Lucy Foley worked for many years in publishing as a fiction editor before hatching a novel of her own. Last year she made her debut with The Book of Lost and Found, a captivating love story that spans many generations. It is Lucy’s intricate use of detail along with a great passion for history and travel that has firmly placed her storytelling on the map.
Her new book The Invitation, set against the sumptuous backdrop of The Italian Riviera in the 1950s, has already been highly lauded by critics and peers alike.
‘I could dive into this book. A beautifully complex and vivid story, full of repressed longing and secrets. An absolutely enchanting tale’ writes Lucinda Riley.
Lucy lives in London with her husband. She is currently working on her next novel.
On home
I live in Streatham, in South London. I didn’t know much about the neighbourhood until recently — I’d driven down the busy high road a couple of times and written it off as a rather hectic place. Then we found the place we loved — a little Victorian cottage with white shutters and just enough of a garden for an al fresco workspace (which I use as much as possible to write at during the summer). Now I know and love the area too — there are plenty of green spaces, and two outdoor public swimming pools within walking distance for open-air swimming on rare heat wave day (though some hardy folk swim all year round). People can think of London as a rather anonymous, impersonal place to live, but here there’s a wonderful sense of togetherness: a Saturday market, volunteer-run gardens within Streatham Common, and all along our street someone had the brilliant idea of putting planters in place, from which everyone can help themselves to vegetables and herbs. Streatham was once a village in its own right, before becoming subsumed within Greater London, and I think it has retained that feel.
On creating
We turned one small room into a study. I work at an old desk that used to belong to some great-great-uncle — there’s a date, 1912, written on the underside. I love the antique smell when you open the drawers, and imagining all the letters and curiosities that might once have been stored in them. Above my desk I’ve hung an ‘inspiration wall’. There are photographs taken by my talented dad from the research trip for The Invitation (the whole family joined me when they learned it was to the Italian Riviera), vintage movie posters, iconic jackets of books I love. When I find myself flagging I can look up at them and feel inspired and transported. I’ve also got a day bed to lie down on: it makes a wonderful spot for reading and gathering one’s thoughts.
On bookshops
I love Clapham Books — which is the nearest thing I have to a local bookshop, Streatham’s one downside being that it doesn’t have one. The shelves are beautifully curated and the owners seem to have read everything they sell, so as a customer you get a truly bespoke service: I have found some of my favourite reads here. They also have a gorgeous, slightly wild garden at the back of the shop where I did a particularly memorable event: a summer evening, plenty of rosé, fascinating discussion… perfection!
On inspirational literature
Irène Némirovsky’s Suite Française for its compassionately depicted characters. Anything by James Salter: I am in awe of the wonderfully restrained, almost painterly descriptions of place and person. Tessa Hadley’s The Past, which I’ve just read — it’s a book that envelopes you in its world, and which you emerge from in a kind of stupor. I’m as much of a reader as I am a writer: some authors don’t like to read while they’re working on a novel but I’m the opposite. I read books by the finest writers out there and rather than being depressed by their brilliance (though sometimes it’s difficult) I try to use it as encouragement to produce my best work.
On escapes
The Italian Riviera – more specifically the Ligurian part of it (top of the boot), where The Invitation is set. May is the perfect month to visit – for such an exquisite place it is surprisingly un-touristy, and in the spring it is particularly beautiful, with all the wildflowers in bloom and just enough warmth in the air to spend a day on one of the many spectacular beaches. My top spot there would be the bay of San Fruttuoso – only accessible by sea, or by hike along a cliff path from Portofino (a wonderful way to see the wildflowers, and incredible vistas out to sea). There are a couple of restaurants there serving just-plucked-from-the-water seafood and it’s very tranquil, with an air of slight mystery about it… perhaps due to the ancient abbey that overlooks it.
On romance
As a writer I find love a particularly interesting theme, because it is when we love that we reveal the most about ourselves and are at our most unguarded. But I am interested in writing about love in all its forms, really, not just the romantic kind. It is the great leveller, love, and something that unifies us all across time and space — no matter our background or the era in which we live.
On having an editor’s eye
It has been a great help in terms of understanding the industry, in thinking about my reader, and in terms of how I approach the structuring of my writing. But it also means that at times I can be a little too critical, which I have had to work on. There are times when it is best to be as relaxed as possible, to get words on the page and see where the story takes you, rather than nitpicking over every sentence. That can always come later!
On what’s next
I’m currently writing my third novel, which is set in Constantinople/Istanbul at various stages during the twentieth century. It really revolves around a house, and the people who pass through it. Having grown up in a very old property, the idea of the different people who have lived in a building over time — and the ways in which echoes of their lives might remain — has always fascinated me.
The Book of Lost and Found (€11.70) and The Invitation (€16.99) are both published by HarperCollins and available from bookshops nationwide.
Image by Philippa Gedge
Sophie Grenham @SophieGrenham
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