Gavin James Bower: Made in Britain

Gavin James Bower's second novel, Made In Britain, couldn't be timelier. In the wake of the riots, everyone wants to get to the heart of just who exactly this feral underclass is, what these young people are thinking and what is their capacity for violence, love, consumerism and industry. Made In Britain addresses these issues with a prescient watchful eye that follows three very different but very trapped teenagers in an unnamed Northern town, where the only opportunities available are escape, auditioning for the X Factor or illegal activities.

When Bower set out to write Made In Britain, he couldn't have possibly predicted its relevance and generation-defining content. He simply wanted to talk about where he grew up and how it's come to be in the state it's in. And if the ultimate result of that is a summer of civil unrest, then voices like Gavin's are all the more vital.

We spoke to the man about the book, the landscape that inspired it and what exactly has got him so excited about surrealist French art.

> Hello Gavin, this is your second book. What is your favourite sophomore book ever written?

Hello Booktrust, yes it is. That's a tough question. I can certainly tell you what it's not: Rules of Attraction - and that's coming from a big Bret Easton Ellis fan. First rule of writing a sophomore novel is, don't write your first novel again.

All three represent a different version of my experience growing up in the North

> Made in Britain is on one hand a dissection of post industrial Britain and the other, a coming of age working class tale. How similar to how you grew up are the lives depicted?

All three represent a different version of my experience growing up in the North. There's the being popular but misunderstood, the dreamer, and the just wanting to get laid (but on your terms). All three struggle with their own limitations and naivety - just like I did.

> Dazed & Aroused being about what it was, why the decision to write something grittier and not continue along the path one might expect from such a debut?

I had such a clear premise for the first book: an indictment of capitalist social relations, personified in one very stylised (and stylish) narrator. The writing is then an exercise in pulling that off for the reader. For the second, though, I just had voices - and an urge to tell a story. If the first is ideas driven, then the second's all about plot. That, and tragedy. The success comes from whether you, the reader, still care by the end. I did when writing it.

> You've been outspoken on the issues facing the working class in the UK. What research did you do into the characters?

I've been asked before just how autobiographical my first book was because I worked in fashion, but people have stayed away from that line of questioning this time round - which is funny, given how personal the experience of growing up is and how everyone can relate to it. That experience provides you with enough material for five books. Modelling was two years of my life. The preceding 21 or so were shaped by where I'm from. That was my research, I suppose - plus getting enough distance between me and my teenage years as possible, both in terms of years away from the place and maturity to tackle something that, rather than making me exceptional, actually gave me something in common with the people still there.

> Coming from Burnley, what is the one thing you miss and the one thing you're glad to be about?

I miss going on the Turf - the halftime pie, the smell of horse manure behind the Long Side. I miss walking with my dad from where we parked the car to the ground. I miss the buzz of a match day, and a town coming together. I don't miss going out on a Friday night and being too scared to look the wrong person in the eye, in case they picked on you. I'm wary of that now, to be fair - but when I was sixteen, seventeen, that was scary.

> How did you go about writing the book?

I wrote it in about six weeks, between getting a book deal for Dazed & Aroused at the start of September 2008 and signing the contract the following January. The process of re-writing and drafting, to render all three voices consistent and distinct (while also maintaining a story), took longer. Much longer...

> What books were you reading whilst writing this?

I don't read when I write, or even edit, but I read in between. With Made In Britain, I think I read some Joe Stretch - borrowing lyrics from his band Performance - and Of Mice and Men, which really helped with writing dialogue.

> What can we expect next from you?

I'm writing a non-fiction book on the surrealist artist Claude Cahun for Zer0 Books. There should be a rule about third books, which demands that you find an obscure figure from history - a hero to you and only you - and obsess over them for 12 months. If you want to become Tyler Durden, then you need to shave your head.

> Your book came about the month after the England riots when we were all searching for answers to just who the rioters were. Do you think any of your characters would have got caught up in such activities?

I think it's likely that Russell would hide in his room, Hayley live vicariously through the commentary of her dad, and Charlie get caught up in some of the violence - but only reluctantly. The official report into the Burnley race riots ten years ago was the only one of the three to finger drug gangs as the catalyst, rather than 'social cohesion'. The reports into Oldham and Bradford focused on race. In that sense, Charlie might have had a role - but only as part of a much bigger game.

> What has been the reaction to your depiction of Burnley in Burnley?

I've had some local press, and it's been good so far. The shops up north seem to be keen, too. Having said that, my biggest worry was failing to write in the proper vernacular - a vernacular I share but have seen lose its edge over the years - and also being seen to be bad-mouthing the town. Like I've said, I love where I'm from. It's the love-hate relationship we all have with what makes us who we are that I was writing about. Hopefully that comes across.

Made In Britain by Gavin James Bower is out now on Quartet Books