Julietta Henderson had her first novel published during lockdown (well, maybe not her first novel, but the first to get published), and I unreservedly loved it. I am in danger of gushing throughout this interview. You have been warned…I’m now on a mission to share it as widely as possible. and make everyone buy a copy.
The book is called The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman. If I tell you Norman is a young boy with severe psoriasis, a dead best friend, and who wants to be a comedian, you may well ask why I love it so much. I can only say that you have to read it to understand. I want to tell you so much about it, but I also want you to have the joy of discovering it for yourself. So, I am contenting myself with interviewing the author, which is a pretty good substitute.
I came across the book originally when my family gave me a subscription to something called The Boozy Book Club because ‘it was made for you, Mum’. A book club dedicated largely to female writers with a signature drink (related to the book) included in every monthly parcel. It was one of my best gifts ever.
Julietta’s book was the novel in the first subscription box I received. A double blessing.
Q and A and Cocktails
Part of the subscription was being part of a Q and A with Julietta who gamely got up at silly o’ clock (she lives in Australia) to do a Zoom session. It was a joy to discover that in person she is as lovely as you think someone who could write such a lovely book should be (I think I have departed from anything resembling grammar there, but you know what I mean…).
Julietta, you already know just how much I (and so many others) love your book. It’s not an original question, sorry, but where did Norman come from? Does he exist in some form in real life?
First let me say that it will never, ever get old hearing that people have fallen in love with Norman (and the others!), so, thank you Jane for having me here and for spreading the Norman love!
Norman is not based on anybody in real life, but I guess, like all authors, I draw on everybody I’ve ever met to develop my characters. I don’t have children myself but I have a lot of children in my life, so while it certainly wasn’t a conscious thing, I’m sure Norman is a little bit of all of them – although he’s definitely very much his own person. I was actually writing a different book (which has not yet seen the light of day) and one day this funny little kid and his mother just popped into my head and they wouldn’t leave.
Norman was absolutely fully formed in my head from day one and to be honest he didn’t change at all. It was the same with Sadie and they were both so real and so connected to each other that although their story changed a fair bit along the way, they never did.
Julietta, you’re based in Melbourne, yet the book is set in the UK. Central to it is one of my all-time favourite events, The Edinburgh Festival. Have you even been? (Full disclosure – I’ve been going since I was eighteen, when it was much smaller, and my son and daughter in law have appeared there doing comedy. It’s like we were meant to meet)
I’m so sad to say that I haven’t been yet, no. But I certainly will get there. I was actually due to go in 2020 to coincide with what was going to be the original publication date of the book, but we all know how things went in 2020. I do know Edinburgh well though, having spent some time there over the years.
I did a lot of very enjoyable research on the Fringe although most of it didn’t make it into the book, because I really wanted it to be more about Norman’s journey and not so much the ‘destination’. But I’ve watched so many videos and read so much about the Fringe I had a perfect picture of where Norman, Sadie and Leonard were and I think (hope) that ultimately that comes through.
When you wrote Norman, did you have a specific type of reader in mind?
That’s a really interesting question – and the answer is no. I guess the only way to explain it is to say I wrote the only book that I could write, because it came from my heart. Because it’s my debut, I had no idea who, if anyone, would ever read it, and even now I’m amazed at the diversity of people who get in touch with me to tell me they loved the book.
Norman seems to appeal to all genders and ages, which absolutely delights me. I’m not sure I’d know how to write for a specific reader, because to me a reader is a reader and I sub-consciously assume (incorrectly) that everyone’s like me and reads a book not for the genre but for the story and the way I think it’s going to make me feel. And quite often for the cover!
Reluctantly I’m leaving Norman behind for a wee while. The whole purpose of my website, and business, is to inspire women to go for whatever they want to go for, be it small or large. You are clearly an inspirational woman so it would be great to find out a bit more about you. Where did you grow up? What was early life like? Was your fertile imagination evident at an early age? Was your writing encouraged at school? (See, I’ve snuck several questions into one there.)
That’s probably the ultimate compliment, so thank you for being so kind as to say that. My childhood was spent firstly in a tiny beachside suburb and then a very small village in the rainforest in North Queensland, Australia. My mum and dad went off-grid before anyone even knew what off-grid was, I think. We didn’t have electricity or hot water for many years and my sister and I have plenty of stories about making mud bricks for our house, wrestling pythons and lots of other rainforest adventures. My mother still lives in the same house I grew up in but it has quite a few more mod cons these days.
I have always written in some shape or form from a very young age, and with an artist father and teacher mother we were encouraged to do a lot of creative stuff as children. My sister and I even used to produce a funny little four-page double-sided newspaper that we regularly forced on the neighbours.
I was very lucky to have some really great teachers in primary school that always nurtured creativity, but it wasn’t particularly encouraged in my very strict girls’ high school. There was a lot of focus on academic subjects and very little on being original or different. I actually think those years were quite detrimental to my creative development and it probably took a good decade for me to start finding my feet again.
Who are the people who have most inspired you, both professionally and personally? Do you have a favourite author?
I’m inspired by, and completely in awe of, the pioneers in life, really. People who dare to be different, speak their truth and are brave enough to stand up and be counted. I think to believe in something is a wonderful thing but to believe in yourself is an absolute gift. I could come up with a few celebrity names, but to be honest I’m more inspired by the everyday people in my life – the single parents, the teachers, the artists, the children, the friends, the neighbours and the survivors.
In terms of authors I admire, that’d be a full-length book in itself. But the writers that inspire me the most are the ones who use very spare prose and can say more in one sentence than most people can say in a page. People like Nick Hornby, Tony Parsons, John Boyne, Roddy Doyle, Tim Winton and Anne Enright (see below). I remember hearing the wonderful Clive James say that he would ‘turn a phrase until it catches the light’, and that’s the kind of writing and writers that I’m inspired by.
What happened after school? Did you follow a traditional academic path of college/University then a job, or did you go straight into work? What was your very first job, and what is your day job now?
Growing up I always wanted to be an actress (ha ha, maybe one day!) and so at high school I refused to do any subjects that had anything to do with ending up in a ‘normal’ job. I had some pretty romantic ideas about what I was going to do with my life and so of course the universe had a huge laugh at me and I ended up working in a bank straight out of school. I hated it from day one but stayed for a few years before I had literally had a bonfire and burned all my appraisals and references and swore I’d never go back.
And I never have. I’ve done a bit of everything else, though, from bicycle tour guide in Italy to selling fine art, but when I started writing for a living I knew I’d hit the jackpot. I still write as my day job and it’s everything from real estate and marketing copy to business profiles, lifestyle and travel articles. It requires a very different headspace to novel writing though, so sometimes it can be quite a challenge to keep the balance.
Apart from being a successful novelist, what has been your best role to date?
Career wise, the job that got me into writing professionally was working for nearly ten years for a very successful Australian landscape photographer with galleries around the country and then around the world. He created his own publishing company and it was an absolute dream come true to work on some incredible projects with some wonderful designers and then to see my words and concepts in print for the first time in several large format fine art books.
Have any of the things you learned in your various day jobs helped you in your writing career?
Because I am a writer and editor (not books) for my day job, I’ve learned a great deal about having to produce long form copy on a very tight deadline. Also, editing other people’s work has made me become much more ruthless about my own – I have no issues with dumping great swathes of words if it serves the story.
But I think every job I’ve ever had has ultimately helped my writing career because I’m a very nosey people watcher! People, dynamics and relationships fascinate me and I’m always on the lookout for a good story in the everyday. I had a job in café once and I can’t tell you how many interesting (and juicy) things I heard while clearing tables. (I’ll never tell, but I’m sure some of them will end up in a book one day…)
I know a second novel is underway. If you can, do share a bit of what that is about with us. Will Norman ever reappear?
I’m in the final editing stages of book two right now and even though I can’t really say too much about it at the moment, I will say it has another very endearing character, but in a very, very different way to Norman. It’s absolutely nothing like book one in terms of the story, but I think it’s going to leave readers with the same feelings that Norman did – that’s my aim. At its heart it’s about family, forgiveness and getting a second chance.
I’d never say never about Norman returning for another book, but I think I need to let him grow up a little more first. So perhaps for about book four… I might throw in a huge twist, like he grows up to be a tax accountant or something. Just kidding, I don’t think there’s anything Norman couldn’t do and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t started thinking about the possibilities.
We had a lot of fun on your Q and A with the Boozy Book Club speculating on who might play your wonderful characters if it was ever made into a film. Who would you like to see in the main roles?
A film would be the dream and because I’m a such visual person, I’ve already made my own film of Norman inside my head. My dream cast is without a doubt Katherine Parkinson as Sadie, (pictured below, and yes, fabulous choice, J)
Bill Nighy as Leonard (see below) and Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit) as Norman (although he’s probably a bit old now). Katherine actually narrates the audio book, brilliantly, I might add. My favourite bit of my publication story is that from day one I had a picture of Katherine as ‘my’ Sadie stuck on my cork board as I wrote the book. When she agreed to narrate the audiobook it was an absolute pinch-me moment, as she literally IS Sadie for me – I think it’s why she does such an amazing job.
Thank you so much I hope that one day you do make it to the Edinburgh Festival and that we meet. There is an Edinburgh book fair that runs at the same time as the festival, and I think you should be an honoured guest there. I’ll be in the front row clapping with all my might! (You can pretend not to know me, I’m used to it…)
If you’d like to find out more about Julietta and subsequent novels here is a link to her website. The book is published by Penguin in the UK and below is all the information you need. Do yourself a huge favour and buy it. Buy it for everyone you love, too. And maybe even those you don’t love. Spread the joy. It’s most definitely my book of the year.
- Published: 29/04/2021
- ISBN: 9781787633506
- RRP: £12.99
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Posted on November 22nd, 2021 by Jane
