Our host Vick Hope is joined by actor and screenwriter Emer Kenny.
Emer is an actor and writer who made her acting debut in the BAFTA-nominated single drama Coming Down The Mountain in 2008. She began to write for the screen soon after, honing her skills on BBC’s Eastenders and Holby City, which she followed up with episodes of Hulu’s Harlots and Sky’s Save Me Too. Alongside this, she played Joan Morecambe in Victoria Wood’s BAFTA-winning Morecambe and Wise biopic, Eric and Ernie. Most recently, she has written, executive produced and acted in BAFTA-winning ITV crime drama Karen Pirie, which is returning for a second series this year.
Listen to the full episode here and read on to see Emer’s top five most influential books written by women.
“I think the origin story of this book, that Mary Shelly was – I think she was 19 – with her husband in Switzerland and the weather was really bad and to pass the time they had a horror story competition. And Mary Shelly won. I just love that. What she came up with is so strange and dark and epic and so iconic – it’s so impressive that a teenage girl did that.”
“Eve Babitz I think, was very defined by the men around her. In my 20s I went out with a man who was older and more successful than me and I had to get my head around not being defined by him and putting a lot of energy into my own confidence – it’s definitely something that spoke to me in [Eve’s] work.”
“I read this in about three days and it just blew me away. It’s just an incredible ride. It has serious themes but ultimately it really takes you in with the characters. […] I think she confronts the idea that Celestial should stand by her man. She refuses to let her female character do the thing that you’re willing her to do because she wants her to have her own life, her own identity and to make her own decisions.”
“There’s this element that is escapist but there’s a really dark story at the centre, which is Truman on this downward spiral […] He’s scrabbling around and trying to write something good. And he ends up plundering the secrets of his best friends to make some art and the great tragedy of it is it’s not even good art at the end! It’s a really brilliant story.”
It’s such a feat, this book – it’s chilling in many ways and emotional and kind of incredible to experience. Not just in the way that true crime can be fascinating – ultimately it takes you on a journey of a woman’s soul as she becomes obsessed with working out who did these crimes. It’s just really something.
