Page Turners: ‘Assembling Ailish’ author Sharon Guard

Sharon Guard grew up in, and still lives in, Dublin. Her debut novel, Assembling Ailish, follows Ailish McCarthy, who is not doing well. Outwardly successful – career, beautiful home, wealthy husband, two daughters reared and on the cusp of their own lives– inwardly she is crumbling.

Her relationship with her mother was complicated and difficult, the grief following her death unnaturally prolonged. As much as she wants to move forward, Ailish is caught in a spiral with her ghosts.

In order to escape them, she must resolve her past. Revisit it. Construct again, from memory, the family and friends who shaped her, the boy she could not forget, the changing Ireland which provided the backdrop for their lives.

Under the guidance of her therapist, Ailish begins the process of examining her previous selves: anxious child, traumatized teenager, adult woman driven with a never-to-be-shared secret. From these uniquely broken shards, can she assemble a present self, a whole self, one she can live with?

Did you always want to be a writer? Tell us about your journey to becoming a published author.

I grew up beside a library. I grew up in the pages of books. They’re my love language with the world. I always wanted to write, secretly thought I could, feared I might not be able to. I didn’t start until my mid-forties, and my first ‘success’ — winning the Molly Keane Creative Writing Award — was at the age of 52. I could say life and lack of confidence stopped me starting earlier, but I’m coming around to the idea I simply wasn’t ready. I hadn’t lived enough yet. Things happen when they’re meant to.

What inspired you to start writing?

I was made redundant from a job I loved which had been part of my life for 22 years. It was a profound and personal sort of grief, and I don’t use that word lightly. I lost part of me. My purpose. Writing is industry nobody can take from you. Whether you’re successful in terms of getting published or not, getting up and putting words on the page is within your sole control and competence. That’s priceless.

Tell us about your new book, Assembling Ailish. Where did the idea come from?

It started as a short story about unrequited love called The Cousins. When I was trying to transition from the short story to a novel, Ailish and her family kept calling me. I felt there was more in their characters which would be interesting to explore. The short story started in what is now nearer the middle of the book, and it focused on Ailish’s relationship with Michael. To explain her intense attraction to him, I started looking at her childhood and relationship with her mother, and soon it started to take off in a different direction altogether. Turns out it was never really about the man!

What do you hope this book instils in the reader?

It’s a book about the female experience in a time and place. Largely my time and place, though I have actually only ever been to Tullamore (where part of it is set) once! In my mind, Ailish is an everywoman. An everyperson. I would hope readers – whatever their age or gender – might see something of themselves in her, even if it is only ‘all may not be as it appears’.

What did you learn when writing this book?

So much. I had thoughts I had never thought before about my own life, my upbringing, the society I lived in. Researching each time period (the book dips into Ireland at various points over forty years) was a fascinating exercise both in personal memory and fact checking. Starting the book, I thought I had a reasonable understanding of the political, social and economic forces at play during my formative years, how they impacted my life, but it is much clearer now.

Tell us about your writing process?

I get up early. This is just the way my circadian rhythm works. I’m horribly annoying and chirpy in the mornings, so far better I hide away at my laptop until the world is ready for me. I also heard somebody say you’re more ‘open’ creatively first thing, when you’re still caught in the liminal space between wake and sleep, ideas and words flow better. I will write later if I need to, but if I get 300-500 words down first thing, they kind of stay in my head for the day and ‘bed in’. I’ll usually edit what I’ve written the next morning and add to it.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

All sorts of places. I’ve found writing prompts useful over the years, simply to get started, but one idea leads to another, you go for a walk and see something and another link is formed and by the time you sit down something entirely unexpected appears on the page. You need to try to inhabit a character’s skin, which involves shedding your own for a while. A holiday from yourself is always restorative. And fun.