I See Through You

Product Information

Daisy McNally is a forty-something mother and PhD student of creative writing dividing time between Oxford and Lymington. I SEE THROUGH YOU was begun on the MA at Bath Spa Uni. Tell us about your book. Our first finisher (female) was Emily Kearney (6th) who ran 18:06,then Katie Bagley in 19:01 (11th) and Helen Stansfield in 19:33 (18th) A beautiful and extraordinary debut novel. . . full of intelligence and utterly gripping’ Claire Kendal, author of The Book of You Hello and welcome to this week`s run report.Another great turnout this week with 302 runners including a strong turn out from Wallasey AC who were running with and supporting their clubmate Keith Marsden who was completing 2017 miles for the year in aid of Macmillan. Congratulations Keith! No choccies in the finish funnel but there were fruit pastilles and 50% of the barcode scanners had pink or sparkly wellies. A beautiful and extraordinary debut novel. . . full of intelligence and utterly gripping' Claire Kendal, author of The Book of You

Mike Johnstone is an established novelist and a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Gloucestershire. Writing as D.D. Johnston, he’s the author of four novels, and his short fiction has been shortlisted for The Bridport Prize. He’s been described as “Bringing light to a dark world” ( The Financial Times) and “one of the country’s most important left-wing fiction writers” ( The Morning Star). Published in July 2022, his fourth novel, Disnaeland, has been called “gripping, funny, and hopeful” ( The Times) and “wildly imaginative” ( Scotland on Sunday). Helen Jukes Our first finisher (male) was Ian Wallace of Wirral AC in 17:15,then Steven Leslie of Village Road Runners AC with a new pb of 17:19 and Robert Logan,also getting a pb, this one 17:55! First finisher (female) was Charlotte Towers in 19:22 (10th),then Helen Stansfield in 20:33 (15th) and Penny Thorn in 21:07 (21st) I went on to take an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, which is when I began writing I See Through You and wrestling with the complicated female protagonist I’d had forming in my mind.

Application

So although she behaves in a way that’s not really justifiable in a moral sense, it’s not so extraordinary given the context she finds herself in. She is trying to (re-) connect with people. I’d like her to make for uncomfortable reading because she’s someone that a lot of us, broken-hearted and ignored, might identify with at times in our lives. As she says in the book, “Liars are easily made,” whether we are just trying to conceal our innate loneliness or present a better, more palatable version of ourselves to the outside world and particularly those we want to love us. I came to live in a city five years ago and felt foreign and uneasy for the first twelve months and the best part of the next. Of course, cities are busy places and that was not unexpected. It just seemed that all the all the busy-ness was connected; whether those I came across were school mothers, academics, pub-owners, artists, I felt as though everyone and everything was linked, and I was an outsider.

Of course, my character Skye isn’t perfect, and she gets a lot of things wrong. Above all, she makes the mistake of thinking she can unearth the truth in social media, which is impossible. Nearly everyone in the novel is either misrepresenting themselves or telling outright lies, not least the two main male characters whose sense of entitlement enables them to believe they are above dealing with what they label female ‘craziness.’ Towards the end, coming to terms about what she has done, and with the sort of man Johnny is, Skye asserts, again and again, what her name is, and who she is. Hello and welcome to this week's run report.It was cool and a Peppa pig umbrella was spotted but there wasn't much rain.We had 247 excellent runners,thank you very much for supporting our parkrun today. Our first finisher (male) this week was Adam Peers in a time of 16:04,mext up was Joe Boden in 16:53 with Phil Langan in 17:10. All our pb getters are due a mention today.They are Nik Galloway,James Hartwell,Jac Chapman,Elaine Sargent,Rhys Roberts,Mark Hyland,John Hemmings,Catherine Burke, Arvind Mahendran,Matthew Green,Fiona Bradbury,Daniel Kerrigan,Hilary Sanders, Stephanie Watts,Liz Jones,Aiden Hampson,Aaren Hampson,Alix Gardiner,Colin Orr, Julie Crowder.Skye has finally met someone she can trust. A holiday romance, of all things. But you know when something real comes along, when it’s meant to be. Don’t you? A week after returning home, and Johnny has disappeared. He hasn’t called or returned her messages. Victoria Condie has taught for the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education since 2000 on its award-bearing courses, public programmes and summer schools. As a medievalist by training, whose doctoral thesis looked at the way language is used in certain Old English prose sermons and verse, she is particularly aware of how writers craft language to their own persuasive ends. Currently, she is a Bye-fellow of Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge where she teaches English Literature and its Contexts 1300-1550 and Practical Criticism and Critical Practice for the Cambridge English Tripos. Her areas of research concentrate on the way writers use language, especially in prose. Her current work investigates the rhythms and cadences of Old English as it is used to achieve a specific effect; in this instance, an exploration of the deliberate contrast in prose effected by Kenneth Grahame in the non-narrative chapters of The Wind in the Willows. Claire Crowther

After university, Daisy moved to London and worked in publishing, starting out as an editorial assistant. Our two-year,part-time Diploma in Creative Writingallows you to strengthen your ability in four major areas of literary activity — prose, poetry, drama and analytical reading — as well as the chance to specialise in the genre of your choice.Hello and welcome to (INSERT HERE - record breaking) Birkenhead parkrun. Number 230 saw us reach 793! The funnel double tape thing made its debut and we had 4 scanners. Thanks for your help in the funnel and although there is no core team pub based review planned of today,we think it went well.It was a wonderful sight watching the start from the finish funnel and seeing you all come down the road and then wind (rhyme with mind not er,wind) your way around the park. First finisher today on his 50th parkrun was Jay Walker in a time of 17:25.Next was Ashley Crawford in 17:36 and one of our funnel managers Mike Green who ran 18:26,just in front of another funnel manager John Armstrong with 18:33.Funnel managers a bit like buses today. During the MA at Bath Spa I completed a novel called “I See Through You”. It was taken up by the WME agency and sold to the Orion Publishing Group. It is a novel about female obsession and male entitlement and will be published in November 2018. First finisher today was Jordan Donnelly with our third best time overall,and not surprisingly a pb for him,of 15:39.Next,with a pb of 15:42 and our 4th best overall time was Phil Robertson and Harley Henshaw ran a pb of 16:24.Congratulations to all! Education: North Foreland Lodge. “I hated it!” Durham University, English Literature. Bath Spa University, MA in Creative Writing and currently finishing a PhD.