Page Turners: ‘The Glass House’ author Rachel Donohue

A suspenseful thriller from Dublin author Rachel Donohue, The Glass House is a captivating and compelling tale of two sisters and their secrets, of love, regret and vengeance. Moving from the West of Ireland to Dublin, London, Florence, and back, the tale makes clear that a window to the past can never be closed.

1963: At the stark and isolated modernist mansion of controversial political philosopher Richard Acklehurst, the glittering annual New Year party has not gone quite as planned. Considered a genius by some, and something far darker by others, by the end of the evening Acklehurst will be dead in mysterious circumstances, casting a long shadow over the lives of his teenage daughters, Aisling and Stella.

1999: Richard Acklehurst’s remains are defiled in the country graveyard where they have lain undisturbed for over thirty years, forcing his daughters to return to their childhood home where they must finally confront the complex and dark dynamic at the heart of their family.

Did you always want to be a writer?

I was always a daydreamer. I was the youngest child and I think that was a factor. I was a bit ignored (in the best 1980s fashion) and could just loiter around, listening and observing. I did read a lot and wrote stories from quite young. So it was there I suppose, a need to both imagine and document things.

What inspired you to start writing?

I stopped writing as a teenager and didn’t start again for many years. I was on maternity leave and while my daughter was asleep in the mornings I wrote a short story. I think I needed to carve a space out for myself, perhaps lay down something which told my view of the world. When I began to write I felt like I was coming back, not starting over.

Tell us about your new book, The Glass House. Where did the idea come from?

I read an essay about how the British fascist Oswald Mosley lived quietly in Galway for a time in the 1950s. I had never heard this before and found it bizarre and fascinating. The Glass House isn’t about him, though he does get a mention. I imagined someone else, a political philosopher with dark ideas who lives in an isolated mansion with his two daughters.

What do you hope this book instils in the reader?

The idea of recurrence, the sense of the past repeating, and coming back. And how we must be vigilant and watchful in a way to the same old lies which people return to.

What did you learn when writing this book?

It made me think about the impact of the ‘political’ on the life of a family. I think all of my work focuses to some degree on power, those who have it, and those who don’t.

Tell us about your writing process.

I tend to know how things will end, and how they begin but not much in between. I don’t plan things out, I just start and see where it goes. My stories are character-driven so the main thing for me is getting to know and understand their voice. Then I follow them rather than the other way round.