I certainly do.
We can take all the time we need. By the way, I reread all your books. I’d read them before, of course, but…
Were you satisfied with them?
What? Oh, yes, very. Very satisfied. The first two were the best…
I’ve spoken so often about those books, gone over and over them. Sometimes I can’t even remember the characters’ names it’s such a long time since I wrote the first in the series. And I’ve never read any of them again.
Why not?
Why? What good would it do? I wrote them; other people can read them.
Did you just sit down one day and decide to write a crime novel?
I decided to write a novel. I’m not sure I thought of it as any particular genre, not to start off with.
A story about loss?
You may have a point there.
Based on personal experience?
Loss isn’t quite the right word. To tell the truth, I don’t know what to call it,I feel I’ve used all the words so often, but I don’t believe you can lose something you’ve never really had. The story is more about mourning for something that never happened, about grief, if you can grieve for what might have been.
I sometimes got the impression that these ideas were like a leitmotif running throughout the series. Explicitly or implicitly.
Well, I don’t know how much effort I should waste on analysing my own books – I’m not sure it’s appropriate – but you’re not necessarily that far wrong. Stories are about so many things, you know. That’s why we write, to tell stories – in answer to your question.
I’d like to return to the personal angle and ask to what extent those first books were based on your own experiences?
It’s impossible to draw clear lines between the books and real life. Of course, I haven’t – thank God – experienced all the crimes I wrote about. But the characters, events, settings, emotions, they must all have some basis in reality, mustn’t they? No one writes in a vacuum.
Do you have any regrets, Elín?
[pause]
I wasn’t actually prepared for that question. But of course the answer is yes. It’s obvious, really.
And that regret has found its way into your books?
That’s inevitable. As I mentioned before, if you’ve lost something, or missed out on something, it stays with you. The things you haven’t done, no less than those you have. Sometimes I feel as if I’ve failed, but… Well, sometimes I have failed. As everyone does, I suppose. Just to different degrees, if you understand?
Do you regret having stopped after ten books?
Not at all. If I’m to be completely honest, I’m always writing. I’ve always written, since long before my books were first published, and I can’t stop now.
Does it all get put away in a drawer, Elín?
Not always.
Are you going to…?
I suggest we come back to that later.
2012
Saturday, 3 November
