SOPHIE GRENHAM talks to children’s author and filmmaker PATRICIA MURPHY about LIVING IN OXFORD, working in a “crime scene” and RE-READING HER OWN BOOKS to her daughter …
Patricia outside the famous Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, where she lives.
Patricia Murphy is a bestselling author of children’s historical fiction, as well as an award-winning filmmaker.
Her first contribution to the popular Hands On History series is The Easter Rising – Molly’s Diary (2014); which broadcaster Joe Duffy thought a ‘brilliantly imagined and gripping story…based on meticulous research’.
Murphy, a graduate in English and History from Trinity College Dublin, has successfully blended a passion for facts with the writing craft; proving that Irish history can engage even the most reluctant reader.
Patricia’s other titles in her collection are The War of Independence – Dan’s Diary (2016) and her brand new addition to the family; The Irish Civil War – Ava’s Diary. The charming tales follow extraordinary adolescents, as they take us through crucial moments in pivotal bygone days. Also in Patricia’s portfolio is The Chingles trilogy, a prize-winning collection of Celtic fantasy stories.
Murphy has made quite a name for herself as a television producer and director in the UK. She is the brains behind programmes such as Children of Helen House for the BBC, as well as Born to Be Different and Worst Jobs in History with the legendary Tony Robinson for Channel 4.
Patricia Murphy lives in Oxford, England with her husband and young daughter. She is currently working on her next book.
All of Patricia’s novels are published by Poolbeg Press. The Irish Civil War – Ava’s Diary (€8.99) is available now from bookshops nationwide.
On home
I live in the beautiful city of Oxford where my husband is an academic so I experience some of the ‘Dreaming Spires’ magic by association. In the summer there are college balls and garden parties on the Fellow’s lawn with champagne and strawberries.
But generally I am a mammy whose day is fitted around the school run so I appreciate the medieval buildings of Cotswold Stone and streets fringed with cherry blossom. As W.B. Yeats said, you almost expect the people here to sing instead of speak.
We live in a terraced house close to the centre on Osney Island on the Thames. We see kingfishers, swans, even the odd otter at the bottom of our garden that looks out over willow trees. There’s a great community here, loads of families with children, in and out of each others houses. It’s international, with people from all walks of life from professors to dinner ladies and artists.
In the summer barges and narrowboats moor at our lovely local pub The Punter for a pint. And we’re busy trying to save the other former local pub, The Hollybush from a greedy developer. It dates back to 1853 and is the first pub where Radiohead played. Tumbling Bay Café in the West Oxford community centre serves superb coffee and excellent, inexpensive lunches. It’s right beside the playground so the kids can run wild while you sip a latte.
One of the perks of living in Oxford is that for a nominal fee you can use the Bodleian Library and the exquisite reading rooms of the neo-classical Radcliffe Camera. All you have to do is swear an oath to obey the rules, which include a promise not to ‘kindle therein any fire or flame’. Not a problem these days as it’s centrally heated.
On roots
I grew up in Ballygall in north Dublin, the eldest of six. My mother still lives in the family home. The memory of dumping the school bag and tearing into the kitchen, starving hungry for my mam’s stew, always makes me feel homesick.
The estate where I grew up had tons of families. It was a republic of children. Those of us who grew up in the seventies and eighties were lucky to have this feral existence particularly in the summer, roaming around in vast gangs, playing ‘kerbie’ and devising our own games and competitions. Children today have more things, but I think we had more freedom. Most of us were in a great hurry to get away from it, but now regard it with a great deal of nostalgia.
I went to secondary school in town and used to spend a lot of time roaming the city centre, telling my mother I had after school activities. It’s stood me in good stead writing about 1916, the War of Independence and the Civil War. I know most of the locations inside out. So I like to think I wasn’t exactly wasting my time or lying to my mother!
On creating
I work in the attic room at the top of our house where I can look out over the river but not get too distracted. As my time is circumscribed, I’m a bit of a soldier. I try to get to my post and work through until pick up time with a break for lunch. I’m loath to let people into my eyrie, not because I’m precious but because it looks like it’s been burgled – books everywhere, papers strewn about, files upended. I cod myself that this crime scene is all part of the creative process. I also have a colourful caterpillar of post-it notes coiling around the walls for timeline and plot points. When I see all those beautiful writers studies in certain newspapers with their rocking chairs, object d’art and wall hangings, I hang my head in shame.
On bookshops
In Ireland, I love Antonia’s Bookshop in Trim. It’s like visiting your lovely bookish aunt. Antonia and the people who work there are so kind and welcoming. I also enjoy visiting Manor Books in Malahide and Dubray in Blackrock. They are neighbourhood bookshops that radiate a love of reading like a warm fire. Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street in Dublin was a favourite haunt when I was a student at Trinity College.
In Oxford, we have the doyen of independent bookshops – Blackwells. It’s a palace built of words, vast, like a library, full of nooks and crannies for settling down for a read. It also has a bustling coffee shop and a second hand section. Heaven!
On her nightstand
My eight year old daughter has decided I have to read The Chingles, my trilogy set in Celtic mythology, aloud to her every night sitting on our bed – a ruse to drag out bedtime. So the three books are currently in a little pile. I wrote them before she was born and it’s weird re-reading them. She keeps asking me what’s going to happen and I genuinely don’t know as I’ve forgotten a lot of the finer points of the plot.
I’m an avid Kindle reader so I don’t keep my husband awake. I’ve just finished the Booker winning The Sellout by Paul Beatty, which is a tour de force about a black man who re-introduces slavery to the United States. It’s so funny, I ended up laughing out loud and disturbing my husband’s sleep any way!
On escapes
I adore Kerry. My sister lives in Killarney and I go when I can, most recently for my nephew Senan’s confirmation. One of my other nephew’s Cian is a brilliant footballer and his school just won the Munster final. I dream of the beaches of Glenbeigh and Derrynane, Torc Mountain and the majesty of Skellig Michael. A large part of Ava’s Diary is set in Kerry, where some of the worst atrocities in the Civil War took place. It’s a jolt to think of so much savagery and suffering in such a starkly beautiful landscape.
I recently fell in love with Provence. We were based in Aix-en-Provence for a year when my husband was on sabbatical. All the clichés are true – the vineyards, the lavender fields, the markets with gleaming cherries from Mount Ventoux and delicately perfumed Cavaillon melons.
One of my favourite places was Chateau La Coste – a breathtaking bio-dynamic vineyard owned by Northern Irishman Paddy McKillen, which is also a unique art and architecture park run by his sister Mara. There’s a Louise Bourgeois spider, striking pieces by Sean Scully and Andy Goldsworthy, even a Frank Gehry music pavilion, where we saw Jean Butler dance and Stephen Rea perform at sunset. It welcomes children and has three great restaurants – a place of pilgrimage for art lovers but accessible to everyone.
On time travel
There are so many conflicting accounts of the night that Michael Collins was killed at Béal na Bláth, in August 1922, that I would have loved to be able to do some on-the-spot reporting. It was dark and misty so even still it might have been impossible to get it straight.
I’d hang onto the apparatus though and try to sort out a few other historical mysteries. Like popping on to 1963 to the grassy knoll in Dallas to see precisely how Kennedy was shot. Or what actually happened to the Tsar’s family in 1917. Then I’d spool back three hundred years to Shakespearean times to find out if he really did author all those plays. I’d write up my adventures and smile to myself as everyone accused me of making it all up!
On learning history
There are some fantastic Irish history authors. Marita Conlon McKenna, Nicola Pierce, Brian Gallagher and Gerard Whelan for example.
Kids often tell me that they pass on my books to their parents and grandparents. One retired man said that he and his group of golfing buddies had all loved Molly’s Diary. Another woman in her seventies seriously ill with cancer told me she had read everything on 1916. Molly’s Diary was her favourite so she gifted copies to several schools.
Reluctant readers seem to respond to the action packed narrative, influenced I think by my background as a documentary-maker. Several grateful mothers tweeted to me that their children ‘bet’ into Molly and Dan’s Diary. One little girl with dyslexia told me that she read my books to her father who is blind. I’m very moved by these stories.
When eleven year olds ask why Ireland didn’t go for passive resistance instead of armed struggle it reminds me never to underestimate children’s intelligence. This generation of kids is fantastic and gives me hope for the future.
On what’s next
I seem to have taste for war, so my next book is set in World War Two. But with an Irish twist. That’s all I’ll say for now. Not because I’m secretive but because I don’t want to talk up something while I’m still getting it down on paper. The story is still dancing around in my head and I need to stay quiet to coax it out in my ‘scene of the crime’ study!
SOPHIE GRENHAM @SophieGrenham
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