Jane Urquhart on how airport art inspired her latest novel

The Night Stages moves between County Kerry in Ireland and Gander, Newfoundland: two beautiful and remote places that provide the backdrop for a family story of dislocation, love and the power and mystery of art.  

"My main character, Tamara, is stranded in Gander in the late 1950s. She's running away from Ireland and trying to get to New York. But, like every other aircraft of the time, [her plane] must stop to refuel in Gander. Then, unsurprisingly, the fog moves in. However, what's important about Gander is that, in the airport, there is one of the great works of Canadian art by Kenneth  Lochhead. This painting was commissioned in the late 1950s. The title is Flight and its Allegories, which to me seemed to be perfect as a central metaphor for The Night Stages, since everyone is fleeing in one way or another in this book."

Jane Urquhart's comments have been condensed and edited.