AUTHOR Tracy Maton’s writing career started thanks to a flyer in the window of the Durdham Down Bookshop in Westbury Park, which advertised a writing class at Clifton Library run by Bristol City Council.
On a whim, she cycled over and a love affair began. Now, that love affair has led to the publication of her first novel, The Artful Anna Harris.
Many Bristol people and institutions have been part of her journey to publication.
• The Show of Strength Theatre Company, based in Bedminster, performed two of her monologues in a show at the Create Centre.
• A Bristol-based producer chose one of her short stories for BBC Radio 4, after which, Tracy enrolled on a part-time diploma at the University of Bristol to study creative writing and while there won a national short story competition.
• She went on to write for children, visiting many Bristol schools and libraries to run story-making workshops, before turning her attention to adults.
Her debut psychological thriller is the result of deciding to write what she knows and what she loves.
“What I know,” explained Tracy “is the ebb and flow – sometimes supportive, sometimes stultifying – of living in a small village, because I grew up in one. What I love is The Talented Mr Ripley, both the book by Patricia Highsmith and the screen adaptations, because Tom Ripley is such an excellent, morally repugnant character. The Artful Anna Harris is the product of these two quite different worlds.”
Readers meet Anna Harris as she lies dormant in the depths of the English countryside, about to be poked awake by Sofia, a charismatic newcomer. Poor Sofia. She would have had a happier ending if she had left well alone. The reawakened Anna, bored by her relationship with dependable Ben and suffocated by his close-knit family, encounters the very charming Mark and, on impulse, borrows Sofia’s identity to start an affair.
Increasingly Mark feels like the solution to her perpetual dissatisfaction. What a shame, he, too, has something to hide.
A review by Publishers’ Weekly US says:“Anna’s cool, unreliable narration calls Tom Ripley to mind, but Maton freshens up familiar tropes by giving her protagonist uncommon dimension. The result is irresistible.” The Sunday Times described the thriller as ‘disturbing’ and Anna Harris as ‘ruthless.’
Tracy added: “The Artful Anna Harris was, in part, written in coffee shops in Henleaze and Westbury-on-Trym and I hope one day to spot someone reading my book in one of them!”
The book is available from any bookshop, online or in-store