Louise Welsh’s intensely atmospheric debut novel, The Cutting Room, won prizes and plaudits when it was published in 2002. Its protagonist is Rilke, a gay auctioneer and accidental sleuth who stumbles upon a disturbing cache of photographs. Now, 20 years later, comes an equally compelling sequel, The Second Cut, in which Rilke must navigate Grindr, queerwashing and Covid restrictions, as well as murky goings-on in a crumbling mansion and the sudden death of an old friend. Welsh, who was born in 1965, is a professor of creative writing and former antiquarian bookseller. Like Rilke, she lives in Glasgow with her partner, the writer Zoë Strachan.
Why did you wait so long to write a sequel?
You have to have the right story, and I guess I didn’t really feel I had anything to add. The Cutting Room changed my life, so I didn’t want to do something rubbish.
