Book Group Report: The Good Mayor

Getting Published

Andrew Nicoll began by explaining the difficulties he had in getting The Good Mayor published. It took him two years of submitting his manuscript to publishers and literary agents, and he was only two weeks away from giving up when he received the call from publishers Black and White.

For some agents The Good Mayor was considered "too original" – not close enough to an existing book on the market – it couldn't easily be said to be "like X" or "like Y". For Andrew Nicoll, this was a ridiculous proposition, and all the book group members were surprised that it had taken so long to be accepted.

Many people have commented on the novel's sensitivity to the female characters and strengths, and Agetha's narrative voice. One agent felt that this feminine voice was "creepy" to have come from a male author, and wanted to market Nicoll as "A S Nicoll" and hide his true gender.

Indeed, Nicoll says that he has not enjoyed the publishing process, until Black and White accepted his manuscript and sales and translation rights started rolling in! He has been pressed to write more, but has not committed himself to any contracts so far.

Andrew Nicoll explained that it had taken him 18 months to write the book, working on the train on his daily commute from Broughty Ferry to Edinburgh. He admits that he started writing fiction as a response to a mid-life crisis, and has had poetry and short stories published in various anthologies. He was clear that he wanted The Good Mayor to "read in 100 years time" – but equally clear that he wants the book to be a commercial success and to make money from writing.

Inspiration

Writers which have inspired Nicoll are those which have stood the test of time – he named Grahame Greene and Joseph Conrad as key influences, as well as Scottish writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson and James Hogg. As a general rule: nothing less than 25 years old.

The kernel of the story of The Good Mayor came to Nicoll in a dream, and characters such as Mayor Tibo Krovic, Agetha Stopak and Saint Walpurnia came to him fully formed. He felt compelled to tell their story, but rejects notions that he has loaded it with additional meanings. Nicoll said that he firmly believed storytelling is a partnership between author and reader, and that it would have been wrong to complete every story and tie up every loose end.

For example, towards the end of the novel Agetha apparently transforms into a dog – an episode which caused much debate amongst the book group members. Andrew Nicoll refused to resolve the conundrum of whether Agetha really turns into a Dalmatian, but suggested that it is not necessarily as surreal as it appears. Each member of the group had their own interpretation – which suited Nicoll.

Place and Time

We spent some time discussing the setting of The Good Mayor; from the very start of the novel the setting is deliberately left vague. Each of us had a different feel for the era in which it was set – for some it feels like the 1930s, for others the 50s or even 1970s. Ditto the location, "somewhere in the Baltic", in the town of "Dot" next to the river "Ampersand". Nicoll explained that his style was to match the deliberately old-fashioned, historical setting, and that avoiding a real setting prevents people from picking up mistakes.

Nevertheless, Andrew Nicoll had a real-life inspiration for many of the scenes in The Good Mayor – the city of Dundee. The book group was surprised – none of us are Dundonians – but Nicoll explained that certain descriptions, particularly that of the Town Hall where Mayor Tibo Krovic worked, would be instantly recognisable to Dundonians.

The group was also impressed by the linguistic style used and sustained all the way through The Good Mayor. Janne Moller from Black and White said that very little editing was required and the book is essentially unchanged from the manuscript he first delivered. As a newspaper journalist, Nicoll is used to writing and editing his own copy. He found it easy to switch between writing for The Sun and writing The Good Mayor. Indeed, he considers it the responsibility of the writer to produce finished copy. Nicoll explained that in reading other novels he has been surprised at the errors some editors miss, and so there was a discussion on the role of editors and commissioning editors within the publishing process.

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  The Good Mayor - Andrew Nicoll - Paperback
  Set in the little town of Dot in a forgotten part of the Baltic, this novel tells the story of Tibo Krovic, the good and honest Mayor of Dot, and his love for his secretary, the beautiful, lonely, but married, Mrs Agathe Stopak.