In just a few days, Before the Leaves Fall will be available in Switzerland. Elsewhere, the launch date is October 23rd. Now that the book is so close to being in the hands of readers, I feel I can tell you more about it.

The first interview about the novel was published by newinzurich.com recently. I’m going to borrow a couple of answers from that interview to tell you some of the whys and wherefores of this standalone story, which is linked to my first novel, Voting Day.

First of all, you should know that this is a story about a person who has decided to end her life with the help of an assisted dying organisation. Even though it is a hopeful story about human connection, healing and self-determination, I do think that it might be upsetting for anyone currently too close to bereavement.

So why would I be drawn to such a sombre topic, and assisted dying in particular? Well, it might be partly to do with being middle-aged and seeing the different, often difficult but sometimes beautiful ways life comes to an end. Or as I said in the newinzurich interview:

“Assisted suicide is always in the air in Switzerland, whether it’s peripherally in news stories or through the direct experience of people you know. I’m interested in how it becomes a path for some but not for others, who may even be suffering more.”

Introducing Ruedi and Margrit

One of the conversations my two protagonists have is about what makes life worth living, or not. They are past any pretence and can speak honestly. So, who are these characters? Ruedi is a Swiss widower in his seventies living in Bern. He worked for the Swiss Federal Railways until he had to retire early to look after his sick wife. As a child, he spent time in care and he still feels shame about his origins. Ruedi is freshly trained in the role of facilitator for Depart, a fictional assisted dying organisation, and Margrit is his first client.

“Margrit is in her late eighties and has become quite contrary in old age. She has a strained relationship with her two sons and has lived a life of comfort but ultimately failed to find meaning or satisfaction in her lot as a traditional wife and mother.  When the two characters realise their paths have crossed before, it sparks some new self-discovery for both of them.”

If you’re familiar with Voting Day, set in 1959 on the day Swiss men voted ‘no’ to granting women the vote, you will recognise these names. Ruedi was a foster child in that book and Margrit, a young woman struggling to maintain her independence, was kind to him.

There are a lot of authors who revisit characters from one book to the next. Jonathan Coe, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing this week in Geneva, has done it a lot, as has another of my favourite authors Elizabeth Strout. Donal Ryan recently released Heart, be at Peace, “a heartfelt, lyrical novel that can be read independently, or as a companion to his first book The Spinning Heart“. I like that way of phrasing the connection, and might borrow it, if Penguin Random House doesn’t mind.

A tale of two launches

For the Swiss contingent, I hope to see some of you at the launch next Thursday, October 9th at 8pm in Stauffacher Bookshop in Bern. There’s a link to sign up for the event (Anmeldung) but you can also turn up on the night and buy a ticket at the door (CHF 15). I’ll be in conversation with Helen Stubbs Pugin and the discussion, followed by signing and apéro, will be in English.

Irish friends, readers and country(wo)men are warmly invited to the Dublin launch at The Gutter Bookshop, Temple Bar on Thursday, October 23rd at 6.30pm. Sarah Moore Fitzgerald will be hosting that gathering and I can promise Swiss chocolate, just as we had for the launch of The Naked Swiss in the same venue in 2016.

I’m very grateful that my editor from Fairlight Books, Laura Shanahan, will be joining us for the Dublin launch. And the Irish Ambassador Aoife McGarry will say a few words of welcome at the Swiss launch.

If you can’t make it to either of those countries on either of those dates, you can really help the visibility of Before the Leaves Fall by ordering it already at your local bookshop or online, and by spreading the word. Part of me is nervous about what reception this book will have but I wouldn’t be taking the leap if I didn’t trust that some readers will find truth in it and new things to think about.