Novel ideas

Crouch End children’s author Mary Moloney spills the tea on her writing life

Emma, the main character of
Mary’s debut novel — Emma, the main character of Mary’s debut novel

As a writer living in Crouch End, my association with Haringey goes back many years and has fuelled my writing career.

In particular, I have been a member for many years of one of the UK’s longest running book groups, based in North London, which focuses on discussion of women’s writing. We read and discuss one book by a woman every month – this could be a novel, non-fiction, autobiography or short stories.

I believe it was born from a women’s collective at the time of the Greenham Common demonstrations and it was felt that men’s writing received much more publicity and promotion so this was a small step to rectify that! This was before book groups became fashionable and I learnt about it from my Danish neighbour.

In 2010, I entered, and won, the Waterstone’s national book group competition. Our prize was to discuss Andrea Levy’s novel The Long Song with her over lunch. Andrea also lived in Crouch End which she called “the centre of the universe”. Of course, Andrea had achieved huge success with her Windrush novel Small Island and had an interesting and varied career, starting as a costume designer for the BBC and Royal Opera House.

We mainly focused on her novel The Long Song which focuses on slavery in 19th Century Jamaica. Although such a heavy subject, Andrea approached it with a light touch and great humour. Very sadly, Andrea died in 2019. I also joined Belladonna, a small theatre group in North London, for which we wrote and performed our own work. This is where I originally started writing sketches and other pieces.

I am also in a writers’ group in Haringey, which meets monthly to provide constructive criticism on our writing. I’m sure my novel would never have been published without them. Having always wanted to write a novel since childhood, I thought I’d better start! The result is Pippa and Friends Investigate: The Mystery of the Missing Teapot. It’s a detective story for children and attempts to recapture the spirit of The Famous Five novels.

I’ve always loved the work of Enid Blyton and feel that adventure based children’s stories are more important than ever in these difficult times. Children are often accused of spending too much time on their phones. This, I believe, is unfair – young people still want to spend time with their friends outside.

Pippa and Friends Investigate is specifically designed to cater for these needs. The novel is set in North Wales in 1973. Emma and her trumpet-playing brother Edward live with their delightfully eccentric grandparents while their parents are overseas. When eggs are stolen from farmer Richard, Emma sets out to solve the mystery with her three friends and Pippa, her beloved poodle, who often saves the day! Thrilled at the prospect of being detectives, they meet regularly in the branches of an apple tree called Mabel.

But when the vicar’s turquoise, hexagonal teapot, containing the church’s roof repair fund, is stolen, all the characters in the village come under suspicion, including the children’s beloved Grandpa. It may be that the case will be too difficult for them to handle.

I hope, in time, to write a sequel, but I’m currently enjoying a change of direction by writing adult short stories, most of which are dystopian or supernatural.

Pippa and Friends Investigate: The Mystery of the Missing Teapot will be published in summer 2024, launched by the Welsh Book Council. To find out more:
Visit candy-jar.co.uk/books/pippaandfriends.html

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