We chat with author Lora Jones about The Woman In The Wallpaper, which is a sumptuous debut novel about three women whose fates collide in a wallpaper factory on the eve of the French Revolution.
Hi, Lora! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! I’m a mystery writer from North Wales, UK. I studied English Literature at university, and then spent the next decade in London, where I worked in the television industry, researching programme content for shows, reading scripts, and even working in comedy! I’m married to a professional magician, so two decades of being surrounded by stage magic and illusions have left me obsessed with the cause and effect of seemingly impossible mysteries. Speaking of which, my husband and I have not long started our own podcast! It’s called The Magician’s Wife, and the concept of the show is that, in each episode, his magic brain and my writerly brain investigate a crazy, real-life mystery and – just like a ‘how to’ conjuring book – try to work out the Method and Effect behind it. Every episode includes original narrative sections that I write, which are then dramatised, complete with a musical score and atmospheric sound effects!
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was very lucky to always be surrounded by books growing up, as my mum was a primary school teacher, and she instilled how important books were in me at an early age. As a result I was always allowed new books, even when money was tight. My mum still tells stories of how I would toddle around with little baskets full of books, and when she was at work my grandmother and I would sit down with a storybook, for which my grandmother would act out all the voices. A little later I started writing short stories, on a children’s typewriter which I received as a birthday present when I was about six. The stories were heavily inspired by Enid Blyton, with lots of fairies and talking teddy bears, but some of them were even printed in the local paper. I’m grateful to have had a typewriter so young, as I can now touch-type ridiculously fast, which makes drafting a whole lot easier! The downside, though, is terrible handwriting.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: In Memoriam by Alice Winn
Your debut novel, The Woman in the Wallpaper, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Dark, page-turning, humorous, dramatic, entertaining.
What can readers expect?
The Woman in the Wallpaper is an eerie, sweeping mystery about three women, set against the turmoil of the French Revolution. When one of those women moves into a house and is surrounded by unsettling wallpaper, she becomes aware that the scenes on it appear to be mirroring her own life – but do they echo her past or predict her future? That’s the key hook of the novel. It’s set at a wallpaper factory outside Paris in the late 18th century, and told in the three first-person voices of Sofi (a headstrong factory worker), her sister Lara (an even-tempered lady’s maid) and Hortense (the spoilt and spiteful daughter of a Versailles aristocrat). I very much hope it’s a novel in shades of grey rather than black and white, since I didn’t want to write a story of a villainous aristocracy versus a noble working-class, as I think life is rarely that clear-cut. It’s a tale of perception, generational patterns and change, and you can expect some creepy intrigue, French Revolutionary action, and the antics of a characterful little dog. I very much hope readers will find it humorous, too, as it was my main aim to write a novel that would entertain. That was extremely important to me.
Where did the inspiration for The Woman in the Wallpaper come from?
A few places. Firstly, I was always obsessed with the surface pattern design known as ‘Toile de Jouy’ – which is made up of lots of little scenes or vignettes. It was created at the Oberkampf factory outside Paris between 1760 and 1818, which overlapped with the French Revolution. And so the fictional factory in my book, run by the enigmatic Oberst family, is based on the real-life Oberkampf factory. As I mentioned, I’m obsessed with seemingly impossible happenings, and the causes and effects that might lie behind them. I wanted a seemingly impossible happening to be the main crux of the story, and knew I wanted to write a mystery in which figures in a flat image appear to be changing and moving. When I was quite young I watched the ‘90s adaptation of The Witches by Roald Dahl, and the painting of the Goose Girl, in which the figure of the girl seems to move about, always stuck with me. I find the concept of a person ‘trapped’ within a painting or image both strangely alluring and slightly disturbing, and so this became the core idea at the heart of the book.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Hortense! She’s dismissive and cynical, brittle and insecure, and worryingly also the character I found by far the easiest to write and get inside the head of! I think it’s because we’re hearing her unfiltered thoughts in the novel a lot of the time, so obviously that’s always lots of fun – and very freeing! – when you’re writing an antagonist. It was also really important to me to try and make the book funny, as life is all about light and dark, and navigating the tightrope between tragedy and comedy, and I personally find that overly-serious fiction often falls flat. A lot of the comedy in the book comes from Hortense’s sections. In addition, I’m a big animal lover, so enjoyed giving her a little Pomeranian dog called Pépin, her pride and joy!
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Yes, too many to list! I’m not sure I have overcome them all, and I think any author will tell you that the writing process is an ongoing learning curve. As this was my first novel, I really struggled in the earlier drafts with everything from the title to the narrative viewpoint. Years of rewriting it meant that, after a while, I sort of got my eye in, and was able to identify when something wasn’t working and needed changing. I’ve also found the publication process to be a massive challenge. But I’ve certainly learnt a lot over the past couple of years that will stand me in great stead for the future.
What’s next for you?
Good question! Perhaps a holiday, as the last few years of writing The Woman in the Wallpaper, finding an agent, getting a deal, and then editing and promoting the book have been quite full-on to say the least. I’d value some time to switch off completely for a while. In terms of writing, I’d really love to write fiction in series, in particular a series about stage magic, as well as series set against the First World War and Old Hollywood. I also regularly write short stories and narratives for my podcast The Magician’s Wife, so I’ll be continuing to do that, too.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
All the books I haven’t gotten round to reading whilst I’ve been writing and editing The Woman in the Wallpaper! They’ve been piling up around the house at quite an alarming rate. We Solve Murders, as I’m a big fan of Richard Osman and the humanity in his work. I loved Cleopatra and Frankenstein, so I’m excited to read Coco Mellors’ second novel Blue Sisters. And Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, one of the wisest writers around and a wonderful advocate for the protection of the natural world, which is a big passion of mine. Which brings me to the book at the top of my list: John Vaillant’s The Tiger. It tells the tale of a hunter in the Russian Taiga, who gets his comeuppance when the tiger he attempted to kill bites back. It’s not only an incredible study in animal behaviour, but also the ultimate real-life revenge story! I’ve been meaning to read it for ages.
For more, visit Lora’s website at lorajones.com
