Rhiannon Lucy Coslett
Welsh journalist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s debut novel The Tyranny Of Lost Things is out in June, and when Buzz sits down to discuss the perils of debuts with the author, she admits to feeling trepidatious about the interview. “I’ve been steeling myself for the ‘So is it autobiographical?’ questions; it’s one that young women get asked particularly often – so it would be quite nice to be credited as an author of a work of fiction as opposed to just writing down what’s happened in your life!”
The Tyranny Of Lost Things, set during the 1980s and the riots of summer 2011, tells the story of Harmony, a university dropout haunted by nightmares who returns to the urban commune in which she grew up. Cosslett sees it as part of a tradition of coming-of-age novels where protagonists try to work out what makes them happy. “Harmony isn’t even at a point where she’s acknowledging the possibility of happiness, because she’s traumatized. A lot of the conversations with the older characters are about their idealism and what they hoped would bring happiness to society.”
The novel has had a long gestation, taking over four years to write. “It’s something that was percolating in my head for a very long time. As a study of trauma it meant a lot to me, so it wasn’t something I was going to bash out. I can’t work like that anyway – I don’t have that discipline where can sit down and say, ‘Today I will write 2,000 words.’ I’m in awe of people who can.”
In contrast to the much-discussed stranglehold of the privately-educated on the British media, Cosslett went to the same school as fellow journalist Ellie Mae O’Hagan, both having found national success. Does she feel like a role model for young people from Wales?
“I’ve been doing my best to try and mentor kids who come from those disadvantaged backgrounds to go into journalism or into writing as you really need the extra encouragement; it seems like such a closed-off world. Occasionally I might have some teenage girl come up to me and say, ‘You taught me so much about feminism when I was a teenage girl,’ and that is the most wonderful thing to hear. It beats any of the bad stuff.” DAVID WYN
The Tyranny Of Lost Things is published on Thurs 21 June. Price: £8.99. Info: www.sandstonepress.com (reviewed on p. 50)