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Bitter memories turned into a novel debut
Conrad Astley9/ 2/2006
ROBERT Graham's story has reached its conclusion in more ways
than one.
The author began writing his first novel Holy Joe as a way of
dealing with the death of his daughter Laura, who was stillborn 12
years ago.
The novel was finally published last week, but while the writer has
been busy doing a round of promotional readings, he now has more
pressing concerns.
He and wife Rachel are flying to Hubei province in China tomorrow
(Saturday) and will return with their newly-adopted 15-month-old
daughter, Maisy Nan.
The couple, who also have two children of their own, first decided
they wanted to do this five years ago.
"In a similar way to the book, although what happened was really
bad, good things came out of it," he said.
"Rachel became involved in a support group for parents who lost
their children, and I became involved in a children's theatre
group.
"When we were still feeling very raw we saw a documentary about
orphanages in China and we decided to do this.
"There's been a lot of delays. It seems quite spooky - both the
book and the adoption came out of us losing Laura, they've both
taken ages to come from inception to completion, and now they're
both happening at the same time."
The book's character Joe Porter loses his daughter in a very
different way - she is abducted from a park.
While the book was written to explore how men and women deal with
grief in different ways, Robert says he chose an abduction rather
than a stillbirth for practical reasons.
"I thought I could get more narrative out of an abducted child," he
said.
"The pages keep turning because you wonder what happened to the
child - will she be found?
"Because I was conscious about the fact I was writing something I
didn't have experience of I researched stories about other parents
whose children had been abducted, it became depressing."
The story is set around Manchester - the girl is snatched from
Longford Park in Stretford - and begins just after the IRA
bomb.
Robert, who lives in Chorlton, said this seemed like a natural
place to start as that had just happened when he began
writing.
But he added the events also worked as a metaphor for what happens
to the character - beginning with a devastating explosion and
ending with the rebuilding of Manchester.
As well as testing the character's marriage, the novel also looks
at how the abduction affects his faith, as the character is a
lapsed Christian. While he realises the book may not sound like a
page-turning romp, he believes he has treated the harsh subject
matter in an entertaining way.
"Someone asked me why I wrote a book that'd be so unpopular," he
said. "Child abduction and faith aren't two subjects that people
want to read about.
"A lot of publishers originally said they didn't get the religious
theme and I should send it to a religious publisher - I tried that
but they said it was far too vulgar and worldly.
"It's not very sellable subject matter, but I've found most people
who like it certainly aren't Christians."
Although this is Robert's first novel, he has been involved in
creative writing for years.
He co-wrote a spoof biography called Elvis - A Novel, described by
Melody Maker as "the best music book
of all time", and a play about Smiths fans called If You've Got
Five Seconds To Spare, staged at the Contact Theatre.
His also teaches creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan
University's Alsager campus, and has written several books about
writing.
"It feels like I've been studying how to write for 20 years and
been trying to teach people for about a dozen," he said.
"I feel like I wouldn't mind trying to get on with doing it."
Holy Joe is published nationally by Troubador.
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