Saintfield author discovers he’s becoming Popular

18 September 2013

LEARNING he had secured Penguin as the publisher of his first book back in 2011 was almost overwhelming for Gareth Russell.

Watching the stage version of Popular so soon after sealing the deal was also surreal he recalls.

Now he’s enjoying himself. The sequel to Popular — a hilarious take on Belfast’s most privileged teens — entitled The Immaculate Deception has been released. And now Penguin want a six book series.

The only concern is — how more badly behaved can his teens get with four more books still to go?

“Hmmm, I don’t know,” says former Down High School pupil Gareth. “Maybe I will redeem them. I haven’t decided yet.”

For local fans there is the chance to catch the stage version of The Immaculate Deception at Down Arts Centre on Saturday night as the current tour comes to an end.

For those who enjoyed the first book all the main characters remain.

Meredith Harper, who rules with a combination of glamour and terror, and her fellow BT9ers — Imogen, Kerry, the confused Cameron and the gorgeous Blake — are back on board.

Meredith may be teen queen of the Malone Road, but in a school where everybody knows everybody else’s business and everyone is desperate to take Meredith’s position as leader of her year, she needs all her wits to stay at the top of the social pyramid.

“It’s great to watch it this time around,” says Gareth, who spent much of last time worrying about everyone’s reaction. “I am more relaxed. It is enjoyable.

“It is still a bit strange, though.

“The Immaculate Deception picks up where Popular leaves off, following them through Lower Sixth. You see a lot more of Cameron and one of the leaders of the ‘Alternative’ group Coral, who was more of a minor part in the last book.”

From now on the books will cover six months as opposed to a year in the students’ lives, taking them right up to university.

Gareth insists that his fictional Mount Olivet Grammar School is an amalgamation of several schools he knows, but for the curious Down High readers he has also joked of events: “The more ridiculous they seem, the greater the chance that they are close to real life.”

Over the past year it has been fun, he says, meeting people who have read his books and hearing which are their favourite characters (mostly Meredith for the girls he notes eyebrows raised).

“It’s a nice feeling,” he notes. “It keeps making you want to work harder and be better at it.”

But the Saintfield author has much more than a local fan base.

The US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia South Africa and even Germany have become markets for Gareth’s work; with one American reviewer commenting: “Northern Ireland has a whole new set of Troubles”.

American novelist Elena Maria Vidal also described Gareth’s writing as “scathingly witty and humorous” and said it reminded her of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest for its “sheer entertainment quality”.

And while Meredith and co. have been demanding most of the young writer’s time, the 27 year-old Oxford graduate has also been dipping in and out of his other love — history.

Following a public speaking tour Gareth has been asked to write a two part history of the British monarchy, and Tudor fans will be pleased to know that the legendary female characters of Anne Boleyn and Bloody Mary are among his targets.

“I want to place them within a wider historical context,” he said. “It is really exciting.”

But that will be a whole other story.

• The Immaculate Deception will be be performed at Down Arts Centre on Saturday at 8pm. Tickets are priced at £10/£8 concession. To make a booking contact the box office on 028 4461 0747.

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