‘It stays in your head’ – Jennifer Bray on the importance of writing about violence against women

Jennifer Bray talks to Her Book Club about her debut crime novel

I'm trying to read outside my comfort zone (contemporary fiction) this year, and I knew I had to add Jennifer Bray's debut crime novel, The Lies Between Us, to my reading list.

One of the country's finest political journalists, Jennifer Bray, decided to swap real-life for fiction and has perfectly crafted an engrossing, gripping, and heartbreaking crime novel. Jennifer joined Her Book Club to discuss her debut, the importance of writing about violence against women, and the joy of having the support of Marian Keyes.

As publication day looms, there's no doubt the author is both nervous and excited, but one thing I know for sure, Irish readers will be completely hooked by The Lies Between Us.

One thing I adored about the novel is how our lead characters are sisters. We meet Lucy, Susanna, and Tara Browne, who are all haunted by something. Lucy by disgrace, Susannah by vanity, and Tara by envy. But all three are haunted by their family’s secrets.

Just before a dinner at their mother’s idyllic holiday cottage, Susannah disappears. That same night a young woman is killed violently on a nearby beach. Amid the confusion the next morning, Lucy discovers a link between Susannah and the murder victim. Lucy, a former garda, must summon all she knows from her short-lived policing career to figure out the connection and find her sister.

But tracking down Susannah means Lucy confronting her own shame. It also means resurrecting ghosts that Susannah, Tara, and their mother desperately want to keep buried.

Jen said writing about sisters is a complex thing, but something that was incredibly important to her.

She told Her Book Club, "I hope that when people read the novel, they feel genuinely transported and they can taste kind of the salt air. A key theme of the book is about sisterhood, and it's about family. Anybody with sisters will relate to the dynamic between them in the novel and maybe even see parts of themselves because we have three sisters who all have kind of complicated lives in different ways. They all have different regrets. They all have complicated relationships with each other."

Jennifer Bray added, "They love each other fiercely, but they don't always get on. I think a lot of Irish women will relate to that particular dynamic. I really wanted to accurately portray how complicated that relationship is; how tight it is between sisters, but also how easily it can fall apart."

Women are at the centre of this riveting story, but political journalist Jennifer Bray has ensured she shares their stories truthfully, respectfully, and with a depth of understanding and respect.

Violence against women is one of the central parts of this novel, and as devastating as it is to read about, it remains a part of our daily lives in Ireland, and highlighting that reality is something Jennifer Bray has done exquisitely.

"I feel like that's what I'm surrounded by as a woman in society now, and the violence against women is endemic. We don't even know a tenth of what happens behind closed doors. As a journalist, I've covered different cases, I've spoken to different women, and I've seen court cases.

"If you go through the court listings for any newspaper, you'll just be appalled if you actually sit down and go through the violence perpetuated upon women in this country. And I think when you're a journalist, you do pick it up, and it all stays in your head."

"When I was sitting down to write this novel, it came out in that way in that, you know, you have a backstory which is in parts quite dark. But you also have a murder investigation of a woman who's been violently killed in the current day. You have a woman who's missing, and there's a line early on in the novel about when Lucy's in the kitchen and the newsreader says the fifth or sixth such death of the year and a violent death against women of the year. So, these are all deliberate things."

"I think crime fiction is a good way of exploring the darker elements of society, and as women we have to contend with a lot of that."

Bray added, "I think if you sat down with any woman and asked her, have you ever been sexually assaulted? Have you ever been assaulted? Have you ever been stalked? Have you ever been followed? Have you ever had a workplace incident? I guarantee you not one woman, and if she does, I'm very thankful for her, but I guarantee you that actually every single woman will have an experience."

Bray hopes her novel helps continue the conversation about violence against women in Ireland because "things are changing slowly."

Buy The Lies Between Us by Jen Bray here.