Ghost of an idea

MAGGIE O'Farrell was born in Northern Ireland, spent ten years in Wales and then her family moved to Scotland when she was 12. "I think my parents were terrified about setting foot in England," she said, laughing. That's not a fear that has afflicted the novelist: she now lives in London. But her heart still belongs much farther north.

"I think of all the places I lived in, Scotland got under my skin more than anywhere else," she said.

That is true, too, of her fictional tastes. She has always enjoyed Robert Louis Stevenson and other Scottish gothic literature. And her acclaimed debut novel After You'd Gone, set largely in Edinburgh, is part of that tradition.

After You'd Gone tells the story of Alice who, deranged by grief, saw something so terrible in the mirror at Edinburgh Waverley Station that she fled. Later, brooding on what she witnessed, she steps into traffic and is knocked down.

In a coma, her past is revealed in a swirl of memories. "Compulsively readable" said one review; "a devastating debut" said another.

After this success Maggie was faced with what is often referred to as "that difficult second novel".

"When you write your first book it's a very special experience, because you are doing it in your bedroom," she said. "You are not even sure if you are going to finish it; you're kind of doing it in a vacuum.

"With the second one you have contracts, and agents and publishers waiting for it. It's nerve-wracking. You know what to expect. You know reviews can be cruel."

Her anxiety is groundless. The new book, My Lover's Lover, is another remarkable work, part gothic ghost story, partly a story of romantic loss.

When Lily meets Marcus, it is not long before she moves into his loft apartment. There she discovers he is mourning the loss of his ex-girlfriend, Sinead. So intense is her presence, Lily soon starts seeing her - but what happened to the departed Sinead?

"When I first started writing this book, I was writing two books," said Maggie. "One about ghosts and one about infidelity; one about Lily and one about Sinead. Then I realised that actually, stories about ghosts and about infidelity are very similar. They're about an unwanted presence from the past, so the two became one."

The ghost story is told with such intense realism that it spooks the reader; did she spook herself?

She nods. "I was living in Hackney, which is quite a rough part of London. I didn't know whether it was actually scarier to stay in the house alone or whether I was more scared of muggers outside."

My Lover's Lover is set in East London, which like Edinburgh, has a gothic feel.

"York is a bit like this. There are certain cities where you can see the different lives and slowly cast off the layers.

"East London has had many life cycles: Lily and Marcus live in an old garment factory."

After our chat in the Dean Court Hotel, Maggie is planning a wander around York. She could have spent a few years here as a student, but chose Cambridge University instead, a decision she seems to regret.

The night before she had met her readers at Borders bookshop in Davygate, an event she enjoyed.

"It's always interesting to meet your readers. They often have a very different interpretation of your books than you do.

"Someone made the point that women in my books have accidents related to their femininity: one falls over from her high heels and another gets her skirt caught in a bicycle chain.

"I'd never noticed that before. You write things and often you don't really realise that there are other meanings that people take from them."

Impulsiveness is something that features in Maggie's novels. In My Lover's Lover, we learn that Sinead abandoned London for China after a man she hardly knows, but knows she loves.

Maggie once did something similar. After she left university she took off to Hong Kong "with about £5 in my pocket".

"There are times when you just get bored of yourself and want to change everything," she said.

She now sees her Eastern trip as part of an attempt to ignore her deep-seated ambition to be a writer.

When she came back, she got a job as a secretary for the Independent On Sunday, later becoming a journalist there. She started After You'd Gone to alleviate her boring day job, compiling TV listings, but had risen to the post of deputy books editor by the time the novel came out.

Now she has given up the day job altogether and is working on her third novel.

"It's partly set in Hong Kong. It's about two sisters this time.

"It's more similar to After You'd Gone. And it's a love story because all good stories are."

My Lover's Lover by Maggie O'Farrell is published by Review price £12.99

Updated: 10:17 Wednesday, May 08, 2002