Personal perspective on a sticky situation

We Are All Made of Glue
by Marina Lewycka, Penguin, $29
Once a book is done, it's done - but the characters linger on.
"They take on a life of their own," bubbly Yorkshirewoman Marina Lewycka tells me.
"When I start writing, I often have a rough idea of the characters and, by the end, they feel like intimate friends - so I go back to the start and fill in what I've learned about them.
"They start as shadowy figures and emerge through the pages."
Lewycka (pronounced Lav-itz-ka) even became attached to the cats in her latest book We Are All Made Of Glue. Mind you, there are seven of them, so it's understandable.
The story follows Georgie Sinclair, a mother of two abandoned by her husband, who becomes involved in the life of the eccentric Mrs Shapiro, her seven smelly cats, a handful of not-so-handy handymen and several slimy real estate agents.
In the midst of the comic chaos, Georgie unravels a mystery involving wartime, the Middle East and the love of Mrs Shapiro's life.
It's all very entertaining and reflects Lewycka's own life philosophy - the things that bind us together are more important than what pulls us apart.
Like most authors, she tends to "plunder" reality, developing characters and storylines based on people and events in her own life.
The batty Mrs Shapiro is loosely based on an old woman who lived across the road from the author in Sheffield.
"I used to see her walking up and down the street, looking very elegant (although without the cats)," Lewycka recalls. "She was a lady of style."
The old woman eventually went into a rest home, her house was taken over and her belongings put in a skip.
The way Mrs Shapiro speaks is based on a woman in Devon who had two caravans (also the inspiration for Lewycka's previous book, Two Caravans), and the estate agent and social workers are based on something that happened to a neighbour.
Meanwhile, the Arab/Israeli conflict, which is explored in the book, is a situation Lewycka has always found perplexing.
"I'm of a generation brought up with a terrible sense of shame and horror regarding the Holocaust but who remained optimistic that after all that pain and suffering, people would've learned from it and it would make them kinder and wiser. It doesn't."
But Lewycka doesn't write about these matters to bring about change and it is optimism that ultimately shines through.
"That's the wonderful thing about being a writer; you give readers the opportunity to see the world through somebody else's eyes. I know it's what I look for in a book."
Not that Lewycka has much time to read for pleasure these days. She's too busy researching, writing and travelling. She was in New Zealand recently for a speaking tour.
It took two-and-a-half years to finish We Are All Made Of Glue and most of it was written in Wanganui, the home town of her husband, Dave Feickert (yes, the guy who wants to be mayor).
"It's nice to have the extra New Zealand connection to my life. It's a wonderful country. Everyone is so nice, relaxed and cheerful ... people seem to treat each other as equals."
But don't expect her to appear as mayoress if her husband's bid for the mayoralty is successful. She'll remain in Yorkshire - for the time being, at least.
The couple are used to being apart. He's in China a lot for his job in coal mine safety and she's travelled extensively since becoming a successful author. But Lewycka says it works.
"I guess we belong to a generation that didn't expect to have conventional relationships."
Which leads nicely to the theme of her next book, an inter-generational drama linked to the world of finance and the credit crunch.
It's a way off yet and is requiring some diligent homework on Lewycka's part.
"With Glue I had to really educate myself about the Middle East. With this one it's finance."
And so continues the busy life of an author.