An off-season Majorca escape that’s the perfect way to unwind
An off-season Majorca escape that’s the perfect way to unwind

Marlene Wessels

A transformation coach on how to navigate grief at Christmas
A transformation coach on how to navigate grief at Christmas

Niamh Ennis

The best of streaming and cinema this December
The best of streaming and cinema this December

Sarah Finnan

WIN a Ziaja home spa set to treat yourself and unwind this winter
WIN a Ziaja home spa set to treat yourself and unwind this winter

Shayna Sappington

Fireside Fiction: 6 titles to curl up with over the winter break
Fireside Fiction: 6 titles to curl up with over the winter break

Jennifer McShane

How to wear sequins day and and night
How to wear sequins day and and night

Suzie Coen

Expert tips on how to stay safe on the road this winter
Expert tips on how to stay safe on the road this winter

Shayna Sappington

Biophilic design, pre-loved pride and energy-saving secrets: the A/W interiors trends to know and love this season and beyond
Biophilic design, pre-loved pride and energy-saving secrets: the A/W interiors trends to know and love...

IMAGE

WIN a personalised LanaiBLO hairdryer just in time for Christmas
WIN a personalised LanaiBLO hairdryer just in time for Christmas

IMAGE

This Irish-founded company allows you to test, track and treat hormonal health at home
This Irish-founded company allows you to test, track and treat hormonal health at home

IMAGE

Page Turners: ‘Charlotte’ author Martina Devlin

Page Turners: ‘Charlotte’ author Martina Devlin


by Sarah Gill
15th Nov 2024

Here, we sit down with Martina Devlin to discuss beloved literary titles, writing process, and Ireland’s pull on the imagination of Charlotte Brontë.

Martina Devlin is a bestselling author and award-winning journalist, who has been shortlisted for the Irish Book of the Year awards three times. A former Fleet Street journalist, she writes weekly current affairs columns for the Irish Independent and has been named National Newspapers of Ireland columnist of the year.

Her enthralling new novel, Charlotte, Devlin weaves back and forth through Charlotte Brontë’s life, reflecting on the myths built around her by those who knew her, those who thought they knew her, and those who longed to know her. Above all, this is a story of fiction: who creates it, who lives it, who owns it.

Charlotte Brontë, who dazzled the world with some of literature’s most vital and richly-drawn characters, spent her brief but extraordinary life in search of love. She eventually found it with Arthur Bell, a reserved yet passionate Irishman. After marrying, the pair honeymooned in Ireland – a glimmer of happiness in a life shadowed by tragedy.

Martina Devlin

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

I won a Hennessy Literary Award for my first short story and, buoyed up by beginner’s luck, had a crack at a novel. That was 12 books ago. Prizes don’t make you a better writer but they do give you confidence.

What inspired you to start writing?

The oral storytelling gene is present on both sides of my family. My mother told chilling ghost stories – because she believed them – and my father loved retelling Irish myths and episodes from history. Both are dead but I have their voices in my head.

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

The novel is about memory, family secrets and the power of objects. It tells of Charlotte Brontë’s brief marriage to Irishman Arthur Nicholls through the voice of his second wife, Mary. The idea sprang from my interest in the Brontë sisters and their work – they wrote women characters with emotional depth who were independent and resourceful, like themselves. I’ve visited Haworth several times and the museum in the parsonage where they lived is a little jewel.

Martina Devlin

What do you hope this book instils in the reader?

For people to realise that Ireland exerted a stronger pull on Charlotte Brontë’s imagination than has necessarily been acknowledged. And that although the Brontës are regarded as jewels in England’s literary canon, they had an important Irish connection which fed into their work. Their father, Patrick, was Irish and fired his children’s imaginations with stories, books and newspapers.

What did you learn when writing this book?

That in marrying Arthur, Charlotte was reaching out to life and hope. We have a view of the Brontës as doomed, tragic figures but Charlotte was happy with Arthur during their nine months of married life; also, the sisters’ letters show them to be creative, loyal, resilient, witty and sharp observers. They were proto feminists in an era where women were more or less the property of a father or husband.

Tell us about your writing process?

There is no magical ingredient, you just sit down and persevere with it. Some days it’s like having teeth pulled without anaesthetic – but come what may, you have to show up for the work. There’s a saying: hard writing makes easy reading.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

I’m fascinated by women who play a part in a larger story, whose role isn’t acknowledged. I like to look at a story side-on: “tell all the truth but tell it slant,” as Emily Dickinson puts it.

What are your top three favourite books of all time, and why?

Lady into Fox (1922) by David Garnett. A piece of art: a fable recounted in a deceptively simple style. One day, a man’s wife turns into a fox, exits their marriage and returns to the wild – there are many interpretations but one possibility is it’s a feminist allegory.

The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James. This is my favourite ghost story – or are the ghosts figments of the governess’s imagination? Coincidentally, it references Jane Eyre when the protagonist wonders whether a relative might be hidden in the attic.

Possession (1990) by AS (Antonia) Byatt. It uses a stories-within-stories structure and the plot is laid out through letters, poetry, essays and narrative. Both mystery and satire, with some love interest to boot, it asks the question: who owns the past?

Who are some of your favourite authors, Irish or otherwise?

In no particular order: Margaret Atwood, Nuala O’Connor, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Mary Costello, Danielle McLaughlin, Emily Hourican, Curtis Sittenfeld, Elizabeth Bowen, Ann Patchett, Joseph O’Connor, Colm Tóibín, Colum McCann, Eoin McNamee, Peter Carey, William Boyd. I could go on but we’d run over the edge of the page.

What are some upcoming book releases we should have on our radar?

Frogs for Watchdogs by Seán Farrell (New Island, February 2025): it pulsates with the intensity and vulnerability of childhood. Also, the little boy in the story has a magical power. Who hasn’t wanted one?

What book made you want to become a writer?

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë because of that memorable line, “Reader, I married him” when she collapsed the fourth wall – the barrier between reader and writer. It gave me goosebumps.

What’s one book you would add to the school curriculum?

The Truth Commissioner by David Park – set in Northern Ireland, it’s about betrayal and reconciliation, public and private, power and compromise.

What’s the best book you’ve read so far this year?

Carlo Gébler, A Cold Eye: Notes from a Shared Island, 1989-2024.

What’s some advice you’ve got for other aspiring writers?

Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Also, don’t take criticism personally – learn from it.

Lastly, what do the acts of reading and writing mean to you?

They teach me how to navigate the world.

Charlotte by Martina Devlin (€16.95) is on sale now.

Also Read