The Secret Lives of Emma by Natasha Walker

But equally fascinated by the aspects of that tradition that appall me: the built-in misogyny and ascetic hostility to the body, authoritarianism, the emphasis on punishment and obedience.” “I remain fascinated by all that’s beautiful to me in that heritage – the mysticism, the art, the music, the obsession with preserving and handing down Scripture, the sense of every tiny action of your day having some effect on the eternal destiny of your soul. Donoghue makes it clear that both her fascination with and much of her ability to enter so convincingly into the lives of these three 7th-century monks stems from her background and Catholic upbringing. The plot is very simple, but it is the richness of depth and colour in the characterization, and the depiction of the religious context, that make this an immersive read. The archeological report was extremely useful in telling me how rash and perverse it would have been to found an ultra-isolationist retreat without keeping those life-saving links to the rest of the world.”įor Donoghue, her fascination with the Skelligs began with a boat trip around the islands and, remarkably, she reports that the whole storyline – the three monks, the single summer and the final denouement – came to her all as a piece on that boat trip. I wanted instead to imagine a first attempt, an interesting failure – how fast could things go wrong, as a lesson in how not to settle an island. “Archeological evidence usually speaks of lasting patterns rather than brief ones – the report tells us about centuries of monks successfully herding and trading on the Skelligs. The lack of documentary evidence of the first monastic settlement is a gift to an historical novelist, one which Donoghue exploits fully, choosing to present a purely fictional account distinctly different from that suggested by the archaeological record. There is a tradition of monks on Skellig Michael from around this period, and though no details remain, archaeological evidence indicates they kept sheep, goats, and pigs and traded with the mainland for firewood, grain, and wine. Haven (Little, Brown HarperAvenue Picador UK, 2022) is set in Ireland in the 7th century and is a re-imagining of the first settlement of the Great Skellig – Skellig Michael – the larger of a pair of rocky outcrops off Ireland’s Atlantic coast.

So it was with anticipation of a very good read that I dived into a copy of her latest novel Haven. She has written for adults and children fiction and non-fiction contemporary and historical novels and for stage, screen and radio and moves, seemingly effortlessly, between them. A Deceptively Simple Story: Confinement, Family and the Environment in Emma Donoghue’s Havenīest known for her adult fiction, Emma Donoghue is a versatile and prolific author, whose fiction crosses many genres and for which she has won numerous awards.

The Secret Lives of Emma by Natasha Walker