‘The day that Peter Sutcliffe was caught is etched on my memory’: How I wrote The List of Suspicious Things

Author Jennie Godfrey was inspired to write her debut novel after watching the documentary series The Yorkshire Ripper Files. "[It] reminded me that my Dad worked with Peter Sutcliffe, an aspect of my childhood I had almost forgotten," she explained, "It brought back such memories of living in Yorkshire at that time, that I realised I wanted to write about it."   

The List of Suspicious Things follows 12-year-old Miv, who decides to make Yorkshire safe again by finding the man dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, to avoid her father moving the family to London.  

Alongside her best friend Sharon, they start their own investigation and inevitably uncover secrets about their small town, and the people within it, with devastating consequences. 

Steeped in a sense of place and time, the novel captures the nostalgia of life in 1970s Yorkshire whilst confronting the realities of life in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. It's a North many readers who were alive at the time will recognise. There's jam roly-poly for tea, kids swarm the streets playing out from dawn till dusk and neighbours gossip over warm mugs of tea - but there is also tension. As Thatcher's premiership progresses, unemployment rises as industry dwindles. For families, money is tight and communities are feeling fractured – all heightened by the threat of a serial killer whose attacks are becoming more frequent.   

In her own words, Godfrey tells us the incredible connection her family had with Peter Sutcliffe and how her childhood experiences have informed her first foray into fiction.  

"The name "Yorkshire Ripper" was used like a "bogeyman" to frighten us." 

I really wanted to capture Miv on the kind of cusp of adolescence, whereas I was a child in the 1970s. But the pieces in the narrative that come direct from real life are things like playing Ripper Chase in the school playground and the name ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ that was used like a ‘bogeyman’ to frighten [us].  

We would have to behave otherwise all you would need to say is ‘the Ripper was going to get you.’ It was the real language of the time. We were left to play from morning to late at night but hyper-aware of him and the danger he presented. 

"The day that Peter Sutcliffe was caught is etched on my memory because my dad just kept saying "but I know him."

My dad was an engineer who serviced all the vehicles at the depot where Peter Sutcliffe worked, and would sign the service records to say that the work had been done, so my Dad used to see and interact with him frequently.  

The day that Sutcliffe was caught is etched on my memory because my dad just kept saying, "but I know him, I know him. He's so quiet. He's so shy. I can't believe it's him."  

He went to his work van and got the service records that Sutcliffe had signed to show me and my mum that he was telling the truth, not that we didn't believe him, but because he was so shocked that he had come so close to this person. 

"My dad's a proper 1970's Dad, never did he say how it had affected him."

Later in life, my dad had a big religious conversion and went on to be the Chaplain at Woodhill High Security Prison, which meant that he worked with the likes of Rose West whilst she was on remand at Woodhill, and Ian Huntley – some of the worst people that we know of. Now, you can’t tell me that there’s not a link.  

"Our lives after Peter Sutcliffe's capture carried on as normal... I just don't think that in the '70s we processed it." 

Our lives after Peter Sutcliffe’s capture just carried on as normal and we never talked about it. The book explores some dark themes and sometimes I wonder if they were overdone, but my upbringing was very similar.  

There was someone who took their own life who lived on the same street as us. We never talked about that. My dad had a breakdown in my teens. We never talked about that. And I just don't think that in the '70s we processed everything that happened.  

What I’m finding really interesting is that there are things like The Long Shadow on ITV that has just been made, there’s a memoir called The Stirrings as well as a couple of novels that explore the Ripper [recently published]. It's almost like we’re only just processing that particular time and place now. 

"There is a real need to balance the darkness with the light and you really do get that from a child's perspective."  

It was really important for me to tell this story through a child's eyes for a couple of reasons. One is that children have a unique perspective on life. The second reason is if I wanted to write about that period, I wanted to reflect the truth about the 1970s. There is a real need, I think, to balance the darkness with the light and you really do get that from a child's perspective.  

"I absolutely dialled up the fear that people felt during those years as a consequence of hearing people talking about the same thing today." 

While I was writing the book Sarah Everard was murdered and in the aftermath, women were sharing their stories on social media for days. It touched a real nerve that we are still in this place. 

I absolutely dialled up the fear that people felt during those years as a consequence of hearing people talking about the same thing today. [Women's safety] hasn't changed as much as I might have liked to have thought. 

"I'm not interested in gore or terrible things happening to people. But I am interested in understanding how this stuff happened."

My favourite True Crime podcast is My Favorite Murder, where they get people to share stories of their hometown murders. Exploring their hometown murder is often like people’s gateway drug that made them really interested in true crime. And that’s true for me with what happened with Peter Sutcliffe – that was my hometown murder.
 
Finding out that such a thing could happen in your hometown or in your life, so close to you, changes how you feel about the world. There's something about seeking out, or trying to understand in some way, how these terrible things can happen. 

I'm not interested in gore or terrible things happening to people but I am interested in understanding how these things happen, and the why and where and who.  

'I always wanted to write a book that people want to talk about.'

I am a part-time bookseller as well as an author. I love books. I love talking about books. So, I always wanted to write a book that people want to talk about.

In The List of Suspicious Things there is a historical angle, It's got a regional aspect to it. It's got a political aspect to it. It's got racism, misogyny – you name it, I’ve put it in.  

For me, this book is about the resilience and the human spirit. But I love hearing other people's take on that. 

"I've got no interest in hearing any more about Peter Sutcliffe ever again." 

I still haven’t watched The Long Shadow and I'm still fascinated by the fact that I haven't. It's not because I don't want to, I just kind of feel done. It's a cliché to say that novel writing is like closure or a form of therapy. But somehow that has sort of happened. I've got no interest in hearing any more about Peter Sutcliffe ever again.