If there’s one Irish writer who can write impeccably about family it’s ALISON WALSH. She tells SOPHIE GRENHAM about Dublin’s cafe society, cycling to work in Convent Garden in her younger years and the DARK SIDE OF MOTHERHOOD …
Alison Walsh spent many years on the other side of the desk before taking the plunge and pitching her own stories. With a successful editing career in both London and Dublin and many years as a journalist with the Irish Independent under her belt, it was only a matter of time before we saw another string in her bow.
Family is a recurring theme in Alison’s work and one dear to her heart, as is especially evident in her first contribution to the literary stage. Her number one hit In My Mother’s Shoes (2010) is a delightful depiction of three generations of mothers.
Alison’s first work of fiction, the comparatively darker All That I Leave Behind (2015, Hachette) explores abandonment and familial dysfunction with aplomb. Alison lives in Dublin with her husband and three children.
On home
I live in Harold’s Cross, close to the Grand Canal, which suits me perfectly. My family have roots in the area, as my grandmother was born and grew up here, so it feels like home in more than once sense. Over the years, it’s changed a lot – when I first moved in, it was quite ‘old Dublin’ with the rag and bone man calling and kids trotting round on ponies, but now, it’s quite genteel and more cosmopolitan. I love the area, because literally every kind of human being is there, from students to the elderly, from menacing men with equally menacing dogs to ladies with pull-along trolleys, or veiled faces. My neighbours come from every part of the globe and there’s such a sense of energy and life that comes with that.
Cafe society has come fairly recently to the area, ironically since the recession, including HX46, which is great for coffee or Asian-influenced lunches, and there’s Noshington in Harold’s Cross Park, with lovely tables to sit outside and admire the Victorian planting. My family and I have been gracing Simon’s Cafe on South Great George’s Street for years, a place we love for the continuity of the menu, which has remained reassuringly familiar to those who know it, for Simon’s presence behind the counter, Marigolds on, and for the people-watching out of the window.
On creating
I used to write at the kitchen table, because, quite honestly, it was practical, with small children to be supervised. Writing was something to be fitted in around nap times and when the kids were in bed, and their constant interruptions were part of the scenery. However, recently my husband built me a writing shed in the back garden, which he jokingly calls the Temple of Words – lest I get above myself – it was a DIY labour of love for him but its effect on my working life has been terrific. It’s fairly monastic: enough room for a desk, my posh writing chair donated by my sister-in-law, Cliona, and the dog’s basket – but to have a writing space to call my own is bliss.
On swapping London for Dublin
When I first came back to Ireland, I missed London physically, like an ache. I’d become an adult there, and had had my first child there, and had been about to buy my first home there, a large semi in North London, for the princely sum of £93,000, before changing my mind and deciding that Celtic Tiger Ireland was a much better idea…
I lived in Islington for many years, cycling to work in Covent Garden, wandering around cafes and markets at the weekend, loving the stimulation of work and the opportunities it provided to learn and to meet a host of great literary characters: to see JG Ballard wander into the office in his pinstripe jacket, or Vikram Seth, or, memorably, Mrs Thatcher, clutching that famous handbag. A privilege.
The move back to Dublin was quite a culture shock, but this had more to do with my stage of life than anything else. I was also a mother now, with a small baby, and life had changed for ever. Even now, seventeen years later, a part of me feels like a stranger here, as if Ireland is a place I’m just visiting for a while…
However, I went for a weekend to London last summer with my teenage daughter and it was as if I was visiting a new place. Visiting newly-hip places like Brixton, and an open-air market with restaurants housed in old shipping containers was great fun, and my daughter loved the energy of Brick Lane market and the lovely street food stalls and the vibrancy of Whitechapel, as well as the grandeur of west London’s museum area, now with the added spectacle of watching expensive sports cars speed by. London may be a playground for the super-rich these days, but it is still a city bursting with culture and brilliant to visit.
On motherhood
Motherhood is a complex place, I think – where love and other, darker emotions, can often exist side by side. It’s rewarding and revealing, frustrating and often difficult, but I think what I’ve enjoyed most about it is being able to spend time with my children as they grow, to watch the emergence of their personalities, to have fun with them, even though I struggle with feelings of impatience and disappointment with myself as idealism becomes reality. This process applies to every parent, working or not, of course, but because of the nature of my job, I’ve had the privilege of being able to spend time at home with my children, hovering in the background as they’ve played and squabbled. Until now, when they are teenagers and technically, I’m no longer needed and can happily slink off to watch bad television or read a book. It has been fun to find myself again, after many years as ‘Mum’.
In My Mother’s Shoes (€11.50, Pan/Macmillan) and All That I Leave Behind (€8.99, Hachette Ireland) are available nationwide.
Sophie Grenham
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