Daniel stroked a finger across the black keys. ‘Some are in twos, some are in threes.’
‘God, you’re a smarty-pants, aren’t you now. Why don’t you teach me to play the bloody piano?’ She laughed and Daniel turned to smile up at her. From this angle he could see the space in her teeth: her missing tooth was on the top, near the molar.
‘And now listen to this.’ She reached to the right side of the piano, stretching across him so that her face was close to his. She struck the keys and then ran her fingers down the keyboard and struck the keys at the very left of the piano. ‘What do you notice about the difference in the sound?’ she said, leaning close to him, so that he could see the dark blue rings around her pale blue eyes. They were like marbles, hard and clear.
‘That’s low and that’s high,’ he said, pointing at either end of the piano.
‘Right you are, high on the right and low on the left – sure but you’re a natural. Now, we’ll try a duet.’
She took time to show him the high keys of the piano, numbering them one, two, and three, in the order that she wanted him to play them, and then she started to play a tune at the low end of the piano. She showed him when to push down on the keys, trying to get him to use a three-finger action, but he preferred to stab with his forefinger, enjoying the chill note that he produced.
They did that for a few minutes, with her playing the song on the left of the keyboard and elbowing him in the ribs and shouting now, now, with her strange Irish vowels, when she wanted him to play the notes she had taught him at his end. She told him the song was called ‘Heart and Soul’.
But he tired of it, and slammed the keys with his palms. Tring tring tring, up and down. He expected anger from her. He still didn’t know her well. He looked up into her eyes, but they were wide with glee. She slammed her own palms down on the low keys, so that the grave noise chimed with his high-pitched squeals and yelps. It was a duet all the same. The noise chased Blitz from the room, and she started singing at the top of her voice, any old words and so did he, until he was hoarse and until they were half deaf and tears ran down both their cheeks with laughter.
Then they were still, and she pressed him into her. He was tired and he allowed it. As the ringing subsided in his ears, a thought came to him sharp and clear as the high note on the piano. He liked her, and he wanted to stay. The thought resonated in his head and it made him quiet. He smoothed the ivory-coated wood of the piano, his fingers still tingling from the bashing he had given the keys.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would first like to say a big thank you to my editor, Emma Beswetherick, for her creativity and support, and to all at Piatkus for their tireless enthusiasm.
Several people have given their time to help my research for this book, and this was crucial in helping to make the worlds the characters inhabit more believable. I would particularly like to thank Kate Barrie, Tony Beswetherick Iain Cockbain, Jason Cubbon, Elizabeth Gray, Jacinta Jones, Eileen Leyden, John Leyden, Sarah Long, Alastair & Juliette MacDonald, Sandra Morrison, Laura Stuart, Sarah Stuart and Scott. A. Ware for their various help on everything from the legal world to regional accents, music and locations. Very special thanks to Gerry Considine for allowing me insight into the work of a criminal solicitor, and to Liz and Alan Paterson for their advice on Social Work issues.
Writing involves spending a lot of time by yourself, but I doubt that this creative solitude would have been possible without my many friends, family and colleagues who all believed that someday this would happen even though I doubted it. I would particularly like thank: Paul Ballantyne, Russell Ballantyne, The Darroch Sisters: Mairi, Jane and Val, Marie Kobine, Helen Leyden, Allan MacLean, Julie Ramsay, Ian Thomson, Gordon Webb.
But it is readers who complete writers, and my greatest debt is to my own early readers, without whose positive criticism, I may never have written another word: Kent & Mary Ballantyne, Rita Balneaves, Mary Fitzgerald-Peltier, Mark Kobine, Phil Mason and Elizabeth McCrone. This book would not exist without you.
While researching the novel, I read As If, by Blake Morrison, and The Case of Mary Bell, by Gitta Sereny. I would like to thank both writers for their very different but equally insightful portraits of children on trial.
Last, but certainly not least, a great many thanks to my wonderful agent, Nicola Barr, for her astuteness, her faith and encouragement.
THE GUILTY ONE
Reading Guide
READING GROUP DISCUSSION POINTS
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Who do you
think ‘The Guilty One’ of the story is?
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How do the two strands of the story complement each other? Do they work together successfully?
*
Who is your favourite character and why?
*
Do you think Minnie was right to do what she did?
*
Can you discuss Daniel’s resentment towards Minnie?
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How well does the story explore the subject of fostercare and/or children in the criminal justice system?
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What connections can you draw between the adult and the child Daniel?
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Can you comment on the way in which the story explores the relationship between mothers and sons/adults and children?
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Before
the big reveal at the end, did you believe Sebastian to be guilty or innocent?
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What have you taken away from the story? What do you think it is trying to say?
AUTHOR Q & A
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes, but not always a novelist. For many years I wrote poetry, which, as a pastime, is somewhat more sociable. I felt compelled to write long fiction because characters and their lives began to inhabit me.
Can you tell us a little about what inspired you to write The Guilty One and whether the writing process was an easy one?
I am always drawn to characters, and I was ‘visited’ by the characters of Minnie and Daniel. The other characters and the story of The Guilty One evolved as a result of trying to understand this fundamental relationship.
How did it feel to get a UK publisher for your debut novel?
I can’t describe it. Even now, months after the fact, I have trouble believing it has happened.
After your book deal in the UK, The Guilty One then sold around the world. How did you react to this?
Luckily I was very busy at work while all this was happening, and it helped me to distance myself from it. I still wonder if I somehow slipped into a parallel universe.
New writers are often advised to write about what they know. Do you know a lot about criminal law and foster care in order to have written about it so authentically?
I don’t write about what I know, but I do write about what interests me, and my commitment to the characters fuels my research. In wishing to make my characters believable, I want to make the worlds they inhabit believable too – however, I am still reticent to call my representations of these worlds authentic. At best I would hope they are believable. There are few things more fun than researching fictional characters. It is like stalking your own imagination.