You’ve also worked as a journalist, specializing in education reporting. What skills from journalism are useful to writing fiction? Did reporting help you develop Jasper’s keen observational voice?
Working as a journalist has taught me to rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite again—also to meet tight deadlines. I worked for many years as a general news reporter before specializing in education, and I needed to be able to describe different scenes for newspaper readers. That skill certainly helped me to develop Jasper’s character. I’m still very observant and carry a notebook around. I write down interesting descriptions of places, people, and snatches of conversations that I could possibly use in my books.
Did you grow up in a suburban neighborhood like Vincent Gardens? What inspired you to set the story there?
I grew up in a cul-de-sac in a suburban neighborhood, and from my sister’s front bedroom window I could see into other people’s houses. All the children played together on the street and the mums socialized at weekly coffee mornings. Growing up, it seemed idyllic to me. But I learnt from my parents later that we effectively lived in a goldfish bowl and secrets from inside the other houses eventually spilled out—from raging rows and marital breakdown to depression and even suicide. I live in a suburban neighborhood now with my husband and two young sons and often wonder about the secrets behind all those closed doors. It seemed like a perfect location for my novel, where my characters must fiercely protect their own secrets.
Crime TV shows are constantly referenced throughout the novel. Are you a fan of these shows yourself?
I’m a huge fan of crime TV shows and movies and watch a lot—Criminal Minds, Cold Case, Sherlock, Department Q, Line of Duty, Broadchurch, The Fall—too many more to mention! I also love reading crime thrillers.
What inspired you to weave Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland into your story? Did you have it in mind from the beginning, or did you find a connection later in the writing process?
When I imagined Bee Larkham’s first meeting with Jasper, I originally pictured her wearing a hair band like Alice’s. I thought there was something almost childlike about Bee, a quality that would appeal to Jasper. The hair band could also help him remember her appearance. The more I thought about the Alice hair band, the more the themes and characters from Alice in Wonderland sprang to mind. I wanted to weave them in somehow, and the imagery eventually replaced the hair band. It also seemed particularly fitting in relation to Bee, given the background of Lewis Carroll and his well-documented obsession with Alice Liddell. The reading that Bee gives at the baby parakeet’s funeral is at the heart of the Alice in Wonderland references. I found it terribly sad and poignant, reflecting Bee’s quiet desperation.
In Bee Larkham, you’ve created a character who is both contemptible and sympathetic, both a villain and a victim. Or as Jasper thinks: “She was good and bad and thousands of shades in between.” What was it like writing such a complex character? How did you strike the balance between the two sides of her?
I enjoy writing complex characters because people are complex in real life—they don’t fit into neat, convenient boxes. Everyone has faults. Yes, Bee Larkham does terrible things, particularly to Jasper and Lucas, which I would never condone. But I don’t believe she’s a one hundred percent “bad person,” with no redeeming features. I tried to show that, despite her flaws, she also has good points—she’s mostly kind to Jasper and considers him her only kindred spirit on the street, despite eventually using him for her own purposes. She’s also a victim herself and has never been truly loved, supported, or protected as a child. She wants to feel loved, but looks for love in entirely the wrong places. I think it’s okay to feel sorry for Bee and be utterly repulsed by her manipulative, exploitative behavior.
This book takes many twists and turns and Bee Larkham’s murderer can easily be many people throughout the book. Did you always know who it was going to be?
When I first gained the idea for my book, I didn’t know who had murdered Bee Larkham or why. All the characters in my head had very good motives for wanting her dead. But when I started to write, two characters in particular jumped out at me as being the likely culprit. As my word count grew, so did my certainty about the identity of the killer.
What do you think is next for Jasper and his father?
I think Jasper and his father will build a happy, fulfilling future together now that they have truly bonded. Ed Wishart has accepted Jasper for who he is and will no longer try to force him to “act normal.” Jasper has learnt that he can rely on his father and be completely true to himself in his company. By the end of the book, Jasper has allowed his father to experience his love of mixing colors and painting for the first time and hasn’t been rejected or chastised. Their relationship is like the cobalt blue on Jasper’s bedroom wall—it’s optimistically bright and will withstand the test of time.
What do you hope will resonate most for readers about this novel?
Hopefully, the message will resonate with readers that we all perceive the world very differently and that diversity is a wonderful thing. It’s okay to be different and to accept others who are. We shouldn’t have to try to conform to society’s image of “normal.” What is normal anyway? We often confuse normal with average and who wants to be average?
Are you working on anything new? Can you tell us about it?
I’m working on a new adult novel. I can’t say too much about it at this stage, but it explores the aftermath of a tragic accident involving a child. I’m currently researching serious head injuries, comas, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
I also have lots of ideas for other adult novels and YA books bubbling away in the back of my mind.
About the Author
© PHILIPPA GEDGE
SARAH J. HARRIS is an author and freelance education journalist who regularly writes for national British newspapers. She lives in London with her husband and two young children. The Color of Bee Larkham’s Murder is her first adult novel.
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References
Books
Bate, Sarah. Face Recognition and Its Disorders. New York and Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Cariello, Carrie. What Color Is Monday?: How Autism Changed One Family for the Better. Bedford, NH: Riddle Brook Publishing, 2013; London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2015.
Cytowic, Richard E., and David M. Eagleman. Wednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthia. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009.
Leatherdale, Lyndsay. Prosopagnosia, Face Blindness Explained: Prosopagnosia Types, Tests, Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, Research and Face Recognition All Covered. IMB Publishing, 2013.
Mindick, Nancy L. Understanding Facial Recognition Difficulties in Children: Prosopagnosia Management Strategies for Parents and Professionals. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2011.
Students of Limpsfield Grange School and Vicky Martin. M Is for Autism. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2015.
Ward, Jamie. The Frog Who Croaked Blue: Synesthesia and the Mixing of the Senses. New York and Hove, East Sussex, UK: Routledge, 2009.
Articles
Baron-Cohen, Simon, Donielle Johnson, Julian Asher, Sally Wheelwright, Simon E. Fisher, Peter K. Gregersen, and Carrie Allison. “Is Synaesthesia Mor
e Common in Autism?” Molecular Autism 4, November 2013: 40, https://doi.org/10.1186/2040-2392-4-40.
Moos, Anja, David Simmons, Julia Simner, and Rachel Smith. “Color and Texture Associations in Voice-Induced Synesthesia.” Frontiers in Psychology 4, September 2013: 568, doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00568.
Whitchurch, Anna Kelman. “Synaesthesia in a Child of Three and a Half Years.” American Journal of Psychology 33, 1922: 302–3. This little boy—Edgar Curtis—also featured in an edition of Popular Science: “To This Child Musical Sounds Have Color!” November 1922, p. 54.
Videos
The Autistic Me. Directed by Matthew Rudge. BBC documentary. 2009.
An Eyeful of Sound, an animated documentary about synaesthesia. Produced by Joshka Wessels. Directed by Samantha Moore. 2010, https://vimeo.com/11649675.
Philharmonia Orchestra. Olivier Messiaen 1908–1992: Messiaen and Synaesthesia. http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/explore/films/388/olivier_messiaen_1908-1992_messiaen_and_synaesthesia.
Amythest Schaber. Neurowonderful: Ask An Autistic, https://www.youtube.com/user/neurowonderful.
Professor Jamie Ward’s synaesthesia films, Go Cognitive, http://www.gocognitive.net/interviews/jamie-ward-synesthesia.
Websites
Centre for Face Processing Disorders, Prosopagnosia Resarch at Bournemouth University, Prosopagnosia in Children, prosopagnosiaresearch.org/about/children
Face Blind UK: Living with Face Blindness, www.faceblind.org.uk
The National Autistic Society, www.autism.org.uk
Synesthesia, www.daysyn.com
UK Synaesthesia Association, www.uksynaesthesia.com
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Sarah J. Harris
Originally published in Great Britain in 2018 by HarperCollins UK
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First Touchstone hardcover edition June 2018
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Interior design by Jill Putorti
Jacket design by Connie Gabbert
Jacket photograph by Mark Owen / Trevillion Images
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Harris, Sarah J., 1971– author.
Title: The color of Bee Larkham’s murder : a novel / Sarah J. Harris.
Description: First Touchstone hardcover edition. | New York : Touchstone, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017044321| ISBN 9781501187896 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501187902 (softcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Teenage boys—Fiction. | Synesthesia—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Literary. | FICTION / Coming of Age. | FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General. | GSAFD: Bildungsromans. | Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PR6108.A766 C65 2018 | DDC 823/.92—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017044321
ISBN 978-1-5011-8789-6
ISBN 978-1-5011-8791-9 (ebook)
The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder Page 36