Rewriting the City and its Dark, Twisted Streets
by Jaq Hazell
Nottingham, UNESCO
City of Literature, has provided the setting for classic novels from the likes
of DH Lawrence and Alan Sillitoe, and continues to inspire today with writers
such as John Harvey, David Belbin and Nicola Monaghan using the city in their
contemporary works. Nottingham is also the main setting for my novel I Came to
Find a Girl.
I Came to Find a Girl
is a psychological thriller about art student Mia and how she meets famous
artist Jack Flood when he’s in the city for the opening of his own exhibition.
Mia goes back to his hotel, accepts a drink, and later wakes up naked with no
idea what has occurred. She fears she may have been filmed for one of Flood’s
future video artworks. Should she go to the police? And what has happened to
her missing friend Jenny? Women are being murdered, and the city seems to have
become a more dangerous place.
Crime occurs everywhere of course, so why set this novel in Nottingham? The simple answer is familiarity. It’s where I went to college, studying textile design at Nottingham Trent in the days when it was a polytechnic. But why write about a student?
The novel began as a
desire to look at what it’s like to be a young, single woman in an urban
environment – the dark side of The Sex & the City/Bridget Jones lifestyle,
if you like – and the reality that there is a downside to sexual freedom and
that women will always have to watch out.
Thankfully most people
live their entire lives unscathed by serious crime, but there is always the
‘what if’ scenario – that moment in anyone’s past where taking a wrong turn, through
no fault of one’s own, could render a person vulnerable to harm. Moments like
this are also more likely if you’re young and out partying, your better
judgement fuzzed by alcohol, and so that’s why I chose to make my protagonist a
young student, out enjoying her new found freedom in Nottingham’s numerous bars
and clubs.
Nottingham’s lively,
attractive centre is compact, and has a small-town feel, making it the perfect
setting for characters to repeatedly run into each other, even though one of
them would rather not.
There is the legendary
Rock City and the many other clubs and bars that contribute to Nottingham’s
reputation as a great night out, and there is the contrasting sprawl of its
various residential areas that span out from its heart.
Every night out ends
with the need to return home. A bus or tram will only take you so far, and a
cab may be too costly for the young. All women know that even the shortest walk
home can suddenly feel treacherous if there are footsteps behind.
I spent three years in Nottingham, firstly in the Meadows area and then in Forest Fields. Walking home late at night was always a concern. My house was in the red light area and cars would sometimes slow by the kerbside, although thankfully apart from the odd proposition nothing untoward happened. But these memories triggered a sense that (like all cities) Nottingham is a place where dark happenings sometimes occur, and that the numerous worm-like streets that spread out from its beating heart could provide the perfect backdrop for a story that is ‘dark, haunting, twisted’ (according to the Telegraph). Nottingham is an attractive, vibrant city and as it continuously evolves, so too will it continue to inspire.
I spent three years in Nottingham, firstly in the Meadows area and then in Forest Fields. Walking home late at night was always a concern. My house was in the red light area and cars would sometimes slow by the kerbside, although thankfully apart from the odd proposition nothing untoward happened. But these memories triggered a sense that (like all cities) Nottingham is a place where dark happenings sometimes occur, and that the numerous worm-like streets that spread out from its beating heart could provide the perfect backdrop for a story that is ‘dark, haunting, twisted’ (according to the Telegraph). Nottingham is an attractive, vibrant city and as it continuously evolves, so too will it continue to inspire.
ebook £1.99
