Katie Bishop, the author of the intoxicating The Girls of Summer, is a journalist based in Birmingham, UK. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Vogue, The Independent, and elsewhere. Her keen eye for a good story has produced one of the most propulsive psychological suspense novels of the year.
Debutiful asked the debut author to answer the recurring “A Life of Books” questionnaire to readers can get to know her better!
Is there a book or series that, when you think back, helped define your childhood?
When I was very young, I used to love Enid Blyton. My parents would take me to the library every week and limit me to getting seven books out (one for each day), which seemed cruelly restrictive at the time – but there was almost always a Blyton book included in my haul. I particularly loved all of the boarding school stories like Malory Towers and St Clare’s and used to dream about playing lacrosse, (even though I wasn’t exactly sure what lacrosse was) and having midnight feasts.
When I got a bit older, Jacqueline Wilson was my absolute go-to. She covers really challenging themes with tremendous care. Even when she’s writing about the darkest themes there’s a sense of light and joy and hope – something that I try to bring to my own writing.
Would you want any children in your life (yours or relatives’) to read those too? Or what’s your philosophy on what children read?
I’m not sure I’d want to foist any particular author on a child. I think that an ability to explore and find what books you love is so important at a young age. If reading starts to feel like a chore, it’s very difficult to escape that perspective and embrace books again as an adult.
Moving to your school years: what book did you read in high school and hated (or skipped reading at all) that you learned you loved later in life?
I attempted to read Pride and Prejudice when I was about fourteen and couldn’t get into it at all. For years, I told everyone that I couldn’t stand Austen. That was, until a friend encouraged me to pick Pride and Prejudice up again as an adult. This time, I devoured it, and I’ve loved Austen ever since. I think that when I was a teenager I was probably too young to appreciate Austen’s dry wit and her satirical side-eye at Georgian society. Now, Pride and Prejudice is one of my ultimate comfort reads.
What about the opposite way? One you loved in your teens, but realized you didn’t love it so much later on?
I spent a lot of my teens pretending to like books because I felt like I should like them. I remember reading The Catcher in the Rye and trying to convince myself that I loved it, because it was supposed to be this very clever depiction of teenage angst, which I was absolutely in the depths of. In hindsight, I can see that I probably didn’t really see myself reflected in that book, as a teenage girl. But the YA market has really exploded since then, and I hope there’s a lot more out there for angsty teenage girls nowadays!
Are there any books that you read while writing your debut that helped shape the direction you took your own book?
I read My Dark Vanessa while I was writing The Girls of Summer because I was aware they had similar themes and wanted to make sure that what I was writing hadn’t been done before. Although My Dark Vanessa turned out to be quite different from what I was working on, it definitely bolstered my conviction that the long-term effects of trauma, and the lengths victims will go to in order to convince themselves that the fallout hasn’t profoundly shaped their lives, was a subject that people would care about.
Although I read it long before I started writing, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy taught me a lot about the power of an evocative setting, something that was really important to me in The Girls of Summer. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton got me thinking about how to create suspense in a slow-burning novel, and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng showed me the importance of a strong concept that presents the kind of topics you’re desperate to discuss.
What is a book you’ve read that you thought, Damn, I wish that was mine?
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller has an astonishing way of delivering absolute gut-punches in the smallest of moments, or the simplest of interactions. I’m not sure that there’s an entire book that I’ve wished I wrote, because it’s such a personal thing, but I do remember noticing those moments and thinking “that’s the kind of writer I want to be”.
What have you been reading / do you plan to read during your debut book tour?
I have so many books lined up at the minute! I’m currently reading The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan, which I’m speeding through and loving every second. I’m hoping to read Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola next, and I also have Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson and A House for Alice by Diana Evans on my list.
And, finally, I have to ask… I’m sorry. What’s next? But wait! Only use three words.
Hopefully another book!