Insider Insights

A Palindrome Character Interview
Originally featured as a guest post on Ian Richard's website

Ideally we’d like to be interviewing Robert right now, but if you've read Six Dead Men you'll be well aware, he’s solitary, preferring the worlds tucked between the covers of a good book. So we’ll leave him be and turn instead to someone who knew him well while he was living in Haddington: Gabriel Haskey, school librarian at Knox Academy, now retired and living in Crete.

Interview

Mr Haskey – it wasn’t so long ago that you knew Robert fairly well. What was he like when he was at Knox Academy?

Robert hasn’t changed all that much. I haven’t seen him since his 15th birthday. But he writes me long thought provoking letters. Always been a deep thinker. Likes his own company. Reads voraciously.

What’s the first thing you notice about Robert?

His nose is always stuck in a book.

What was his relationship like with his classmates?

Never quite one of them you know. Always stood apart even when he was part of the crowd. Quite good at Rugby but preferred to be off somewhere reading. Academically he was superior. At first I wondered if they would bully him because of this but it never seems to have been the case.

Were his psychic abilities very evident when you were around him?

I always thought there was something special about him. His mother’s very gifted you know. So it’s not altogether a huge surprise.

Do you know the full extent of his powers?

Heavens no! Robert never discussed the matter with me. He always did have some amazing insights and ideas on why certain themes and motifs were present in writer’s work. I imagine that is part of his gift. Though the fact he didn’t see fit to share it with anyone makes me think he wasn’t sure if it was a gift or a curse. Rowena Deed was all but shunned for her obvious talents by much of the community you know.

What was Robert’s relationship like with his parents?

His father Arthur was very strict. He’d had a strict upbringing himself so I suppose he felt that was what it was to be a father. There was no real communication between father and son until after they moved to London.

Rowena now, she was different. Her approach was much more holistic, I’d say. While it was obvious Robert’s respect for his father superseded any other familial feeling, there was no doubt of Robert's love for his mother. Some would even say he was a bit of a mummy’s boy.

Palindrome is available to buy through Amazon.

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