Joanne Harris sets her new thriller in the sinister corridors of school ties and bullies, writes Michele Magwood in the Sunday Times
Different Class
Joanne Harris
*****
When I last saw Joanne Harris we were in a helicopter hurtling towards a cliff face in the Waterberg. Down on the ground the Random House publicist was having conniptions; this little adventure was not on her itinerary for the author, but when a Chuck Yeager-like pilot offered Joanne a flight she jumped at it. And when he hollered and whooped and flung the chopper at the cliff face she whooped too.
That was in 2003, when Harris was still riding the wave of success from Chocolat, her darkly sensuous tale set in a French village. She was in South Africa to launch a book, Holy Fools, and the publisher had sent her to a game farm for a little R&R.
If we had been expecting a fey, French-accented writer we were surprised. Harris is pocket-sized and forthright, with a faint Yorkshire accent and a spry, combustible energy.
Since Chocolat and its sequels Harris has gone on to write a broad range of books: historical fiction and YA, fantasy and suspense, short stories and cookbooks.
Her latest novel is a tense psychological thriller titled Different Class, the third in the so-called Malbry series after Gentlemen and Players and Blueeyedboy. It is not necessary to have read the first two books to appreciate this fine, cunning tale. It is set in 2005 in a boys’ school in Yorkshire, a traditional school set in its chalky, time-honoured ways. At its centre is the ageing Latin master Roy Straitley.
“I’m very fond of Straitley,” says Harris, on the phone from her home in Yorkshire. “He’s very much a product of his time. He hasn’t known much outside the single-sex private school sector and he’s in it because he feels deep down that whatever problems are affecting education, he’s doing something good, he’s helping to shape people’s lives.”
With the coming of a new young leadership team, complete with email and PowerPoint – “a kind of electronic crib sheet for idiots” – the old curmudgeon is out of sorts. “Straitley has a strong moral centre which is why he has such a problem with these newbies, who seem to be in it for completely different reasons,” she says.
The new head is a man Straitley once taught, and loathed: “That pale-faced, bland, insufferable boy, with his impeccable uniform and his air of barely concealed contempt. How I hated him, then and now.”
There’s murder and menace, of course, and sleight of hand so clever it feels like a blow to the head. But there’s more to the story than this; a commentary on bullying, gender, religion, homosexuality and the changing nature of education. Harris herself taught French for 15 years in a similar school and her intimate knowledge shows.
“No parent really believes, deep down, that their son could be a liar; a bully; a cheat; a thief – or worse still, just an average boy, unexceptional in every way. Masters know the truth, of course. Few boys are exceptional. All boys are lazy. All boys lie.”
Harris says she was a “subversive” teacher. “I had societies that were somewhat disapproved of, like a French film society where we showed a lot of unsuitable movies, and a role-playing club. I found there were a lot of boys who didn’t really have a place to fit and role-playing games were a real release for their imaginative natures and their creativity.”
There is a duality to Harris: on the one hand she writes moving, often mystical and romantic stories, and on the other she is fierce, even combative. Private Eye once called her “admirably stroppy”.
Her busy Twitter feed is riveting: in between posting valuable advice to writers she klaps trolls and the publishing establishment. Does she see herself as an activist?
“I’ve certainly got opinions about how authors are – and should be – treated by the publishing industry.” Her voice is stern. “There are conversations to be had about things like copyright, about authors’ pay which has gone down and down every year, about the way festivals treat authors.”
She’s having a field day with Brexit, reminding followers that she’s the daughter of an immigrant: “Nigel Farage: ex-banker; now professional gobshite, attention-seeker and waste of space.” She loathes injustice and entitlement, “the kind of heartlessness that leads people to go along with their little lives and not think about other people who may not have it as good as they do.”
But soon we’re back to talking about mythology, and her next book. “It’s like a book of modern fairytales, interlinked with recurring characters.” She couldn’t stay away from the subject for too long, she says. “I’m interested in what people believe and the way they weave these beliefs into the narrative of their daily life. Folklore and fairytales and religion are all interconnected and I think these things are hardwired into the way we perceive the world. They’re the kind of secret language of the unconscious.”
Harris’s favourite books
1. Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas, HA Guerber: Out of print even when I first read it, this was one of the great influences of my childhood. A compendium of Scandinavian and Icelandic myths, from which arose my lifelong fascination for old Norse mythology, language and culture.
2. R Is for Rocket, Ray Bradbury: A vibrant and wonderful short story collection from one of the 20th century’s great masters of the art. Bradbury’s prose is magical; evocative, crisp and filled with unabashed joie-de-vivre.
3. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake: Dense, ominous, strange and compelling, Peake’s masterwork defies categorisation, and continues to offer new insights and perspectives at every re-reading.
4. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo: One of the great passions of my adolescence, by the author that ruined Dickens for me forever; a massive, breathtaking novel, thrilling but literary, perfectly poised between epic and melodrama.
5. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov: The book that taught me that language, correctly used, can evoke any sensation, create any emotion. Perfect voodoo on the page.
6. Lord of the Flies, William Golding: I first read this when I was 10. It terrified and fascinated me. It still does.
Follow at Michele Magwood on Twitter @michelemagwood
Book details
- Different Class by Joanne Harris
EAN: 9780385619240
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- Myths of the Norsemen by HA Guerber
EAN: 9781486146581
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- R if for Rocket by Ray Bradbury
EAN: 9781904619772
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- Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
EAN: 9780099288893
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- Le Miserables by Victor Hugo
EAN: 9781607108160
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- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
EAN: 9780241951644
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- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
EAN: 9780399501487
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- Different Class by Joanne Harris
EAN: 9780385619240
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