Lisa O' Donnell

Lisa O' Donnell

Closed Doors is about secrets, the repercussions of telling them and the consequences of keeping them. The story is set on a small Island and narrated by Michael aged 11 who listens at doors and believes his mother was “flashed” at by a pervert in the park, but this is a lie his parents tell him to conceal a terrible truth, a truth Michael looks to uncover and that will change his life forever.

Please tell us about the character of Michael

Michael is almost 12, he’s coming of age and developing an interest in girls, but he still likes to play football and make snow angels. He is the perfect combination of a child being a child and a child trying to be a grownup, but because of the secret his parents force him keep he is quick to realize the burden it is to be a grown up and he resists it by immersing himself in the local talent contest, but the secret soon catches up with him and puts him in conflict with everything and everyone he knows.

Your debut novel The Death of Bees won the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize, so how did this affect your confidence as a writer?

It’s such a strange thing to say but until I won the Commonwealth Book Prize I don’t think I took myself very seriously as a writer. I had written The Death of Bees, a everyone loved but I still struggled with the reality I was a novelist. I struggle less with that now but I still have friends who feel the need to remind me.

The say the second novel is always the hardest. How did you find the process?

I was having a difficult time in my personal life when I started writing Closed Doors and welcomed the distraction. I immersed myself in the world of Michael and looked forward to being alone with my novel and just disappearing. It wasn’t an easy write, but it was a story that was in me and it came at a time when I needed it the most.

What made you want to write a novel from the point of view of a child, how difficult was it to capture the voice?

There is nothing more honest and pure than the naked eye of a child. They tell it how it is; it gives the reader a level of clarity an adult character just couldn’t provide. Michael is too young for euphemisms and gentle phrasings. He’s out for truth, and when he finds it, he can only be genuine about it. A child telling a heart-breaking story like this amplifies the story. It was the same with Bees. I chose children’s voices to communicate pain and despair. Readers are simply more willing to listen to the roar of children.

Why did you want to write a coming of age story?

Coming of age tales are about children who are just starting to make sense of the world. They’re not quite jaded yet and their perception is candid and trustworthy. Michael discovers the power a secret has, but he’s very quick to discern it from a lie and with more speed than the adults around him. I also think the tragedy that surrounds Michael has more of an impact on the reader because of his age. They read Closed Doors and instinctively want to protect Michael from the truth and because of that they are involved in his journey. They walk with Michael from Page 1. His age was the perfect anchor into the story I wanted to tell.

What is next for you?

I’m working on my third novel now The Charmer. It’s something quite different and I’m a little afraid of it truth be told, but like Closed Doors it’s a story I’m compelled to tell and there’s nothing I can do about that now.

 


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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