Page Turners: ‘A Kennedy Affair’ author Emily Hourican

Emily Hourican’s debut novel, The Privileged, was published in 2016 to huge success, becoming an instant bestseller. She then went on to publish three more works of contemporary fiction and non-fiction titles before she began writing historical fiction in 2019, with The Guinness Girls and The Glorious Guinness Girls being released to great acclaim.

Her fifth work of historical fiction, The Kennedy Affair, will be published on Thursday, October 17 and centres around two powerful families in a changing world.

When Kathleen ‘Kick’ Kennedy left England to return to America, Europe was facing war and Billy Cavendish, future Duke of Devonshire and the man she loves, had told her he could never marry her. Now, in 1943, as London stands a shell of its former self and Kick returns hoping to reunite with Billy but there are many obstacles ahead.

Lady Brigid Guinness has swapped high fashion and exclusive dinner parties for long shifts as a nurse helping wounded soldiers, forming a close bond with one in particular. And yet, the only person she can really talk to is a man shunned by her inner circle. Meanwhile, wide-eyed Sissy Maddington has arrived from Ireland under the care of the Guinness family. She’s eager to explore everything London seems to offer – while she tries to forget where she came from.

As the three women navigate a changed city, they each discover a capacity for love they never could have expected.

But will they find the strength to stay true to themselves?

Inspired by real events, A Kennedy Affair is a powerful story of friendship, forbidden passion – and how in the worst of times we can discover the best of each other.

Did you always want to be a writer? Tell us about your journey to becoming a published author.

I was a reader long before I was a writer. As a child, the escape into other worlds and other viewpoints, the thrill of being taken on a whole journey—often through time and space, because I read a lot of fantasy—just really did it for me. The books and characters I loved stayed with me, inhabiting my head with as much conviction as ‘real’ things and people.

I don’t think I thought much about being a writer, although I would make up stories in my head constantly: about myself; about people around me; strangers on public transport… But I always loved writing – that feeling of putting something down on paper that was as close as I could get to the things I thought and felt thrilled me. And so I became a journalist, and I wrote features and interviews for years and one day I wondered if I could write a novel. Could I make up a story, and characters, and make it all come together? So I tried, and that became The Privileged. It took a lot of rewriting to get to the stage where I was ready to send it out into the world, and when I did, I was very lucky in that it found a response with Hachette and Ciara Doorly, who has been my editor now through nine novels, and a joy to work with.

What inspired you to start writing?

Truthfully, my kids. And that was me being very practical. I wanted to be at home with them more than a full-time job would allow, and so I really worked hard at writing so as to give it a chance to be that. If it hadn’t been for them, I think writing might have remained ‘a thing in the future I liked the idea of…’

Tell us about your new book, A Kennedy Affair. Where did the idea come from?

A Kennedy Affair is historical fiction, set during World War II in London. It’s the story of Kick Kennedy—JFK’s sister—and her battle to marry the man she fell in love with, Billy Cavendish, despite huge opposition from her parents, and his. Those are the bones of it. But really, it’s the story of a young woman trying to find her own way to be, emerging from the collective force of a large, vibrant family (she had eight siblings) when she moves halfway across the world from them. I feel I had to do the same thing at her age, from my own vibrant family of six siblings, when I moved from Brussels to Dublin.

Kick has the thrill of being on her own in London, at a time of great physical danger, but also great excitement and freedom; of being in love with a man who loves her back, even though no one wants them to be together; and of making strong new friendships. But she also has a reckoning with a very dark chapter within her family and the responsibility of coping with situations that are way beyond her experience.

What do you hope this book instils in the reader?

I think I want the same thing for all my books – the kind of escapist read that I love, populated with characters who are intriguing, doing things that feel believable even if invented, and some insight into the psychological bonds that link us to other people. Particularly the bonds of female friendship, something I find endlessly fascinating.

What did you learn when writing this book?

I learned a lot about the Kennedys, some of which was not very pleasant. And a lot about daily life in wartime London – what was on the ration books, for example, and what it felt like to spend hours in an air raid shelter and then emerge to sweep up broken glass from so many bombed-out houses. I also remembered some of what it felt like to take those first adult steps, far away from family, and forge intense new friendships. And I learned a little bit more about the business of making things that are invented feel true.

Tell us about your writing process.

I tend not to think too much about my ‘process’, or even to land that word upon it, because I am always afraid that if I do, I will inhibit myself. So I ‘just write’. I sit down, and I start trying to put on paper the things in my head. And then I read it back, and usually hate it, and that’s when the real work begins. Can I take these scenes that don’t work, and make them better? Can I sit with the fact that the work I’ve done makes me squirm, and trust that I can improve? That’s the challenge.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

When things are going well, everywhere: From what I read and see and watch and remember, from the people around me, conversations with friends and strangers, from nature, the sea and horse riding. But there are times I feel burnt-out, exhausted, overcome with the hard and uninspiring bits of life. Then, I need to make an effort to tap back into the energy that brings inspiration. Sometimes a good night’s sleep will do it. Other times I need a few days away in a strange place, or a new physical challenge (hence the horse riding).