Frances Hardy

Reading a Frances Hardy interview is rather like witnessing a supremely talented orchestral conductor in full flow - at the precisely the right moment, in come the strings of sadness… before, if possible, they are allowed to give way to trumpets of joy. Few writers have the emotional depth and perspicacity Hardy does, with each of her interjections precisely weighted to effortlessly steer the reader through the interview, while also giving her subject full voice. This, then, is a writer at the peak of her talents.

The bleak portrayal of alleged domestic violence presented by Lady Isabella Hervey at the hands of her husband, Christophe, is a superlative example of Hardy’s skill. Expertly negotiating the inherent legal challenges in such an interview, she weaves a intricate picture of a complex marriage, astutely conveying the shifting dynamic of a coercive and violent relationship: 'as Christophe became more confident that she loved him the mental abuse began’, she observes, her words powerful in their economy. The sophistication of Hardy’s powers as an interviewer, to draw out such a distressing tale - which acts as such a powerful analysis of this terrible issue - can be in no doubt.

How does one begin to convey the desperate grief of a 41-year-old woman newly widowed, with three children five and under? With tender care, and raw honesty, as Hardy does in this exclusive interview with Jess Irwin, wife of late TV presenter Jonnie. Her efforts significantly elucidate the dark humour, poleaxing misery and profound loss experienced by so many whose loves ones experienced a death, as Jonnie did, which 'was not a gentle goodnight.’ “Even now I don't like to use the word rape because part of me wants to pretend it never happened or I'd go mad. I call it my 'terrible awful’.” So says Hazel Behan, the woman who insists she was raped by Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner. The brutality of her attack makes no easy read - nor does its aftermath. But with her infinite skill, Hardy bestows her afflicted subject with a dignity that she so greatly deserves.