'I thought it was perfectly normal growing up inside a prison' says author Patrick Gale
Like his siblings, Patrick Gale spent his infancy in prison grounds. His father was a governor – at Wandsworth in Gale’s time, but before that his parents had lived in Wakefield, where his dad tutored at a training school for prison officers.
"When you’re a child you accept everything as perfectly normal,” reflects Gale, a novelist and author. “It was only when I was a bit older that I realised not everybody lived inside a prison and met prisoners every day and was taught filthy language through the bars of the cell.
"My parents were very careful so we were never afraid. We knew the prisoners were in for doing something wrong but my dad always said their punishment is the sentence but whilst they are here we are rehabilitating them and equipping them with new skills and they will leave better men than they came in.”
For his latest novel, Patrick, who wrote the BBC drama Man in an Orange Shirt, draws on his parents’ time in Wakefield. Named Love Lane in homage to the first address of their marriage, the book is described as “a portrayal of escape and entrapment, and a powerful exploration of what home and family can really be”.
The characters in the tale are based closely on Gale’s family. Many of his novels start with a real life scenario, using fiction to explore the answer to a puzzling obscurity. Love Lane is no exception.
In 1952, his great grandfather sold up his farm in Canada to return to England and visit the daughter he hadn’t seen since leaving her as a toddler. He spent several weeks in the country, including with Patrick’s mother and father in Wakefield, before being sent back to Canada for reasons unknown. Love Lane explores that period through a fictional narrative.
Gale spent days exploring Wakefield as research for the book. “The setting of each of my books is like one of my characters,” he explains, “so I research it closely. I knew I wanted to come to Wakefield and see where my parents had lived and take the walks around the town where my mum would have pushed my sister in her pram. That was really fascinating.”
It’s quite some distance from where Gale now lives, settled with his husband on a farm near Land’s End in Cornwall. They raise beef cattle and grow barley – and Gale has written much of his work in recent years from a converted outbuilding in the garden. He’s now had more than 20 books published.
Reflecting on his childhood, he says: “I was lucky to be born into a family where everybody read all of the time even at meal times, so reading has always been like breathing to me. The writing just came out of that.”
When he’s not taking inspiration from his family, he finds it within snippets of overheard conversations or sparked by items in the local news. "My mind is a bit like a compost,” says the avid gardener. “You throw things in there and with luck something nutritious will come out of it.”
- Love Lane by Patrick Gale is out now.
- Love Lane by Patrick Gale, published by Tinder Press, is out now.
as a writer, place is very important to him “the setting of each of my books is like one of my characters so I research it closely. I knew I wanted to come to Wakefield and see where my parents had lived and take the walks around the town where my mum would have pushed my sister in her pram. That was really fascinating.”
they had idyllic childhood because governors houses were so big that his mum couldn’t furnish them entirely so there were big spaces where they could run riot
"What was a bit sad was it was a bit like being an army child as you had to move every five or so years so it was hard to make friends.”
got into writing through reading “i was lucky to be born into a family where everybody read all of the time even at meals so reading has always been like breathing to me. The writing just came out of that I think. I didn’t think I’d be a wrier for a living, I thought I’d be a musician or an actor but writing just sort of happened.”
this is his 20th book – he writes from a converted shed in the garden
raids his family for ideas but a lot of inspiration also comes from overhearing conversations or reading news items
"my mind is a bit like a compost, you throw things in there and with luck something nutritious will come out of it.”
he’s currently working on a play of one of his earlier novels but he knows what his next novel is going to be – a botanical book inspired by his love for gardening
stselling, beloved and critically-acclaimed author Patrick Gale around his new novel Love Lane (pub 26th March), which is partly set in Wakefield?
Love Lane is named after a street in Wakefield, with the novel partly set around Wakefield prison (which adjoins Love Lane). It’s partly based on Patrick’s own family history – his parents lived there when his Father was head tutor at a training school at Wakefield Prison for prison officers. The book draws a lot on Wakefield as a setting – Patrick spent days exploring the area in the present day as research for the book, to allow him to capture the persisting elements accurately – the buildings, the history etc.
Patrick has a fantastic profile – he’s one of the country’s best-loved novelists. His books include many bestsellers, including the Costa Prize-shortlisted novel A Place Called Winter. He also won an Emmy for his original BBC Television drama, Man In An Orange Shirt.