I've just completed the first draft of my fifth novel and this has given me a lovely feeling of euphoria.

When you start out on a novel you are enthused by your premise for the story and think it will unfurl before you. It does not happen like that.

I know how my story will start and how it will end, though I will write the ending many times before I feel the wording is right. But it is the getting from the beginning to the finale that is the slog. Keeping the narrative going through the middle of the novel is a challenge.

As you develop your characters and work through the plot developments self-doubt begins to creep in. Well it does with me. You have to persevere and slowly, chapter by chapter, it will come to life.

This story starts in Bow in East London in March 1995 on a bitterly cold day. My two main characters escape to La Rochelle in France.


A typical alleyway in La Rochelle
The novel is back in psychological thriller territory and, like The Lie of You, is told from the alternating first person point of view of the two main characters. I feel comfortable writing in the first person and because I can get into the heads of my two characters this gives me the freedom to reveal the motivation, deception and anguish of the characters.

La Rochelle was the perfect city in which to place my characters. They can start to build a new life in this beautiful place. I have used some of the key locations including the nineteenth century covered market and La Grosse Horloge, an important landmark.

La Rochelle's Covered Market


La Grosse Horloge, La Rochelle


The next stage is to wait for feedback from my editor and that is always an interesting moment.
My latest novel is BEHIND HER BACK, published by Head of Zeus.