Sixty Seconds with Angela Clark

Sixty Seconds with Angela Clark


What means home to you?

Home is the place I feel safe in. It’s a transcendental feeling, more linked to people and love, than a geographic or material location.

Is there anywhere else in the world you could see yourself living?

I could see myself living somewhere where the sun always shines and I have a pool. And a library. And an art studio. And I’m basically just listing my fantasy crib now.

Something you miss when you’re away…

Suffering from a chronic debilitating condition, one of the things I miss most when I’m away, apart from my partner, is my bed. Specifically, my mattress. It’s one of those snazzy memory foam ones and feels like you a sleeping in a gentle cupped hand. We are very close. I would marry my mattress if I didn’t already have a husband, and, you know, it was legal.

One thing that always puts you in a good mood

Chocolate. Hands down, no fancy answers to this: give me a Wispa and I’m happy.

Your go-to, to relax

Relaxation means something different to me, because of the debilitating, connective tissue disorder condition I have – Ehlers Danlos III. Among the multiple unpleasant elements my condition causes me, I suffer from chronic pain. Part of this is my muscles become very tense, locked, and often start pulling out joints/ligaments/etc to cause dislocations. For me to truly relax my muscles have to let go. It’s not an easily achieved state. And there’s really only one way to do it, short of a session with my physio, and that is to bath in Epsom Salts. On bad days, I can spend up to eight hours in the bath. Topping the hot water up. Reading my manuscripts. Trying not to get my phone wet. So to relax I think warm water, floating, pain free.

A recent book you’ve enjoyed, that you’d recommend to others

I loved Erin Kelly’s He Said/She Said. A tense thriller set against the back drop of eclipse chasers, it cleverly deconstructs the lives of one couple who witness a rape, only for the victim to become dangerously obsessed with them. It effortlessly pulled the rug out from under me more than once. Masterful.

A fond family story that always gets retold

The time I was showing off how close I could get to the sea and wave to my windswept parents, I didn’t notice the incoming wave. My five-year-old self disappeared under the water, and my poor dad had to sprint in to save me. My even poorer brother had to give up his coat to replace my sodden and fast freezing clothes. Thank god there were no camera phones.

Your favourite home-cooked meal.

My mum’s beef stew and suet dumplings. You don’t get that on Instagram!

And as we’ll be at The Bedford this year…
Your favourite tipple from the bar?

White wine. ABC (Anything but chardonnay)

 
Angela will be taking part in South London Crime Fiction Extravaganza 1.30pm Saturday 10th June