THE author of a new novel set in Helensburgh says she's “thrilled” at the reception the town has given to her story.

Polly Clark's debut novel, 'Larchfield', intertwines the story of author and poet W.H. Auden's time living and working in the town in the 1930s with the fictional life of Dora, a new arrival in the Helensburgh area struggling to adjust to being an outsider.

'Larchfield' received its Scottish launch at Lomond School's St Bride's Hall last month – and Polly told the Advertiser she was delighted at the local response to the book.

She said: “The Lomond School event was one of the warmest and loveliest events I've ever been at – just as a person, not being the centre of attention. The school just ran with the idea so beautifully.

“St Bride's Hall was the perfect venue for the launch because it's from the period in which the book is set.

“Around one hundred people came to the launch event, and they all loved the fact the book was set in Helensburgh. The town just gives so much.

“I'm really thrilled that the town was such a big character in the book.”

As well as being the title of her debut novel, Larchfield is also the name of one of Lomond School's predecessors – and, more pertinently as far as Polly's book is concerned, is where Auden worked as a teacher for two years in his early twenties.

And while Polly knew of the link between Auden and Helensburgh when she moved to the town, she found it an association which few, if any, writers, had expanded upon in the past.

She said: “I knew Auden had been a teacher at the school, but I knew nobody had really done much with that.

“Auden's time in Helensburgh was a really important time in his life. He published his first book of poems while he was in Helensburgh and had his first big love affair in the town.

“But nobody had done anything with that information – I think because nobody could be bothered to come to the town.

“I'm not an Auden scholarr, but I knew that in itself, his story wasn't enough to base a novel around.

“But my own experience of having a baby, coming to Helensburgh from the outside and feeling a bit alienated, gave me an idea for the character of Dora Fielding, a young poet.

“I realised my character and Auden were doing the same thing – trying to find themselves, and survive as outsiders. Auden was gay, and in that time he couldn't be himself, while Dora hasn't got any friends.

“That gave me my story – when I had the two, I realised they were meant to be together.”

Polly's fortnight-long publicity tour in support of her novel, which ended just last week, was the last chapter in a five-year process of researching, writing, redrafting and editing the book – and then finding a publisher willing to take it on.

And Polly was in full agreement with hundreds, if not thousands, of would-be writers who will tell you that writing your 'magnum opus' is nothing compared to finding someone willing to take on the risk of publishing it.

“It's been quite a rollercoaster,” she said.

“It's incredibly competitive and difficult to rise above the noise.

“But Larchfield did win a prize [the MsLexia Prize for the best women's novel of 2015], and I became a torturer of the famous, asking anyone who was remotely famous to read it before it went to prospective publishers.

“Louis de Bernieres and Richard Ford both read it.

“But to have notice taken of it is hard. You can go round the houses of publishers for ages, and fortunately the book's publishers just loved it, and bought it in two days.

“But even once you've done that, getting people to hear about it is another whole lot of stuff. I honestly didn't know what I was letting myself in for – there's been a lot of publicity events, and it's been a real adventure.

“I didn't know there would be quite this much interest. But I had a wonderful time at the Helensburgh launch – it was my favourite event on the tour.

“I live in the town, and I didn't want to disappoint my friends who have seen me at the school gates just being me.

“Suddenly I was saying 'here I am, come and listen to me talking about my book'! Fortunately they were so engaged with it, and all my anxiety was misplaced.”

Polly is now beginning work on her second novel – this one with no discernible link to Helensburgh.

“It's partly based around Siberian tigers,” she said, “because in a previous life I used to be a zookeeper.

“I'm going to Siberia in December to set up camera traps to film them in the snow.

“Siberian tigers because they are the only creatures, apart from humans, who have a lust for revenge – if you try to injure one, and don't kill it, it will remember you by your smell and spend the rest of its life hunting you down.”

And closer to home, Polly hopes 'Larchfield' might plant the seed of a Helensburgh literary festival in the future.

“Auden isn't the end of Helensburgh's literary story,” she said. “The poet Cecil Day-Lewis worked at Larchfield, and Oscar Wilde once spoke at what is now the Tower Digital Arts Centre.

“There's quite a lot of stuff out there to show that Helensburgh is about much more than John Logie Baird. It would be fantastic if a Helensburgh literary festival could happen.”