We chat with author Hazel Hayes about Better By Far, which is a genre-bending story about love and loss, hope and heartbreak, and the healing to be found in life’s little limbos, those in-between spaces where you’re no longer who you were and not yet the person you will be.
Hi, Hazel! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello there! I’m Hazel Hayes, author of Out of Love and Better by Far. I was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, but I’ve been nomadding around the globe for the past year and a half. I’m a triple Aquarius. And I have a worrying tea addiction (currently down to six cups a day).
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I can’t remember not loving stories, and growing up in Ireland I was never in short supply; we’re a nation of storytellers by nature, so every conversation was really a lesson in what would ultimately become my career. I’m so thrilled and proud to have been able to weave little strands of Irish folklore, traditions and our beautiful native language into Better by Far. I just hope I’ve “done the parish proud”, as we say back home!
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Far Edge of Darkness by Linda Evans
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Stand by Stephen King
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Your latest novel, Better By Far, is out April 23rd! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Life happens in the waiting.
What can readers expect?
To cry, probably. And to grieve. But also to heal.
Where did the inspiration for Better By Far come from?
There were lots of inspirations for different aspects of the book. On a very surface level, I was inspired by a breakup I’d been through, where we chose to keep sharing an apartment until our lease was up. But that premise only acted as a backdrop for the real topic I wanted to explore, which is liminality. Liminal spaces – or life’s little limbos, as I’ve come to call them – are those in between stages of life where one phase has ended and the next one hasn’t quite begun. Like the space between grief and healing, for example. When we’re going through it, we feel like everything slows down and stagnates. We pray for it to be over so we can move on to the next chapter. But I wanted to treat this as a chapter in itself, like a chrysalis, where all the real growth and change is taking place.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
What I enjoyed most about writing Better by Far was the way mine and Kate’s stories intertwined and helped to inform each other. She is an author, trying to write her second novel while going through a breakup, and during the writing process I found myself unexpectedly going through a break up (on Halloween, the same day as Kate!) while trying to write my second novel. This book was always intended to be a bit meta, but it got to be a joke just how much our lives were overlapping. The lins between Kate’s world and my own would blur constantly and she and I struggled through our heartbreak and our healing and our writing process together. The whole journey became surreally synchronistic and quite magical.
What challenges did you face while writing?
See above re writing a novel while going through a breakup. 0/10. Would not recommend. Avoid at all costs!
What’s next for you?
I launched Write to Yourself last year, and hosted my first in-person writing and wellness retreats. They’ve been going so well that I’m now adapting the syllabus for online and creating a global Write to Yourself community including online retreats, workshops, masterclasses and regular group writing sessions. So I’m super excited about all that. And I’ve also started working on book three, which I expect will be less heavy and a little more spicy than my first two novels!
Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?
David Nicholls very kindly sent me an advance copy of his new novel, You Are Here (which comes out on the same day as Better by Far), and I have fallen immediately in love with it. No surprises there! I’m also very excited to read Intermezzo by fellow Irish author, Sally Rooney, as well as the new Haruki Murukami novel, The City and Its Uncertain Walls.
