GALLEY BEGGAR PRESS SHORT STORY PRIZE 2022/23
An interview with GBP Short Story Prize author Naomi Kruger
Naomi, hi! We all loved your longlisted story, ‘In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions’ right from the title. To get the ball rolling, can you tell our readers a bit more about what the story is about, how the idea came to you, and how you set about writing it?
The story explores Mormon gender roles, childlessness, neglected talent, eternal polygamy, magnet fishing and the pain of being an outsider in a close-knit religious community.
The oldest part of the story is the section where Keeley imagines heaven as an American mansion complete with a perfect family eating waffles at a breakfast bar. I had tried to work this image into a few different pieces but it never quite stuck. It was something I couldn’t let go of, though, and eventually I started writing a scene set in a Mormon chapel, exploring a character who is trying to concentrate on the service, but can’t help asking transgressive questions in her mind. Very quickly (and without me planning it) the topic of polygamy came up, and I realised that I also wanted to write about the way this historical practice is minimised in the contemporary church but still hasn’t been honestly dealt with – how it lingers on the periphery, haunting members (especially women) in troubling and mysterious ways.
We think that the Mormon temple in ‘In My Father’s House...’ is based on the one in Chorley, UK – the largest Church of the Latter Day Saints outside of the US. Is this correct, and can you say a little more about this very particular English (and northern) iteration of Mormonism that people might not know much about?
The setting is based on the chapel I used to attend in Preston, just down the road. Temples in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a little different. They are bigger, more elaborate, and not usually open to the public. Instead, they are set aside for occasional sacred ordinances (baptisms for the dead, celestial marriages, and ritual endowments) that members must qualify for by adhering to certain rules like paying tithing and keeping the law of chastity. Chapels, on the other hand tend to be much more functional both in terms of architecture and access. Members attend communion services (like the one in my story) every Sunday, visitors are welcome, and the space is also used during the week for family activities, youth groups and other general meetings.
Growing up as a Mormon in England was an interesting experience because the community here is relatively small. This means there is a real sense of relying on each other – I met lifelong friends and had some really moving moments of kindness and connection. On the other hand, I think the smallness leads to more insularity. As a teenager I was encouraged to be wary of people on the ‘outside’. I was regularly urged to get rid of any corrupting influences including art, music, books, and films that contradicted the values of the church. I struggled with this and also the Americanised culture of the church. All lesson materials, most music and suggested activities originate from the church headquarters in Utah and this leads to some cultural disconnect. Growing up I always felt I was more Mormon than anything else, and now that I have stepped away from the community I feel like I am gradually reclaiming my Northern-ness – although it’s hard to define exactly what that means!
There’s a lot going on in your story – and some really wonderful characterisation. I’m thinking especially of the protagonist, who seems to be trying so hard (and to her mind, at least, failing) to fit in. There’s a real need for approval. And of course poor unruly Danny… Together, they seem like two outsiders, and it's this sense of exclusion (or the potential for it) that is the very heart of the story. Do you think that’s right?
Yes – I agree and thank you for pointing it out so clearly! Thinking about it now, I feel that Keeley is just desperately trying to make other people happy. She wants to be able to please them and do the things that are expected of her. But this puts her at odds with her own repressed desires. And the more she tries to please others, the more things seem to go wrong. When she and Danny are thrown together, she is faced with someone who is also an outsider but not as eager to fit in as she is. Ultimately, in trying to make him happy she will end up doing something that appears like rebellion – that other people are going to think is outrageous.
Although I hope there are some humorous moments here there is sadness too. And for me, the saddest thing is that Keeley never really questions the expectations placed on her or the structure that creates them. She always thinks she is the one falling short and that it’s up to her to be better.
Tell us a bit more about your writing generally. Are you working on something at the moment? Do you have a routine (and, if you do, how difficult is it, sticking to it)? How long have you been writing for?
I have been writing seriously since around 2004 when I studied for a degree in Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University. Being part of a writing community and receiving feedback on my work for the first time was absolutely transformative. Since then, I have had to balance writing with health issues, family responsibilities and full-time work so I’m gentle with myself about routines. I try to have one day a week dedicated only to writing and I meet with a friend regularly on Zoom to write and exchange feedback. Other than that, I try to remember that writing is not only that first-draft rush of inspiration. It’s also thinking time, research, reading and editing. As long as I’m making regular progress I’m doing OK!
Right now, I’m working on my second novel – historical fiction set in 1842. It follows a herbal physician converted to Mormonism and trying to establish himself in Nauvoo – a city on the banks of the Mississippi which was the centre of the church at that time. Soon, he is challenged by the charismatic prophet to sacrifice his growing medical practice, travel to England, and persuade the converts in Lancashire to emigrate back to Zion. When he arrives in Preston, he finds a town divided – still reeling from the aftermath of a massacre of striking millworkers and simultaneously preparing for a lavish, once-every-twenty-year celebration of civic pride. As he grapples with cultural differences, and his unsuccessful missionary efforts, disturbing dreams of Nauvoo begin to disrupt his present calling and his still fragile faith is put under increasing amounts of pressure.
I was really excited to receive an Eccles Centre Fellowship from the British Library in 2021 to spend time in the archives researching this and also managed a quick trip to Missouri and Illinois last year to explore some of the US settings.
At the same time, I’m working on a short story collection – fictions linked loosely by themes of history and heritage: the challenge of turning the past into narrative, the slipperiness of memory, and the complex power that comes with being a storyteller. In a number of different ways, I’m seeking to explore both the comfort of shared history and the bittersweet freedoms that come from breaking away and seeking to create spaces beyond the reach of cultural, familial, and institutional expectation.
Tell us about some writers and artists you think we should know about.
For even more detail on the Northern Mormon experience, you should definitely read A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Bray and The Friday Gospels by Jenn Ashworth – these are novels set in Southport and Chorley and deeply rooted in this very particular religious experience.
I’m also a big fan of the American writer Brandon Taylor who is the King of the literary subtweet and who writes funny and thought-provoking essays about literary theory, art, Victorian realism and current cultural trends on his substack Sweater Weather.
What’s the best book you’ve read, recently? (Or TV series, or movie, or song…)
I really enjoyed Jan Carson’s recent novel The Raptures and the channel 4 series Everyone Else Burns. You can probably see a theme developing here!
Any advice to other writers out there? (And anything that they definitely shouldn’t do?)
For me, the most important thing has been finding a supportive writing community. I have some lovely writing friends and we share submission opportunities and feedback (shout out to Yvonne Battle-Felton and Inés Gregoria Labarta!). Without this interaction and accountability, I tend to procrastinate and be too hard on myself. So, my best advice is to find a way to share your work while it’s in progress and to keep going.
Finally, we’re asking all of our longlistees to host their own literary dinner party. Who’s on your invite list, where are you going to hold it and what’s on the menu? (Who is most likely to irritate who?)
Honestly, I would love to invite Jane Austen and Brandon Taylor round to my house, serve them some German potato salad, with a good cheeseboard and some charcuterie and listen to them both react to the recent Netflix adaptation of Persuasion. It would be a privilege just to listen in.
NAOMI KRÜGER is a writer based in Lancashire. Her debut novel, May, was published by Seren in 2018 and explores the complexity of memory through multiple voices including a narrator with dementia. Her short fiction has been featured in Wag’s Revue, commended in Aesthetica and commissioned for a number of anthologies. In 2021 she was awarded an Eccles Centre Fellowship at the British Library to research her second novel which explores transatlantic Mormon connections in the nineteenth century. She has a PhD from Lancaster University and is a Senior Lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Central Lancashire.