Anna McPartlin

Anna McPartlin is a bestselling author currently published in 15 languages across 18 countries. Pack Up The Moon and The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes were nominated for Irish book awards. In the UK Rabbit Hayes was a Richard & Judy book club pick and will be familiar to many Suffolk book groups. Anna's latest book Below the Big Blue Sky was published in July by Zaffre.

Who were your literary heroes as you were growing up and when did you realise that you had a talent for writing?

As I child I had a great love for Enid Blyton. I read everything she ever wrote, one book a week from the age of about seven to ten. When I hit fourteen I fell head over heels for V.C Andrews and inhaled everything she wrote. I moved on to Hunter S Thompson when I was seventeen and later I remember clearly thinking Nabokov was some kind of genius. In my twenties I discovered Sabastian Faulks. Of course I loved all the Irish ladies, Marian Keyes, Sheila O’Flanagan, Patricia Scanlon and Maeve Binchy. It was after reading Roddie Doyle I decided I wanted to write for a living. I started writing long before I knew I had a talent for writing. I was just passionate about it and hopeful.

Now you are a bestselling author how do you look back on your days as a stand up comedian?

I did stand up for around two years with a close friend and I remember those days fondly but I wouldn’t swap them for anything. I liked writing comedy sketches but I love creating whole worlds.

A lot of Suffolk readers will remember your book The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes. That was a very personal book to read. What was it like to write?

It was very personal to write. The lead character Molly Hayes was inspired by my mother-in-law Terry McPartlin, an incredibly wise, witty and wild woman who everyone adored. I lost my mum to MS aged 17. I wrote a fictional story about loss but it was based on my own experiences of losing my mum at a young age.

Can you give us a flavour of your new book Below the big blue sky?

Firstly the good news is you do not have to have read ‘The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes,’ to read ‘Below The Big Blue Sky,’ it was written to stand alone. It’s a story of a young woman’s death and those she has left behind, parents, siblings and a young daughter. It’s about grief and the knitting back together or a broken family. It sounds grim but I promise you it’s also a celebration of life, love, family bonds and all the things that really matter.

Is there anything you can share with us about your latest project?

I’m editing a new book about women in an infertility group in the noughties and a young girl ripped from her family home, pregnant at sixteen and locked up in a mother and baby home in the 1970’s. Again it sounds really grim but there are lots of laughs. Grim circumstance does not necessarily mean grim characters.

What are the best and worst things about being a writer?

The best thing is that I get to tell stories for a living. The worst thing is the anxiety when bringing out a new book into the world.

What is on your 'to read' pile at the moment?

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is the first book I’m going to read as soon as I get some headspace. I’ve been working on back to back projects and I find it difficult to read other people’s working when I’m working. I’m also too exhausted to focus.

If you had not become a writer what career path would you have followed?

I worked as a claims handler for an American insurance company, dealing with high net worth homes and I loved my job so I probably would have stayed on doing that.

Can you tell us one thing about yourself that your readers may not know?

I’m terrified of heights.

Describe yourself in three words...

Curious, kind and a little messy. Below the Big Blue Sky by Anna McPartlin is out now in hardback, eBook and audio (published by Zaffre).