It's the day that John Hume and David Trimble have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and writer Joan Lingard has not heard the news yet. When she hears, she gives as wild a whoop as one can in the genteel surroundings of the Shelbourne Hotel, in Dublin. It is four decades since Joan Lingard left Belfast, but the city where she grew up has left a profound stamp on her sensibility.
She was born in Edinburgh, but came to Belfast when she was two, remaining there until she was 18. By then, her mother had died and her father had decided to return to Scotland. Joan followed. "Those years are the ones that leave the deepest marks on you," she says.
It was from Belfast that Joan drew the inspiration for her award-winning series of Kevin and Sadie books, about two teenagers from different religious backgrounds who fall in love. The first in the series, The Twelfth Day of July, was published in 1970. "Those books have never been out of print," she says. In the volatile world of children's publishing, this is definitely something to be proud of.
Although Joan Lingard has written several other books in the meantime, it is 20 years since she has set one in Belfast. "I thought I had nothing else to say about the place," she explains. But three years ago, she was approached by BBC Northern Ireland with the suggestion that she write a six-part television drama for teenagers, set in Belfast. The money for the project never materialised, but "something did come out of it. I used the research I did for the television drama as the basis for Dark Shadows." This is her new novel, for 11-year-olds upwards.
As part of the initial development of the BBC idea, Joan came to Belfast for a time three years ago. "The BBC took me all round the city. It was the time of the Peace Process, but what I remember most vividly was the amount of graffiti everywhere. There were fresh murals - I saw them being painted. It seemed so much at odds with the peace that was supposed to be happening."
At that time, she also spoke to teenagers in schools of both denominations. "They all wanted peace, but sometimes for very simple reasons - they just wanted to be able to go out and enjoy themselves like other teenagers. To be able to do things like late-night shopping. They wanted freedom."
Since the teenagers she spoke to had read her Kevin and Sadie books, the question of whether or not they would marry across religious boundaries arose. "They all said if they were in love, it wouldn't make any difference, but that they weren't sure what their parent's attitudes to it would be. On the whole, the girls were readier to say they'd marry into the other side than the boys were - the girls seemed more prepared to be swept away by romance. But you could see the confusion and inconsistencies coming out.
"One Protestant girl, who had said she would marry a Catholic if she loved him, had a completely different philosophy when I asked how would she feel if Ireland was united. She said her whole family would leave and go to England. That they didn't want to ruled by Catholics. An answer like that comes out of fear and ignorance."
Dark Shadows is the story of a family, the Magowans, which has become estranged when one strand married out of their religion. The two teenage girls of the families, Jess and Laurie, meet by chance at a club where Laurie is singing, and a friendship begins. The character of Laurie was partially inspired by one of the girls Joan interviewed in Belfast. "She was a country singer from east Belfast."
The girls come together to sing in a competition, and inevitably their families become drawn into the situation. "It's really a story about a split family against the context of a political divide, rather than about the process of war itself." This is one of the reasons why there are no references in the book to specific dates, names, or events connected with either the Troubles or the Peace Process. "I didn't want to date it," Joan explains. Some would argue that such details would have added substance to the text, and clearly defined the political and historical context in which the book was set: something which would surely become more interesting rather than less interesting with the passing of time. Whatever happens in the future, the time during which the ceasefire was called and the Peace Process gradually established was nothing less than history in the making.
Joan Lingard makes regular visits back to the North to see the friends she grew up with. Her next trip over here will be in November, to speak in Dundalk and Newry at a Cross-Border Libraries initiative, which will be launched by the President, Mary McAleese. "If I had stayed in Belfast, my life there wouldn't have as easy as it was in Scotland," she admits. "I see the strain on the people who stayed. Always worrying about the safety of their children."
There are several passages in Dark Shadows which make reference to stresses most parents would not have to include in their canon of worries about their teenagers. Siblings Danny and Jess are out a bit later than usual. Their father panics and goes hunting for them, thoughts of them "kidnapped or caught in a hail of terrorist bullets" going through his head.
There is also a chilling scene in a school playground, where Danny is being bullied. He has been tormented before, and Jess has told a teacher about it. The children think Danny himself has told. They gather round him and hiss "informer"; a word with particularly sinister overtones in Northern Ireland. Jess thinks: " `Informer' had a horrible ring to it in their province."
Joan Lingard imagines that her characters, 15-year-old Jess and Laurie, will remain living in Belfast in their fictional future. "Those teenagers I spoke to, most of them saw themselves staying in the North. That's very different to the atmosphere and attitudes of 20 years ago," she says hopefully.
Dark Shadows is published by Hamish Hamilton, price £10.99 in the UK.