Deborah
Lottie was born 15 months after Tom, so rather
shamefully I hardly ever did separate things with them
when they were little. I was consumed with love for
them but I wasn’t happy in my marriage. Their father
would leave a room if I was in there with the children
because he didn’t see the need to have two parents
looking after them. He’d rather spend his time up a
bloody ladder cleaning the cornices.
Writing for three hours every morning is sacrosanct
to me. It has kept me sane. I’d offload the children with
very unsuitable child minders, like our chain-smoking
neighbour, who stuck them in front of the TV and stuffed
them with sweets. I thought, “They’ll survive,” and they
did. But I hope they’ve always known they were loved.
I’ve rather sucked up to my children. Mel and I took
them to New York and I remember giving Tom and
Lottie my bank card and breezily telling them to go
have fun with it. I felt very guilty about the divorce and
played the PR game, endlessly asking the children or
Mel to repeat something clever or funny they’d said in
the hope they’d like each other more.
They didn’t have a normal stable family life and have
seen me vulnerable, especially after Mel died of a heart
attack ten years into our relationship. For better or
worse it made them grow up quickly. I certainly haven’t
been a good example where love is concerned. When
PORTRAIT BY ANNA BATCHELOR
STRANGE
HABITS
Lottie on
Deborah
She has the
willpower and
discipline to limit
her smoking
habit to exactly
three roll-up
cigarettes a dayDeborah on
Lottie
When she was
younger she
could slag off
my clothes one
day and borrow
them the nextmy last two relationships stopped being completely
wonderful I bailed out. Other people may have had
a longer fuse but I’m quite judgmental. I hope my
mistakes haven’t made Tom and Lottie cynical.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movie was one of the
highlights of my life. I visited Rajastan to watch the
filming and when I arrived on set the cast jumped up
and one of them hugged me — Judi Dench or Maggie
Smith — and said the words every author longs to hear:
“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your lovely book.”
Don’t we love actors? They’re so gushy.
When Lottie started her first novel I worried I’d
given her the impression that it was easy. But it was
highly acclaimed and I can hardly think about its
success without melting to the floor with pride. The
novel was so confident, although Lottie is modest as a
person. I like being with people and blithering on. She’s
a listener with wonderful powers of observation.
It sounds sugary but I love that Lottie and I are so
emotionally close and I really miss the fact we don’t live
next to each other any more. Maybe one day I’ll move
near her again, but you have to respect boundaries. She
has her own life. The last thing I want to be is needy n
Interviews by Caroline Hutton
Brixton Hill by Lottie Moggach is published by Corsair
at £8.99. The Black Dress by Deborah Moggach is
published on April 28 by Tinder Press at £8.The Sunday Times Magazine • 7