Interview: Jenny Lynch talks about The Humiliation of Millicent Salmond

Jenny Lynch is a former editor of the NZ Woman's Weekly. She has also been an actor, photographic model and a Playboy bunny. She has lived and worked in the USA, Canada and Australia and is the author of four non-fiction books including a fashion history, Ready To Wear: The changing shape of New Zealand fashion and a memoir Under the Covers: Secrets of a Magazine Editor. The Secrets They Kept was her first work of fiction. Jenny talks to NZ Booklovers about her collection of short stories.

Tell us a little about The Humiliation of Millicent Salmond

It is a collection of 22 twisted 'tales of the unexpected' about ambition, greed, love and betrayal. In Death By A Thousand Bites for instance, a fed-up housewife plans to kill her husband. The Devil's Disciple sees a woman stalked by 'something loathsome'. Dream Lover is one of several tales that delve into marital angst. A  prickly marriage is at the heart of the book's title story. On a lighter note, Dick Turpin's Campaign is about a calculating cat.

What inspired you to write these short stories?

Mostly curious events in my own life (husband killing wasn't one of them) and those of people, admirable and otherwise, I encountered during 30 years in journalism, with lesser stints in acting, television -- and at the Melbourne Playboy.

What research was involved?

The fed-up housewife uses food as her lethal weapon. Knowing that our forebears were hardly healthy eaters, I delved into a colonial cookbook to find fat and sugar-laden recipes with heart attack potential. I also needed details about the gun used to murder a woman in Mrs McCallister's Mistake. I relied on my own knowledge for descriptive material. A tornado plays a key role in one of the tales. I lived through a devastating tornado while a student in the United States.

What was your routine or process when writing this collection of short stories?

The process followed a long and winding road. I wrote a draft of my first story Death By A Thousand Bites on a clunky typewriter many years ago. Other tales followed at regular intervals. I put them all in a folder while I got on with other projects such as my memoir Under the Covers and my first novel The Secrets They Kept. Now those projects  have been completed, so here they are.

If you had to name your favourite story from the book what would it be and why?

It is a toss-up between two contrasting tales -- the darkly atmospheric The Devil's Disciple set in Ireland and the final offering, Celebration. The latter revolves around the unlikely bond between a small boy and a disabled teenage girl. It is a story of love, loss and an enduring secret. I still can't read it without a lump in my throat so perhaps it should be the one.

What did you enjoy the most about writing this collection?

Four of my previous books had been non-fiction. It was refreshing to be able to shove facts to one side and let the imagination flow. Fleshing out the characters -- even the horrible ones -- was great fun. Some of the stories are written in the first person. The character tells the tale. This meant getting inside the heads of those characters, thinking their thoughts, feeling their emotions, and describing what happened – in their own voices. The lilting voice of the Irish woman in The Devil's Disciple had to be completely different from that of the travel writer in Hilton's Last Supper, describing something peculiar she witnessed during a long-haul flight. My imaginary people became as real to me as anyone I have ever known.

What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?

I didn't celebrate at all. The stories had begged to see the light of day, so it was a relief to finally let them do so. But I also felt nervous. As a writer, you can become so close to your subject that you can't see the wood for the trees. You wonder whether you are on the right track. My husband offered an opinion. It was pleasingly positive. 'I never knew you could be so devious,' he said.

What is the favourite book you have read this year and why?

I am a history buff, and Thou Savage Woman: Female Killers in Early Modern Britain, a compendium of female murderers from the era of the Tudors and the Stuarts, ticks all the boxes. In it, historian Blessin Adams examines the case histories of women who tortured, stabbed, strangled and poisoned their way to their own deaths by rope or fire. She discusses the motives behind their dark deeds and describes the grim social setting in which they occurred. I have long been fascinated by female killers. Traditionally, women are expected to be caring and nurturing. Killing definitely flies in the face of that expectation.

What's next on the agenda for you?

I have written a fun children's book but need to find someone to illustrate it.

Mary Egan Publishing