Sunday Times bestselling author and memoirist Cathy Rentzenbrink talks to us about her latest novel 'Ordinary Time' and how she finds the time to write novels, teach creative writing and organise literary events.
Cathy Rentzenbrink is a writer whose books include The Last Act of Love, Everyone is Still Alive and Write It All Down. Her new novel Ordinary Time was published by Phoenix in July 2024. Cathy regularly chairs literary events, interviews authors, and speaks on life, death, love, and literature. You can find Ordinary Time and Cathy's other books on the Suffolk Libraries catalogue.
I don’t remember learning to read. It feels like something I’ve always been able to do. I’m still obsessed with the Narnia books, still hopefully opening wardrobe doors. I also loved Anne of Green Gables who felt and still feels like a real friend and is more distinct in my mind than many of my flesh and blood childhood companions.
Ha! I did always want to write but I cherished it like a secret dream. Looking back, I had an almost excessive respect for writers and didn’t realise they were ‘just’ ordinary people. Spending time with actual writers as a bookseller and then as a journalist, seeing their scruffy shoes and self-doubt helped me see that I didn’t have to eradicate my flaws before I could start writing and that chaos and uncertainty are all part of the process.
Yes, I didn’t intend or expect it to be published when I started. My intention was to get the experience of witnessing my brother’s long death out of myself so I could write funny novels. And then it did feel like the story itself wanted to be told and wanted to be shared.
Yes, I find him extremely helpful and bracing. He’s a good ally in my general desire not to waste my life bogged down in cr*p that doesn’t matter. May I tell you my favourite quote? ‘In short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash.’ I do see it wouldn’t be up everyone’s street, but I find he gives me a sense of both perspective and the right kind of urgency.
I’m interested in what I feel moved to explore and communicate rather than in what genre something is and I think it’s about finding the right tool for the job.
I wanted to write a novel that was enjoyable but also substantive and I hope I’ve achieved that. It is about an accidental vicar’s wife called Ann who feels like the congregation look down on her because she’s not very good at baking scones for the endless fundraising teas. I did enjoy all the hanging around in churches and graveyards during my research and there is a lot of unintentional humour in parish life that I put straight on the page. I hope it is my funniest book so far, as well as having things to say about duty, obligation, grief and all different kinds of love.
From my early teens I loved reading books about middle aged people having affairs. Julian Barnes and Mary Wesley were my favourite authors and I’ve always been fascinated by Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary. I was keen to explore a version of events where a woman could commit a social transgression without having to be so brutally punished.
I’m currently working on a book about Agatha Christie and I am experimenting with a few ideas for novels.
In the past I’ve massively over-extended myself so I’m currently working out how to manage my time better in service of my writing. I’m learning to say no more but that’s hard because I do love talking to strangers. What I need is some kind of magic wardrobe that would make travel a bit easier…
Anyone who has read The Last Act of Love will know that I grew up in a pub and that alcohol was a huge part of my life for decades. What people often don’t know is that I had my last drink in June 2017. Seven years on, I am still growing into my sobriety and it increasingly feels like a beautiful miracle that I no longer want to escape into a befuddled blur but am instead available for full creative engagement with my own life.
