We chat with author Jackie Fraser about her new novel The Beginning of Everything, which is an irresistible friends-to-lovers novel of resilience, hope, and new beginnings.
Hi, Jackie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! I’m an editor – for a long time I edited food and accommodation guides as my full time job. Since going freelance in 2012 (when my role was made redundant) I’ve also edited fiction, travel and self-help titles. Somehow I’m fifty-one, and I live with my partner in southern England, in Hampshire, which is about fifty miles from London. I read a lot, and I like to explore the wilder parts of the UK, mostly looking at standing stones. (I’m writing this from Devon, where we’ve been out on the moors looking at stone circles in the blazing heat.)
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’m one of those people who has been writing stories since childhood. Writing as a child is very frustrating as your imagination way outpaces your ability to write legibly, or type. I completed my first full length novel at 16 and have written dozens since, although only a tiny percentage have been published! Reading has always been my very favourite hobby, so I’ve loved stories forever.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
I was convinced I could read Bears in the Night by Stan and Jan Berenstain from about the age of two and a half. But really I’d just memorised it. (I could recite it now, I’m pretty sure.) Then I was quite obsessed with Mary Norton’s Borrowers books from about the age of six or seven. But Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken might be the book I have re-read most frequently and thought about the most. I think Rosemary Sutcliff is the first author I realised was paid to write – I read an interview with her when I was about seven or eight, when I was reading Eagle of the Ninth. I really loved historical fiction as a child, I’ve always loved learning about the past. But I suppose that’s when I first thought this might be something I could do.
Your latest novel, The Beginning of Everything, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Oh that’s a horribly hard thing to do! Um, “Woman runs away from home.”
What can readers expect?
A very slow burn, deceptively gentle story about rediscovering yourself and allowing love and joy back into your life.
Where did the inspiration for The Beginning of Everything come from?
I’m always interested in tropes. ‘The runaway’ was what I was thinking about when I began writing, in the early weeks of the pandemic. People who run away in books are usually young, they run away from school, or their parents. I was thinking about what an adult might run away from, and how they might do it. It’s a bit grittier than my previous book because as an adult, your situation has to be quite bad to make you leave everything behind. Jess is definitely escaping something unpleasant, but that’s not the focus of the book, or of her attention. She’s making a new start, and she’s fortunate to meet Gethin just as he, too, is beginning again.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I’m very fond of both Jess and Gethin. I love writing dialogue, so all the time they spend talking and getting to know each other was a joy, but probably the scene where Jess opens her Christmas stocking is my favourite.
This is your second published novel! What are some of the key lessons you have learned between writing the two?
I think the main thing was that it’s not just me that’s interested in older people and their relationships! This was a relief, obviously. My background in publishing meant that some of the things you learn – that the process of making a book can be quite slow, for example – weren’t exactly a surprise. But I was certainly surprised and delighted to find I had a US audience.
What’s next for you?
I’m always writing another book, or several. And hoping other people will want to read them too.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I love Mhairi McFarlane’s books. They’re all good, the newest one’s called Between Us. And I read The Second Ending by Michelle Hoffmann earlier this year and have been recommending it to people. I also recommend Prophet by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blache, if you like sci-fi.
