The Hill interview

Wise words

Diana Janney’s new novel is set in South Kensington. Emily Paine meets the model-turned-barrister-turned-novelist

Walking up the stairs to the RIBA café to meet Diana Janney, I realise I’m feeling nervous. And frankly, with good reason. The author I’m about to meet has penned a book that looks set to become a bestseller, has been a barrister, has two philosophy degrees and before all that, managed a glamorous international modelling career. On top of which I’ve had a Dictaphone crisis and have had to turn up with a 1960s brick. What’s not to make me nervous? Yet the woman who greets me puts me at ease with her lilting voice and declaration that technology ‘gets on her nerves’. She’s got bucket loads of glamour, with her cascade of blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, but her understated attitude to her plethora of achievements and her engaging manner mean I don’t remain nervous in her company for long. Awed, still, but not nervous.

Her book The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose, the latest achievement in a list as long as my arm, is the story of Harriet, a quirky, Marcus Aurelius-loving 14-year-old South Kensington schoolgirl whose life is turned upside down when her mother and grandmother decide to publish her philosophical meditations. A sort of Sophie’s World and Princess Diaries combined, Harriet Rose is funny, touching and proving a hit with adults and teenagers alike. So, what was it that inspired the creation of such a vivid, likeable character? “Well actually, before I started writing I had a miscarriage. I hadn’t had any children before and when I was pregnant I remember panicking a bit and thinking, “I hope I get on with this child,” you know, and if it was a girl what would I want the girl to be like? So although I had a miscarriage it set my mind to thinking of the daughter I would like to have. And that, I think, influenced me, when I was writing the character.”

The sort of girl Diana would get along with seems remarkably like Diana herself, au fait with the language of style and fashion, but also hyper-intelligent and prone to getting lost in philosophical thought. Was this deliberate? “Well, I recognise some sort of traits in Harriet that I have in me. Her father having died – I was older than Harriet when my father died but it had a strong impact, like it had on Harriet, and when I was Harriet’s age I did write poetry and you know, the reflections I had on life.”

I wonder what it was like moving from being a model to being a philosopher and barrister. “Well, while I was doing it, I was always academic, so when I was modelling, if I was waiting for a commercial I’d be reading War and Peace. At first I thought I would just do it for a year, but you know, I did well at it so I carried it on for longer. But I was always wanting to decide what to do next and throughout that time I’d been interested in philosophy – I read books, I’d done Latin A-level, I was interested in Cicero and Catullus – so philosophy was the natural step for me. And there are quite a few similarities between being a philosopher and being a lawyer, especially a barrister.”

So in the midst of this jet-setting intellectual lifestyle, did Diana have time to enjoy the many attractions of South Ken and Chelsea? “Well, it’s nice to have the culture – the Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, I love classical music and it’s nice to be able to get a cab and go and hear fabulous music and then be back home again in five minutes.” Any particular favourite haunts? “I like going to Waterstone’s, of course, and seeing how many copies of my book they’ve sold! And there are some great restaurants around here – the Star of India on the Old Brompton Road and Chutney Mary on King’s Road. And I also think the little cinemas in Chelsea are great.” She’s now living in Kent with her husband while they search for a property in Chelsea. I wonder what she misses particularly while she’s away. “I miss the lights, especially in the winter – I like the fact that you can walk out in the evening and it’s like daylight. It’s quite depressing if you get in the car and you’re driving through country lanes and it’s all dark. Another thing I miss is Peter Jones. I used to like Peter Jones when they allowed dogs -  a few years ago they banned them when they did the re-furb, which I think is such a shame. It had that real Chelsea feel to it, having everyone there with their little pet dogs.”

As well as pet dogs, life in the country, it seems, has turned Diana on to a different sort of pet as well. “Yes, sheep! At first there was a sheep that we got rather attached to, so we bought her to stop her from going to market, and then she had a son, and then of course all her friends had to be bought too. It’s very difficult to see them and get really attached to them and then see this big van coming to take them away to be slaughtered, it’s really impossible.”

It’s time to go but I still don’t seem to be able to get my head around somebody who can have achieved, quite so seemingly effortlessly, as much as Diana has. Thinking her secret may lie in some savvy, multi-tasking icon, I finally ask her who her inspiration is. “Dickens,” she replies without hesitation, “For the fact that he’s got something to say, it’s really believable, you feel like you’re living it – and also he’s got great humour running right through. He’s my hero, if you like. He’s my Marcus Aurelius.”

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