Ready or Not?

About Grace Wynne-jones

Grace Wynne-Jones was born and brought up in Ireland and has also lived in Africa, the US and England. She is the author of four critically acclaimed novels and her feature articles have appeared in many magazines and national papers in Ireland and in England. Below is an interview wth this author.

Grace Wynne-Jones has been described as a novelist who 'tells the truth about the human heart'. When 'Ordinary Miracles' was first published in 1996 it got into the bestseller list and received rave reviews. She also received heartfelt letters from readers. “Many of them had been through painful marriages like Jasmine, the heroine in the book. But lots more just enjoyed the novel's humorous honesty about, say, trying to get your partner to do some ironing or finding that sex is now below 'defrost mince' on the list of household chores” Grace laughs.

“People who enjoy my books like that the characters admit to having feelings many of us have but might never say” she continues..” Some people said 'how did you know that about me?' It's as though they thought I'd been spying on their marriages! They thought this because Jasmine tells it like it really is. Like many of us, she's got tired of pretending.”

In the novel Jasmine becomes a 're-entry single' and 'Ordinary Miracles' itself has become a 're-entry book'. It's been unavailable for some years but has recently arrived back in the shops. Grace wrote it when she was about to turn forty, just like Jasmine in the novel.. “I strongly identified with her worries about that birthday”  she admits. “Jasmine carries a book called 'No Need To Panic: Courageous Acts of Change In Women's Lives' in her handbag and tries not to get into too much of a tizz.”  But when Jasmine's husband has an affair her quiet desperation gets rather noisy and she turns to an old schoolfriend, a pig, and a man called Charlie for help. “The pig is called Rosie and she likes watching Coronation Street”  Grace reveals. “And Charlie is understanding and gorgeous. I fell in love with him myself!”

And how does Grace feel about having such an honest heroine in her novel? “Well I had to get used to her truthfulness about everything, including very intimate details”  Grace admits. “But that's why I grew so fond of her too. She gets propelled on an adventure even though she feels she should go around wearing L plates. She learns about  love and she discovers a great deal about herself and life's many 'ordinary miracles'."