Finalist for The Women's Prize for Fiction, Claire Kilroy, SOLDIER SAILOR
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.5 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 10 July 2024
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Zibby speaks with Irish author Claire Kilroy about SOLDIER SAILOR, an urgent, gut-wrenching novel about new motherhood that explores the clash of fierce love for a new life with a seismic change in identity. Claire describes the relationship between her characters: Soldier, the new mom, and Sailor, her young child. She dives into the challenges of motherhood and the emotions that range from love to resentment. She also delves into her own writing journey, the long gaps between her novels, and her best advice for aspiring writers.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Zivie Owens, and I am the host of this podcast. Moms don't have time to read books. |
| 0:08.1 | I am also a newly minted USA Today bestselling author of the novel, Blank. |
| 0:14.2 | I've created a whole community of book lovers around this podcast, a publishing company, reading retreats, a bookstore, and more. Learn more |
| 0:22.2 | at Zivimedia.com or follow me on social at Zibby Owens or join the community at Zibby Readers. |
| 0:31.2 | Claire Kilroy is the author of Soldier Sailor, a novel. Claire is also the author of All Summer, Tenderwire, and The Devil I Know. |
| 0:41.4 | She was awarded the Rooney Prize in 2004 and has been shortlisted for many other prizes, including the Irish novel of the year and the Carrie Group Irish Fiction Award. |
| 0:51.0 | She studied at Trinity College and lives in Dublin. |
| 0:53.9 | Welcome, Claire. Thank you so much for coming on |
| 0:55.9 | moms don't have time to read books to discuss Soldier Sailor. Thank you for having me. It's my pleasure. |
| 1:03.3 | I have to say, Claire, this book came in the mail. I mean, I requested it, but anyway, not like it just |
| 1:08.6 | showed up. But anyway, it came in the mail and I |
| 1:11.3 | started reading it like in the kitchen. Like often in the, when I'm opening the mail, I just like |
| 1:15.2 | open the first page. And I found myself like still standing there like half an hour later. And I was |
| 1:20.9 | like, I cannot read this right now. Oh my gosh, but I couldn't put it down. So anyway. |
| 1:25.6 | Brilliant. Thank you for saying that. So tell listeners what |
| 1:29.0 | Soldier Sailor is about, please. It's the preschool years. There's no plot. There's just a mother and |
| 1:35.4 | he starts as a baby by the end of it. Sailor is the baby, Soldier is the mother. By the end of |
| 1:41.7 | the book, Sailor is he's coming up on about three or four years old |
| 1:46.1 | and really it's just a mother speaking to her infant boy and telling him about those years that |
| 1:54.7 | you don't remember anything when you're that age. So, you know, you were there, but you have no recollection of it. And it's soldier telling |
| 2:04.6 | sailor how it was for her. And kind of explaining certain things, certain stressful occasions |
| 2:13.4 | that came about and why they were so stressful or so difficult for her. |
... |
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