From the acclaimed author of The Bones of You comes
a haunting and heartbreaking new psychological thriller about a man
thrust into the middle of a murder investigation, forced to confront the
secrets of his ex-lover's past.
"I was fourteen when I fell in love with a goddess. . ."
So
begins the testimony of Noah Calaway, an ex-lawyer with a sideline in
armchair criminal psychology. Now living an aimless life in an inherited
cottage in the English countryside, Noah is haunted by the memory of
the beguiling young woman who left him at the altar sixteen years
earlier. Then one day he receives a troubling phone call. April, the
woman he once loved, lies in a coma, the victim of an apparent
overdose--and the lead suspect in a brutal murder. Deep in his bones,
Noah believes that April is innocent. Then again, he also believed they
would spend the rest of their lives together.
While Noah
searches for evidence that will clear April's name, a teenager named
Ella begins to sift through the secrets of her own painful family
history. The same age as April was when Noah first met her, Ella harbors
a revelation that could be the key to solving the murder. As the two
stories converge, there are shocking consequences when at last, the
truth emerges.
Or so everyone believes. . .
Set in a
borderland where the past casts its shadow on the present, with a
time-shifting narrative that will mesmerize and surprise, The Beauty of the End is both a masterpiece of suspense and a powerful rumination on lost love.
If
you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?
Jojo
Moyes or Rosamund Lupton. Their characters are completely believable
and they make you feel the emotions they write.
2. What
would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write?
I get up early and
walk my dog, then try to start writing around 8am. This involves
much procrastination before I get down to actually working, but then
I’ll keep writing until I need a break – usually early afternoon
in the form of another dog walk.
When I’m really
immersed, I’ll write into the evening, and even get up in the night
for two or three hours.
I write either at my
kitchen table or from a big, comfy sofa. Both rooms have big windows
and views of trees and sky – I need to be alone and it needs to be
quiet. I’ve tried writing in cafés but there are too many
distractions!
3. What is
the hardest part of the writing for you?
The part where I’m
trying to plot the twists and turns that keep the reader turning the
pages. Sometimes it feels like my brain is tied in knots. It’s
usually all in my head where it makes perfect sense, but translating
it into words in a time frame that makes
sense to the reader
can be a challenge!
4. When
and why did you first start writing?
I loved writing at
school – it’s fair to say, more than anything else. Over the
years, I’ve started several novels, only to give up after a few
chapters, which invariably – and rightly - ended up in the bin.
Then a few years ago, I started writing more seriously. I was
running my own wedding floristry business and it was the most hectic
summer I’d ever known. I gave myself Mondays off, so I’d sit in
the garden and write, as an escape. I finished my first novel and
submitted it to agents. It was rejected, but I had enough positive
feedback to encourage me to keep writing.
In all, I wrote 3
novels which were all commercial women’s fiction. The third,
Wildflowers, caught the eye of 6 agents who all ultimately rejected
it. I self-published all of them and they all sold quite well, but
it was at that point I knew, that if I wanted a traditional
publishing deal, I was going to have to write something different.
5. How did
you come up with the idea for your book?
The Bones of You
came from a combination of ideas. I had this narcissistic character
in my head who refused to go away and who I felt compelled to write
about. It coincided with a time where suddenly I became aware of the
issue of emotional abuse. I couldn’t believe how invisible it was
and the more I learned about it, the more I wanted to write about it.
I had the idea also, of telling Rosie’s story as her life flashed
before her eyes.
All these came
together as I started to write.
6. Are you
a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?
I love to read - my
one complaint is that I don’t have enough time for it! As a
published author, I often get sent books so my to-read pile is huge.
At the moment I’m reading Cathy Rentzenbrink’s The Last Act of
Love.
7. Do you
have any advice for other aspiring writers?
I think when you
start, it can feel daunting. I used to read other writers’ stories
to publication – they were like fairytales that had come true… I
kept reminding myself that however unlikely it seemed that I’d ever
be published, it wasn’t impossible and I kept writing - through all
the rejections – and there were many. It took several years, but
that’s often the way.
Rejection
is a fact of life for most writers. By agents, then maybe by
publishers, too. Take it on the chin, revise, write another book.
It’s the only way forward.
Even
when the doubts set in, when you don’t think anything you write
will ever be good enough, keep writing. It’s a subjective
business. Not everyone likes every book. And you learn with
everything you write.
There
are two things I read quite early on, that stayed with me. The first
was that the writers who get published are the ones who don’t give
up – it sounds obvious but it’s true. The second is, not to
write with an axe to grind, but to write with love.
