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 In
collaboration with Woman & Home and Breast Cancer
Care, an exceptional line-up of bestselling authors have come
together to bring you The Sunday Night Book Club, twenty- four tales
of friendship and love, passion and betrayal. £1 per copy
sold will go to Breast Cancer Care.
With such tales such as Penny Vincezi's The Brooch, a story of
a rift between sisters Anna and Rachel, and Katie Fforde's Fear
of Forty-Five, about a woman whose mid-life crisis nearly leads
her to have an affair, The Sunday Night Book Club is a perfect read
for any lover of women's fiction.
Patricia Scanlan's story, Life Begins at Forty tells the tale of
Amy, whose fortieth birthday gives her the courage to stand up to
her domineering sister-in-law.
 We
asked Patricia about her experiences working on The Sunday Night
Book Club:
- What inspired you to get involved with The Sunday Night
Book Club project?
The fiction editor of the Woman & Home who had commissioned
short stories from me previously asked me for Life Begins at
Forty. As breast cancer has touched my family several times
I was really glad to be able to contribute to this book
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You don't usually write short stories - was it difficult
to make the transition from novels to shorter fiction?
I've written short stories before and find it a great challenge
to try and create credible characters, give a sense of time
and place, and have a short, sharp plot line. It's much more
disciplined in terms of structure and I have to guard against
going into too much detail like you can in a full novel.
- Life Begins at Forty is the title of your story in the book.
Was this a story you had thought of before or did you write it
especially for W&H/The Sunday Night Book Club?
The editor specifically asked me for this story which she had
used previously.
- Do you draw your fiction from your own experiences?
I think every writer does, in the most general of terms, but
I also have a VIVID imagination.
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Which authors inspire you and why?
I read a broad range of fiction and non-fiction but one of
the most inspirational writers for me was Brian Moore, His character
Judith, in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, is a superb
piece of characterisation. I also love Sally Vickers. Miss Garnett's
Angel is a wonderful novel and made me want to book a flight
to Venice immediately!
- Can you tell us anything about what you are working on at
the moment?
Yes my new novel is called MOVING ON, and it has a mother/daughter
theme where expectations aren't met and resettlements surface.
I also touch on bullying in the workplace, latchkey kids and
peri menopausal women who are in complete denial and keep thinking
they have 'temperatures'!
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Do you belong to a book club or reading group yourself?
Sadly no. I work as an Editorial consultant with Hodder Headline
Ireland, and I'm the Series Editor of the OPEN DOOR literacy
novellas with New Island publishers, but I read a lot of excellent
manuscripts and have passionate discussions about them. Similar
in a way so maybe I'm not too far off being in a book club or
reading group.
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