Blog

Mary Foxe came by the other day – the last person on earth I was expecting to see. I’d have tidied up if I’d known she was coming. I’d have combed my hair, I’d have shaved. At least I was wearing a suit; I strive for a sense of professionalism. I was sitting in my study, writing badly, just making words on the page, waiting for something good to come through, some sentence I could keep. It was taking longer that day than it usually did, but I didn’t mind. The windows were open. I was sort of listening to something by Glazunov; there’s a symphony of his you can’t listen to with the windows closed, you just can’t. Well I guess you could, but you’d get agitated and run at the walls. Maybe that’s just me.
 

Is Your Boss a Psychopath?
 
The standard clinical test for psychopaths, Robert Hare’s 20-point PCL-R checklist, evaluates 20 personality traits, but a subset of eight traits defines what Hare calls the corporate psychopath, the non-violent person prone to the selfish, callous and remorseless use of others.

 

1. The Missing Part of the Puzzle Revealed

This is a story about madness. It begins with a curious encounter at a Costa Coffee shop in Bloomsbury, Central London.

 

What made you want to write this book?

I wanted to write a book about madness because it has always been - I think - the elephant in the room of my other books. Do the people I write about behave the strange ways they do because madness is the engine that powers them? I felt I needed to address this question head-on. Is madness the force that makes the world go around?

 

Take a listen to a clip from the audio book of the Man Booker Prize shortlisted Room by Emma Donoghue.