Readers Place

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Julian Clary answers questions about his book Devil in Disguise:

What was the inspiration for Devil in Disguise?

Of all the experiences life has offered me so far, love, friendship and betrayal have been responsible for the greatest highs and lows. This book is my attempt to explore the agony and the ecstasy. Lilia is a truly fabulous – if distinctly evil – creation.

Is she based on anyone you’ve ever encountered?

pp(answer). Lilia is based on someone a friend of mine knew for many years: a seemingly kind, quaint, fragile old dear who turned out to be full of evil and malicious intent. All of the main characters in the book transform by the end, either by artistic endeavour or because they were concealing the truth about themselves.

Dream casting time: who in the movie of Devil in Disguise would play Molly and Simon? What about Lilia?

Lilia is easy to cast – as I wrote it I was imagining the fabulous Angie Richards who played Frau Schneider in Rufus Norris’ production of Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre. (I was playing the part of the Emcee for 7 months while gestating the ideas for the novel.) Molly is a tricky part – Amy Nuttall (Sally Bowles in the same production) has the right qualities but would need to put on about 3 stone to play the early, buxom Molly and then lose it again towards the end. I’d quite like to play Simon myself, but, sadly, I’m too old. Someone pretty who used to be in Hollyoaks perhaps. Is Henry
Luxemburg available?

This year you’ve been doing a stand-up tour for the first time in years, but which comedians make you laugh?

I’ll laugh at almost anyone. Even those straight blokes who wear awful shirts and talk about their girlfriends endlessly can raise a smile. I’m not fussy.

Which book would you never have on your bookshelf?

Jim Davidson’s autobiography.

Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?

Muriel Spark.

What is your favourite word?

Obfuscate.

Why do you write?

Escapism. I love creating a fictional world where I control every – one’s destiny. It’s like being God.

Which book are you reading at the moment?

Jack Dee’s Thanks For Nothing, which is highly entertaining.

What are you working on at the moment?

My next novel is in the gestating period. I’m like a broody hen sitting on her egg. In a few month’s time the book will start to hatch out and that’s when I actually put pen to paper. It should be rather epic – it involves two different story lines set fifty years apart, and the two world collide in a surreal and ghostly climax that I haven’t quite worked out yet. It’s quite a big egg, let’s put it that way.

Read an extract of Devil in Disguise here.