The Real Missing One – my uncle

Article about Uncle Des in the Guardian family section

 

When people ask if my book is autobiographical, I always say no – totally made up.  Then, a month or so ago, someone asked me a direct question: has anyone in my family ever gone missing? I couldn’t believe I’d never thought about this before – my Uncle Des, who we all adored, went missing when I was 8 years old.  Without knowing it,  I’ve written a novel drawing on some of those feelings of loss and longing, of family secrets, and the unknown. My subconscious has clearly been very busy and my book makes sense to me now, in a way that it never did before. Weird, and also oddly satisfying.

My mum is still convinced Uncle Des is in an ashram somewhere so I’m expecting his facebook friend request any day now…

 

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/02/perfect-uncle-who-vanished-one-day