUTTED for Lawrence!). These are things that have kept bouncing around in my mind.

@Mitchdafish

I have just finished this and definitely had that feeling of not wanting to book to end. Sarah I really love your writing style, I realised that I had read The Carhullan Army with my book group some years ago and we keep mentioning it as a favourite. I'd lost track of you since so this was a wonderful reintroduction. Rachel is interesting because she seems fairly cold, although she also has strong feelings - hard to get close to her. Mind you, Lawrence felt that as her brother, didn't he? Excellent sex scenes, really excellent! And the mothering angles... they felt very real to me. I've not really got questions as I simply enjoyed your book, the only thing I an wondering about is how to pronounce Huib. Which might sound trivial but it's bugging the hell out of me.

Thank you very much. Yes, Rachel is supposed to be cold – psychologically damaged, a product of both place and broken home in a way, but also just reticent of personality, a ‘lone wolf’ – and then we journey with her along the route of her humanization and socialization, especially when she loses her mother, has a baby and has to reconnect with her estranged brother. I’m interested in her growth and development as a person, how large life events affect her. I’m really not interested in reading about, or producing as a writer, boring and basically likeable female characters. They aren’t true, in fact they do a disservice to women, who, as we all know, as are complex, nuanced, difficult, contradictory and as brilliantly capable as men. I really don’t believe in defining male and female characteristics, which lead to stereotypes and ridiculous expectations, I never have, so I wasn’t going to write about ‘warm, soft, pacifistic’ woman worrying about her weight or whether a man liked her or not. Dull! What I am aiming for in fiction is a female protagonist who can stand for the universal, in the way that so many male protagonists can and do, or are assumed to.

Huib – I’ll probably get this wrong if I try pronunciation phonetically but I think it would be ‘Hape’. The BBC Book At Bedtime adaptation nailed it anyway!

@RoastieToastieReastie

Just finished this and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. From the blurb it sounded a bit take it or leave it for me so I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. I love the backdrop of Cumbria and the characters were so powerfully written. Emotionally I felt just a bit far removed from the book, possibly because of Rachel's character and how she distanced herself from people. Perhaps this was deliberate of perhaps a result of having such a character who although is very emotional, tends to be cold.

The background of politics and Scotland also added an additional dimension to the book and I wondered if Sarah had any strong views either way on Scottish independence and what made her deicde to weave this to the background of her book?

I wrote the book in the run up to the Scottish Independence referendum and it seemed such a big important thing – the fact that Britain might have (and still might) choose to redefine itself. I was and am very interested in the proposition and the debate, which of course hasn’t been put to bed and will probably rear up again around and after the EU referendum. It seemed impossible for me – in writing a book about personal, natural and political boundaries and borders – not to include this topic.

@blogmumjd

I found this book wasn't for me, but willing to give another of Sarah's books a try. You can see my review on my blog here blogmumjd.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/mumsnet-book-club-review-the-wolf-border-by-sarah-hall/

I'm planning to come along to the webchat, but I'll post my first question for Sarah here now. How did you research for the wolf elements of the book?

The wolf elements of the book were great fun to research. I had a lot of help from the staff at Reading Wolf Centre, and the head of the program in fact served as one of my editors/fact checkers after the book was written. I read up about reintroduction projects, and have visited the Saw Tooth Pack in Idaho (while I was living in America). I didn’t want to write a children’s book where the perspective of the wolves was included, we can’t as human being know what goes on inside a wolf’s head, and as I was going for realism/naturalism there has to be a lot of wolf absence in the novel, as you don’t see a lot of wolves that are wild! I spent an inordinate amount of time reading up about wolf behavior, biology and conservation, and became the biggest bore around all my friends and family, producing a new wolf fact every conversation just about!

@jammy388

It was great to have the opportunity to try something I wouldn’t usually choose for myself and the subject of the book - re-wilding wolves - was unusual and interesting. I thought The Wolf Border was very well written though checking the meaning of various words did interrupt the flow of my reading somewhat. I also found the use of the present tense a little strange and the lack of speech marks was occasionally confusing. I felt rather distanced from the main character, though I suspect this may have been deliberate to reflect her personality, but I was interested throughout to see what was going to happen next. Although I would generally prefer to be reading something more upbeat this made a satisfying change, and seeing the way Rachel’s feelings for her baby developed was touching.

Glad there were elements in there you liked. The present tense is an interesting way of writing but it can become a bit too full on and some writers believe there is a 'false drama' to it.

@eggsandham

I absolutely loved this book. Like others, it's not one I would have naturally picked up in a bookstore but I found it fascinating and loved every minute of reading it. I've already recommended it to several others. I didn't feel that Rachel was cold at all. As a result of having a difficult childhood, she found it difficult to form bonds with people, but that was something that changed as the book progressed.

So I guess that's my question for Sarah Hall. Did you intend for her to come across as cold and emotionally disconnected, or was it the case that she was changing as the book progressed?

Thank you! Please see the previous answer about cold fishes/characters in fiction!

Adding to the conversation about your excellent depictions of the early days of motherhood, I read in one interview that you'd written that before you'd had your own babe - is that right? Or did you go back and re-edit those bits after living it?

I thought your handling of the nurturing/fierce/desperate/ecstatic nature of birth and caring for a very small child were an integral part of the wildness of the book, and so accurately observed. I've never read anything before that did justice to the slightly brutal, uncontrollable feeling of it all and how it affects your sense of self.

@redalertalpha

I found this book very addictive, and I'm not even sure why, I just felt captured by the atmosphere of the estate and all who were on it, by Rachel's own journey and the experiences of human nature it explores

That's great, I'm so glad - I always hope readers will really feel the place I'm writing about. I love that as a reader - if the author can transport me to whatever realm they are creating.

Thanks Sarah. You can spring wolf facts on us tonight. So how did you come up with the idea of re-wilding wolves as the theme for your novel?

@pamish

I think we need more wolves out there, at least it would sort out the grouse moors question and help stop the floods like last years' in Hebdenbridge.

The book is anchored totally to Rachel, it is all from her POV. A choice of style but she's just a bit too present for me. I wanted more wolf POV.

I like the way it dips into political processes ie how to legally set about a mad project such as the Earl has. Nice touch to make him a Liberal.

Q - where does his money come from? Inheritance wouldn't do it any more. Kept wondering if he was an arms dealer, or just a hedge fund manager.

Yes, good question about the earl’s money. It remains unanswered in the text because I feel often there is a murkiness still to snowball wealth – a combination of inheritance and business dealings. The book is interested in money and power and how certain individuals have disproportionate abilities to govern our country because they hold both.

Ah, wolf POV. If only we could! x

@TheCommoner

I'm a member of Merton Local Mumsnet Book Group, and I'm really enjoying The Wolf Border. I loved The Carhullan Army, too. I haven't finished The Wolf Border, so I'm studiously avoiding other MNers' questions just in case there are spoilers.

However, my Q to Sarah is - perhaps a little niche - you refer to Huguenots in the book: are you descended from Huguenots?

I'd like to add that I love it when I catch Sarah on the radio - you are a great literary interviewee - very entertaining.

My family tree is a bit bonkers. Shakespeare is in it somewhere, but not a blood relative as his daughter didn't have any children (I think). There is some French, Italian, German...

Glad you think I'm not talking utter rubbish on the radio!

Haha, not at all, you are very good!

hareinthemoon, I completely agree with 'bouncing round in the mind'. All those questions of boundaries are still reverberating inside my brain, three months after reading it. Almost any topic that comes up in conversation seems to lead me back to the book's issues.

And Mitchdafish, I am with you on best sex scenes. Real ones! I remember reading the slap of a hand on some belly at one point and thinking 'YES!' it is exactly that sort of scuffling and messy and a bit clumsy and without any sort of pretence. Brilliant.