Cork-based author: I was tired of reading quality commercial fiction and not seeing myself in there

DISHA Bose currently lives outside Cork city, close to the setting of her highly enjoyable new book Dirty Laundry.

This is a delectable story of female rivalry and intrigue, nestled somewhere between Desperate Housewives and Murder She wrote, only set in Cork, like.

When Bose wrote the book, she was actually living in an estate in Ballincollig, and as far as she’s concerned, the setting could really be anywhere.

“I have travelled a lot in my life. I was born in India but my father was in the air force so we moved all over. I left India when I was 20 myself and travelled to the UK and New Zealand and Ireland.

I spent time examining female behaviour and the power dynamics in female relationships. This is what the book draws upon, and really the themes are universal. The rules of engagement among women are universal.

The three female characters in the book, Ciara, Mishti, and Lauren, are far from likeable yet are absolutely relatable and recognisable. This might have something to do with the fact they are heavily drawn from the author’s experience, and also from hours spent scrolling online.

“During lockdown, we were horribly isolated, like everyone. We also had a nine-month-old baby and had no family support. I turned to social media for advice and for information. I was met with this glossy version of motherhood. It was totally disconcerting. Everyone else seemed to be getting it right and I was absolutely getting it wrong. Luckily, I was able to channel that feeling, of comparing myself to perfection, into the book.”

Ciara is Bose’s insta-perfect character, a woman who spends her days cultivating the perfect image of a life, torturing her frenemies with every update, every message, every glib reminder of her absolute and unparalleled awesomeness.

“I derived so much material from the comments section on social media.

There are so many warring camps up there between mothers, whether it’s to do with breastfeeding or baby slings or sleep training. Women are bombarded with information and that much information carries the threat of misinformation.

All three characters come with a back-story, generously offered by the writer, though not at the expense of the fast-moving romp of a page-turning plot.

“My ultimate point is we should remember to be kind to one another. All of the characters in the book are exaggerations of people I’ve met in person or online. What’s worth noticing is that even though they are living close-by and are all mothers, their life experiences have been very different. They react differently for this reason.

“Mishti, for example is a complete outsider and this affects how she behaves.”

Mishti, an Indian woman newly arrived in Ireland, who is in an unhappy arranged marriage, is an important character for Disha Bose, even though she has little in common with her.

“I left India young and my parents never pushed me towards marriage. I ended up marrying an Irish man, so in many ways I am nothing like her. But as a reader, I was tired of reading quality commercial fiction and not seeing myself in there. It was really important for me to have a south Asian character.”

The men in the novel are less significant than the women says Bose, and for good reason.

“They are essential to the plot in that the women dance around them, but I didn’t think too deeply about them. 

Despite our best efforts, men are still less involved than women in bringing up children.

“My husband is a very involved father but he was happy just to go with it when our daughter was born. I was the one going through all the research online. In the past, our mothers and grandmothers relied on books and their midwives. We have social media. I wonder if they had it better.”

The quality of Bose’s writing puts this book above your average light summer read.

The author explains that she studied literature in great depth during her college years, has always been a serious reader of all genres, and recently completed an MA in UCD.

“I wanted to write a psychological page-turner with an Indian character I could relate to.”

The author has been pleased with positive responses from women and surprisingly, from male readers too.

I knew mothers would relate to this book, that they’d recognise the world of standing outside pre-schools, but I was surprised by how many men enjoyed it too.

Bose finishes our chat with a reference to her new book. She remarks that it is entirely different in both genre and tone: “I wrote this book in the height of lockdown. There is a deep loneliness there and a cautionary tale about what a lack of kindness can do. Where I was mentally is absolutely reflected on the page. My latest work, which I’m just finishing, is totally different.”

Having executed this genre so well, I’m keen to read more from this promising Cork-based author.

Disha Bose will appear at 11.30am on July 13 at Bantry Library as part of the West Cork Literary Festival. Dity Laundry is published by Viking.