Andrew Meehan will be with us to talk about his debut novel, Best Friends. Andrew has visited Islay just once before, in the summer of 1995, when he worked on a BBC Scotland TV show called Big Country. He tells us, “My job as a researcher was to find well known people who enjoyed certain parts of Scottish culture. In this episode, we featured the artist Ralph Steadman’s love of Islay whisky, and we received great hospitality in Bowmore. A memorable weekend that I don’t remember much about!”
Best Friends is a novel about love in later life, and Andrew says it “came from a fear and fascination with the potential loneliness that might come with growing old,” a subject which will strike a chord with many readers. “In their 70s, June and Ray are by no means at the end of life, but they are on the far side of hope, living without high expectations. Their greatest fear is loneliness. And their greatest fear has now come to pass. All the way through Best Friends, I tried to avoid using the very word lonely. Perhaps this is because one of the things we do to stave off loneliness is to pretend we’re not lonely. Best Friends is a book about not being on your own.”
Regarding other events during this year’s Festival, Andrew is looking forward to catching up with another esteemed Scottish literary name: “I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Len Pennie on BBC Radio Scotland, and I’d be very keen to see her read her work.” We’re looking forward to that too, Andrew!
Andrew’s event is at Little Charlotte’s, Port Ellen, on Friday 29th August at 2pm. Tickets are Pay What You Can – suggested £7.
