Grace Wynne-Jones

Grace wrote her first book when she was about eleven. It was called ‘Stories For Everyone’ and she described it in a recent newspaper article:‘A self-published work with a print run of one copy, it featured a woman, a horse and a puppy on the cardboard cover, and the singer John Paul Jones on the back. It contained two stories. One was about my pony Merrylegs and another was about the joys of nature, so it didn’t quite live up to its title. But Mum and Dad liked it. Encouragement is invaluable to a budding author…Though I still adore ponies and nature these days I have extended my subject-matter. For example women’s lives fascinate me. And writing about them helps me to make sense of my own experiences. What’s more, I make all sorts of new friends as I type the chapters. Characters sometimes just seem to turn up, and I greet them hoping that they will share their hopes and disappointments, their fears and dreams and perplexities. I love intimacy in ordinary life…people who seem to understand. People I don’t have to pretend with. And that’s what the characters in my novels ask of my friendship with them. They want to take off their masks and tell it how it truly is. Sometimes male characters do this too and I almost fall in love with them. For example I find Charlie in ‘Ordinary Miracles’ deeply fanciable. And Nathaniel in ‘The Truth Club’ would make a most wonderful confidant.‘One of my biggest pleasures is when a reader says they have felt understood by a novel. This is often because a character has admitted to feelings they themselves have never been able to share. For example a number of readers of ‘Ordinary Miracles’ told me they felt I had somehow been spying on their marriages. One person even described the book as: ‘Victoria Wood meets Shirley Valentine’. Jasmine, the main character, has just turned forty and reads books like ‘No Need To Panic: Courageous Acts Of Change In Women’s Lives’. She discovers that her husband has been having an affair, but long before that she was wondering what had happened to her dreams. She confides in her daughter’s teddy and has torrid fantasies about a famous actor. Desperation eventually sends her on a quirky journey of self-discovery and there are tears and epiphanies and adventures and, importantly, laughter. I love writing humour. I like my novels to contain many notes and contrasts, like in music. But as the saying goes, certain chords always reach the heart in the same way.’‘Ordinary Miracles has that rare combination of depth, honesty and wit…and all of this backed by a deliciously soft, gentle and loving humour…If you try one new author, try Grace Wynne-Jones.’ OK MAGAZINE‘Grace Wynne-Jones has a wicked sense of humour which enlivens every page…Alice and her friends, and her hilarious magazine assignments, attimes leave the reader rocking with laughter.’ THE IRISH TIMES re. ''Wise Follies'‘…this is one of the best Irish novels this year…The trip to Greece is steeped in olives and jasmine, cicadas and sunshine…readers will love the local gigolo, Dimitri. Grace writes with great humour…On a more serious note, her portrayal of friendship, commitment and the complexity of relationships is very real and most enjoyable.’ EVENING HERALD re. 'Ready Or Not?'‘…..Grace Wynne-Jones has written an entertaining, intelligent and genuinely funny story….this is a great read, especially for commuters…guaranteed to shorten any journey.’ THE IRISH TIMES re. 'The Truth Club'BIOG'Grace Wynne-Jones has been described as a novelist who 'tells the truth about the human heart'. Her first novel 'Ordinary Miracles' (Accent Press) recently arrived back in the bookshops, and when it was first published in 1996 it went to auction and received rave reviews. She also received heartfelt letters from readers. “Many of them had been through painful marriages like Jasmine, the heroine in the book