Interview with a writer: John Banville

The salubrious surroundings of the Waldorf Hotel seem like a very apt setting to interview a master of style and sophistication. When I arrive in the lobby, John Banville is nowhere to be seen. Peeping into the bar, I notice a grey haired man with a moustache, wearing a tuxedo, softly playing a grand piano. Taking a seat, this strikes me as the kind of place that Alex Cleave would enjoy a drink.

Alex is a semi-retired actor, and the central protagonist and narrator of Ancient Light; a novel that recalls a passionate love affair that took place over fifty years ago. The object of Alex’s desire was Mrs Gray, his best friend’s mother, who was 35, when he was a naïve 15-year-old boy.

When Banville finally turns up, I begin by asking him if this tale is based from any wild sexual escapades he might have experienced in his own teenage years? ‘I wish I’d had a Mrs Gray when I was 15, I certainly didn’t,’ he says with a wry smile.