Creative Voices II

Reflections of Shadowing

Creative Voices II

An Evening with Lisa Jewell

Arts Richmond at the Exchange Theatre, Twickenham, 8^th November

Review by Heather Moulson

Seated before us was the very prolific writer, Lisa Jewell.  With a backdrop of her latest book None of This Is True, the interviewer, York Membery introduced us to Jewell, who in turn presented this her latest novel.  Part of Arts Richmond’s Creative Voices, this was the second talk with an established author at The Exchange.  

We were eager to learn the secret of her engaging and gripping plots, and Jewell was happy to share the notion of how she would be obsessed with a particular idea, as in this case, being shadowed by someone from the outside.  For instance, for his book A Year with Lisa Jewell,Will Brooker did indeed shadow Jewell for that amount of time, parting company, leaving the writer to surmise what if it was the wrong one you let into your life?  The product of which emerged in July 2023 and lit up on the backdrop. 

None of This Is True is an amazing and gripping novel, one that Jewell and the rest of us would happily describe as a dark piece, and as psychologically disturbing as her novel Then She Was Gone, published in 2017. 

Lisa Jewell was a former personal assistant at Thomas Pink shirts in Jermyn Street, and a friend and colleague placed a bet that Jewell could not write three chapters of a novel.  They celebrated upon their completion and then the writer sent her material out into the world.   Bagging an agent, Lisa Jewell got a deal with Penguin, her first novel being Ralph’s Party in 1996. 

Frowning quite rightly on the term ‘chick lit’, she pointed out that the sheer slog of writing and researching a book should not be blanketed with such a dismissive term.   By the time her novel The Girls was published in 2015, Jewell had made the first dark move that was to reflect her genre from then on.  

Then She Was Gone, a genuinely unnerving story, topped in the USA, and spent eight weeks at Number One in the New York Times bestseller list.   A Beverly Hills housewife sparked off this phenomenon by sharing her Instagram posts of this novel during Lockdown: what a fascinating chain of events.   The Family Upstairs, published in 2019, sold dramatically well in supermarkets during Lockdown.  These places are still underestimated as booksellers.  I for one, get fantastic novels at Sainsbury’s. 

As a general point, I thought the slideshow cum backdrop could have been used more, if only to highlight some of Jewell’s other successes.  This would have made it a very effective production.  Lisa Jewell presented herself beautifully, and came over unpretentious, slick, and confident, leaving York Membery sadly lacking.   He could have taken more control of the interview.   There was also some fumbling passing the microphone to the audience who had a question.  Submit a question on paper maybe?  This seemed to work well for another interview I recently attended. 

Personally, Jewell does without notebooks and story boards.  As she walks the dog, she ponders on potential plots.  Jewell cannot write with only one viewpoint, it’s vital that other parties talk to the reader.  The writer confesses to being a screen addict with social media and texting, and writes generally between 3 and 6 pm, then happily embraces TV.  Her one pressure is not to disappoint her audience.   During the question and answer session, Jewell advised not to overthink things, just simply write. 

There is a new novel coming in 2025.  We can’t wait, Lisa! 

Heather Moulson, November 2023

© Mark Aspen Reviews, 2023

Photography by JM