LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE MARCH-SEPTEMBER ISSUE | Page 61

Derbyshire psychiatrist Cannon brings outsiders centre stage in her
tale about a disappearance during the heatwave of 1976
“People’s narratives have always fascinated me – ordinary people, not
kings and queens. People on the edge of society all have a story about
how they got there,” says Joanna Cannon. Eloquent and witty over tea in
the Observer offices, she shares her own: “I left school at 15 with one Olevel. I worked in various jobs – when you work in bars, and deliver
takeaways, and shovel dog poo you meet people from all walks of life. I
listened to their stories. It made me interested in the human psyche and
in narrative.”
Growing up in a small town in the Peak District she became interested in
how people feel threatened by strangers. Outsiders people the pages of
her debut novel, The Trouble With Goats and Sheep. Set in the 70s – “a
time of huge change” – it explores themes of bigotry and belonging
through the disappearance of Mrs Creasy, and the arrival of a new
family, the Kapoors. The word “unbelonger” echoes throughout. Does
she feel a sense of “unbelonging”? “Oh, God, every day. I think all
writers have felt they’re on the outside looking in, that’s how you learn
to observe things.
When the box of proofs arrived, my mother picked one up and said:
"Imagine, all that came out of your head!"
“I was an only child and so was my mother. I wasn’t good at joining in.
Some of my best friends were in the pages of books. I had Aslan and
Mowgli and Meg. My mum and dad were wise and generous enough to
take me to the library and that’s where I found the words. We could
never have afforded to buy many books – my mum worked at
Woolworth’s and my dad was a plumber. I was like Grace in the novel. I
was the first person in our family to go to university. My dad read to me
and when we ran out of stories he’d make his own up, which had all
sorts of great morals, like most fairy stories. He came from a poor
background and left school at 13 to earn a living, but he encouraged me
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