Anthony O'Neill author of 'The Lamplighter'

Place of Birth: Melbourne, Australia

You worked as a bank clerk, storeman, warehouse supervisor and video store manager before becoming a full-time writer with the publication of your first novel, Scheherazade, in 2002. How difficult was that break-through to achieve?

"It took an unspeakably long time and I saw a lot of literary fashions come and go. In the meantime I held fast to my own ideas of what constitutes a good book and while I guess it paid off in the end, there were certainly times when I wondered if I was dangerously deluded."

The Lamplighter, your second novel, is set in Victorian Edinburgh. You’re the son of an Irish policeman and an Australian stenographer living in Australia. So, why Edinburgh?

"I do have a rich strain of Scots blood from my mother’s side, but I can’t pin down exactly when I decided to set the book in Edinburgh - the story was born as long ago as 1991. I think I was drawn to the city for a number of reasons: the Robert Louis Stevenson/Arthur Conan Doyle connection, the schisms between the New Town and the Old Town, science and superstition, enlightenment and repression."

When did you first visit Edinburgh and what was it about the city that inspired you to set The Lamplighter there?

"In December 2000 I made my first visit, after many months of intensive research. It goes without saying that it’s a deliriously atmospheric city - for me the most stimulating on earth. I walked everywhere Robert Louis Stevenson went, and the memories are vivid and indelible. I’ve been back since, and I’m always looking for an excuse."

In your own words, how would you describe your book?

"A tale of the macabre in the Jekyll & Hyde tradition, a mind-bending mystery, and very much a celebration of Edinburgh from an outsider’s perspective (a native writer might regard the book as a wee bit kitsch)."

What research into the Edinburgh of the 19th century?

"There’s a wealth of material available in libraries across the world and of course the city is remarkably well-preserved (and may it always remain so!). The memoirs of James McLevy, an Edinburgh police detective in the 1800s, were very amusing. But in all cases it’s the most obscure details, such as the pay-rates for lamplighters in the 1880s, that one delights in unearthing - the Central Library, the National Library and the City Archives were very helpful."

What was the most surprising thing you discovered about the period while researching your book?

"Probably that such a city, with a population of fewer than 300,000, could produce not just a slew of medical geniuses (the inventors of chloroform, surgical antiseptic and hypnosis), but also some of the leading lights in science, philosophy, and especially literature (the authors of Sherlock Holmes, Treasure Island and The Wind and the Willows, among others). That’s an incredible legacy the city has given the world."

Have you had any reaction from readers in Edinburgh?

"I was especially apprehensive about the reaction from readers in Edinburgh, and Scotland in general. I guess I feared being dismissed as an ignorant interloper. But the response has been generally very enthusiastic, notwithstanding the highlighting of at least one embarrassing error (I wasn’t aware that the Castle time-gun didn’t go off on Sundays; I’ve rectified the book for the new edition)."

Is there a follow-up in the pipeline?

"I’ve finishing up a very ambitious third novel right now."

Any clues as to what it might be about?

"Every character in my new novel (you might call it a ‘history-mystery’) actually existed and one of the major ones is another Scot - the young archaeologist Alexander Henry Rhind, who studied at Edinburgh University."

The Lamplighter by Anthony O’Neill, published in paperback this month by Review, price 6.99