Scala Radio Book Club: The Unravelling by Polly Crosby
A darkly beautiful dual-timeline novel with a captivating mystery, for fans of Diane Setterfield, Kate Morton, Kate Mosse and Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Last updated 17th Aug 2022
In the Scala Radio Book Club this week (Thursday 6th January 2022), Mark Forrest chatted to English author Polly Crosby on her brand new, darkly beautiful novel, The Unravelling.
From the author of The Illustrated Child, Polly Crosby’s The Unravelling is an atmospheric, deeply emotional, dual-timeline story with a captivating mystery.
When Tartelin Brown accepts a job with the reclusive Marianne Stourbridge, she finds herself on a wild island with a mysterious history.
Tartelin is tasked with hunting butterflies for Marianne's research. But she quickly uncovers something far more intriguing than the curious creatures that inhabit the landscape.
Because the island and Marianne share a remarkable history, and what happened all those years ago has left its scars, and some terrible secrets.
As Tartelin pieces together Marianne's connection to the island, she must confront her own reasons for being there. Can the two women finally face up to the painful memories that bind them so tightly to the past?
Mark began the interview by asking Polly about the difficulties of setting a story in such a remote location. ‘This island is a very important third character in the novel. It’s described as a tiny place, off the East Anglian coast. There's no electricity, no Wi-Fi, and no mobile phone signal. How difficult was it to conjure up somewhere that could feel properly cut off?’
‘I've always loved the idea of islands,’ said Polly. ‘They are cut off even if they do have electricity and running water. They are in essence still on their own. I love that you can set a story in a small place like that, and it becomes quite tense, and isolated, and eerie.’
‘A central theme that runs throughout the book is Lepidopterology – the study of butterflies and moths. Where does this fascination come from?’
‘I would just like to say that I have never caught a butterfly!’ laughed Polly. ‘I do find it fascinating that as a nation, we were really obsessed with this in the Victorian era, and even into the mid-20th century. Marianne has decided to catch butterflies because, during the 20th century on the island when the military requisitioned it, she was told that she had to leave and she's come back because she wants to find out exactly what went on in those intervening years.’
Mark then turned his attention to how Polly became a published author. ‘How did you become a published writer? Was there a golden meeting, a golden phone call with a moment at which you realised I can actually do this?’
‘There were many golden moments. It all started because I won a scholarship to a Curtis Brown creative writing course, which really helped me structure my novel. Then I entered it into the Bridport Prize novel writing competition, and I came runner up. And then I got a scholarship to the MA course at the UAE in creative writing, which I couldn't quite believe! So, all these lovely, wonderful things happened very, very quickly.
I felt that I was getting somewhere, and so I decided to write to my favourite literary agent, as well as some other agents. She was so busy that she didn't get back to me straight away. I got some offers from other agents and I went to meet them in London. On that day, my phone signal died completely, and I had no way of receiving emails or messages or anything. On the way home, going through a train station, however, my email pinged up picking up the Wi-Fi at the station, and it was from the agent that I really wanted to be with. It just said, “Have you signed yet?” and I wrote back, “no!”, but I had to be quick because I needed to write it before I went out of the station again! When I sent over the book. I went to bed, and I woke up the next morning at 6am. She'd stayed up till gone midnight reading it and she offered me representation. I think I just danced around the house for about a week!’
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