Women in the Wings Q&A - James McManus

The Woman with Wings is quite different from your previous books, what inspired you to go with this theme?
I wanted this book to pose a question that all of us must ask ourselves at some time: Who am I? What am I doing here? Thus the opening scene creates a mystery for the central character, Alison Spedding. Is she living a dream life after a death fall on a Scottish mountain, or did she survive? If so how? The only possible answer is that she did not fall but flew. But Alison knows that is not possible. Yet there is no other explanation. Alison confronts this seemingly insoluble puzzle as she searches for her true identity.
What research did you carry out when writing The Woman with Wings?
I spent a few days on the Isle of Skye with a guide who runs birdwatching tours in Scotland. Mark Finn drove me around the island searching for the elusive White-Tailed eagle. I had to see that beautiful creature, Britain’s largest bird because the book starts with such a bird descending to its nest on Skye. We even went to sea on a boat scanning the cliffs around the island but caught no sight of the bird.
I also went birdwatching with the Kent Ornithological Society one chilly morning on the marshes near Faversham in Kent. There I learned the secret of why birdwatchers will spend so much time, with such infinite patience and often in great discomfort seeking to see a bird that may never appear. That discovery was a true revelation.
Were the setting and location important when writing your book?
I think readers really appreciate a well-described sense of place. It gives the story atmosphere and context. If used properly such writing can also add to the drama of the story. For instance, in my book the description of the Isle of Skye with its brooding, mist-shrouded mountains and sheer cliffs falling to the sea adds to the mystery of Alison’s predicament.
Alison Spedding goes on a journey of self-discovery in your novel – How do you think this is important and relevant to the modern world?
Alison’s search for identity very much mirrors in my mind the questions we ask ourselves as we face the complexities of life in the 21st century. Our future is fogged by daunting questions: climate change, hostile relations between nuclear-armed states, the ever-expanding power of digital media in an age dominated by the Googles and Amazons. These in my view require us to answer the questions: Who are we and what are we doing on this planet?

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