Eliza Mood launches first novel ‘Giving Up Architecture’

St Martin’s Creative Writing lecturer Eliza Mood will be launching her first novel “Giving Up Architecture” at the Gregson Centre, Moor Lane from 6pm on Wednesday 10 May, as part of the St Martin’s Festival celebrating creativity in the community. She’ll be giving a reading from the book and signing copies at an event open to the public, alongside with other writers who’ll also be presenting their work. Although this is her first novel, Eliza is also a published poet with more of her work due to appear in print this year.

‘Giving Up Architecture’ tells the story of Clem, a former architecture student struggling to re-establish his identity after serving in the Ambulance Corps as a conscientious objector during the Second World War. While he faces his demons privately after the war ends, unable to articulate or make sense of his past, he develops a relationship with Lou while working as a history teacher. The book looks at how two ordinary lives can be torn apart by war and imaginatively incorporates traditional tales and myths to bring Clem’s tormented interior world to life.

Eliza explains: “I was interested in a character that was a conscientious objector but becomes troubled by that and doubts if he did the right thing. It’s about how the repercussions of that decision go on for years and even through generations.”

The novel is influenced by writers known for their innovative use of narrative and for drawing on traditional tales and oral storytelling, such as Angela Carter, Jeanette Winterson and Salman Rushdie, whose books often present a mythological interpretation of the world. Eliza has long been fascinated and inspired by traditional stories, from Native American creation myths to Scottish travellers’ tales, and these have become a major part of ‘Giving Up Architecture’.

“I would call it a historic-mythological book because it is shaped by myth and stories. I am really interested in story, narrative and oral tales and retellings of tales in a different context. I’ve done research on children telling stories which I’ve drawn on in my teaching and there are particular stories that have always fascinated me. I’m interested in the world we live in, but also the way that connects with the parallel world that we also exist in, the world of our dreams and our subconscious. I’m hoping to have written something that a range of readers can get something out of.”

Eliza is currently working on a new book set in a school in a mining community, which draws upon her own experiences as a teacher in a similar community in County Durham. ‘Giving Up Architecture’ is also available as a podcast for download with Eliza reading passages of her novel, which can be found at www.stmartinsfestival.org.uk.

The book, priced £8.99, is available from bookshops from May and can also be ordered via the publishers’ website, www.seaglassbooks.co.uk. The first annual St Martin’s Festival is a four day event running from Thursday 11 May until Sunday 14 May at St Martin’s College, Lancaster.

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