Lissa Evans - "Spencer's List"

Spencer’s List does as it says on the box – “Funny, warm-hearted and intellkigent”. Spencer, Fran and Iris have something in common: the feeling that life is passing them by. Spencer's lost his lover, who bequeathed him a list of things to do; Fran shares a run-down house in London with her oddball brother; whilst Iris spends her time cleaning up after her two teenage sons... This is a wonderfully funny tale of life lived on the edge - of reason, of failure and of (just possibly) a brighter future.
Fran works on an urban farm and one of my favourite quotes from the book comes when she finds a pig has been loose overnight:-
A row of pumpkins looked like the aftermath of an alien road accident and the ground was sprinkled with a few tiny, saliva-flecked pieces of carrot.
Another quote regards Iris’s fashion sense...
“Does that mean its been unfashionable for the whole time I’ve been wearing it?”
Fran had hesitated, “Not so much unfashionable as -“. She’d struggled for a description.
“Frumpy?”
“No, more... afashionable.”
It was a scientific distinction that Iris could appreciate, describing not so much the opposite of fashion, as the total absence of it...


LISAA EVANS – After a brief career in medicine, and an even briefer one in stand-up, Lissa Evans became a comedy producer, first in radio and then in television. She co-created Room 101 with Nick Hancock, produced Father Ted and co-produced and directed The Kumars at Number 42. Novels include Spencer’s List and Odd One Out. Lissa Evans lives in north London.

Lissa Evans answers our probing questions and speaks to us on everything from her hatred of losing things to the annual 'We miss Lissa Evans' parade she's planning for after her death.

For a super interview with her see the Penguin site.

What’s your earliest memory?
Getting stuck in the mud while on a boat trip off the coast at Cromer. We had to walk back to the hotel across the mudflats, holding our shoes, and when we arrived, my mother threw open the door of the dining room and proclaimed ‘We got stuck in the mud!’ to the assembled guests. So, actually, my first memory is of my mother embarrassing me. She’s been doing it ever since.

How would you like to be remembered?
By the annual ‘We miss Lissa Evans’ parade, held on the anniversary of my death, and marked by the release of thousands of doves, and dawn-to-dusk recitals of my complete works.

What makes you angry?
Losing things. I like to think that I’m tremendously organised, so a lost object is a personal insult.