Lizzy Dent’s The Summer Job is set to be one of the stand-out novels of the coming months, positioning her as a hot new voice in contemporary fiction. Already lauded by the likes of Beth O’Leary and Marian Keyes, the novel tells the story of Birdy who takes a job meant for her best friend Heather, as a wine sommelier in Scotland, despite her complete lack of knowledge on the subject. It’s an immensely engaging and propulsive take on the rom com, with an utterly lovable protagonist. Lizzy joins us here to talk about the evolution of the novel, the importance of female friendship and what else she’s working on.
The full interview is available on the podcast.
Having made her mark first in YA, this Thursday, Lizzy Dent will release her debut novel – The Summer Job – that is set to be one of the stand-out commercial fiction novels of this summer. Talking to us from Austria, Dent exudes the same wit and charm as her character Birdy.
You’ve previously published three young adult books – how much did you have to alter your writing style for this release?
Not much, actually, when I wrote my first YA novel – a friend of mine who is another writer – sent me an email. She said, ‘I’ve just finished your book, have you considered writing adult?’ I think that naturally that kind of style of book is my natural voice. It’s a similar voice to my young adult books. So, though those are completely different, it’s a similar sort of tone of voice. It was really amazing to learn [to write YA] because I’d never written anything before that, so I kind of learned how to write through that process. Then I felt like by the end of the third book, I think I knew what I really wanted to write – that’s for women who are in their 20s and 30s and haven’t found exactly what they want to be or where they fit in, or are not always good people.
I think that’s what I loved the most about Birdy – every woman could see themselves in her, because she was flawed but completely lovable – I think that’s what was so compelling.
I think that you read a lot of novels about people who have an amazing talent, but they haven’t made it work yet – they might be a great baker or artist, or media person, but you don’t read a lot about people who just sort of go from one job to the next, they’re kind of happy, but they don’t have that passion and drive. I definitely wanted to explore that, because that’s how I felt. I worked in TV for a long time and it was fun, but I was never where I wanted to be in TV and I was too scared to really go for it and be a drama writer for a great big HBO series – which is a secret desire still to this day.
Did you find your experience in TV shaped the way you write at all?
In TV, I didn’t do any real, proper, long form storytelling ever – that was always my dream, but I didn’t. Occasionally, I wrote some scripts for minor things like some short form content that would go online, but it was never long form. I never had the confidence to read and also the training, because I didn’t have a degree. It just wasn’t something that I was very confident at. It’s weird, isn’t it because in a way, it took me stepping out of a co-creative environment to find my confidence. Now, it’s not to say being an author is completely alone, but I was able to get something that was wholly finished with no eyes on it, and then step forward and say, ‘Here’s something I’ve done!’ Whereas, I think in TV, you’re sat in writers rooms for TV shows, being human – there’s a whole group of people working on these things – it’s not just one person, and you have to get in that door, that’s quite hard to do.
Like a TV show, the characters in the book are so well formed – how much were they based on different people in your life?
I thought really hard about all of them. So, Heather to me was the me of my insecure boyfriend relationship days right – she was the version of me who pinned all her hopes, dreams, ambitions and futures on one dude that she met. With Birdy, I wanted to show the side of me that was not always a nice person and was self-interested and did mean things to people sometimes, but ultimately just wanted to be liked and fit in – that’s who I tried to explore with her. Then Irene was one of those maternal women in your life who give you a lot of space to get on with stuff on and learn for yourself, but definitely don’t have endless patience – I got a lot of that from my aunts actually when I came to England – they have less patience, but a lot of maternal guidance which is a bit stiffer than the kind you get from your mom.
Obviously the central relationship was that between James and Birdy, but the relationship between Heather and Birdy was one of the most special bonds for me. I loved that that was a big part of this.
I can say, with 100% certainty that the the most important relationships in my lives have been my female friends – they’ve caused the biggest hurt when they have fallen apart, the ones that I’ve lost have caused years of pain. I still think about that those friendships that have fallen away. Female friendships are so important, they’re a choice you make as you’re growing. I think there’s some that I’ve taken through from when I was a teenager to now. There’s some that I’ve made at different times in my life, and they’ve shaped who you are, and they also keep you in check. There’s an honesty to female friendships as well, that I think is really important – the support network is strong, but also that ability to just say, ‘You’re being a dickhead, mate’ in a way that you will listen to.
Are you already thinking about the next project? Or is that something that is just too far away to even think about?
I’ve already sold my next to Viking, so the next book is half written!
We can’t wait to read it. Thank you so much Lizzy for talking to us today.
The full interview is available on the podcast.
The Summer Job is out in the UK on April 15th – pre-order here now.
