The Playdate

 
4) What do you like best about being a writer?

That freedom to travel and work in different places and give my kids new experiences wherever we go.

5) What do you find hardest about being a writer?

I find it almost impossible to read other people’s books when I’m writing, as I find it affects the way I write. I’ve started listening to audio-books when I run and that’s been a real break-through.

6) Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Seek out other people who want to write and form a writing group. It’s a fantastic way to set yourself deadlines and receive feedback. I started a writing group with two other school mums. To our shock, two of us were offered book deals within a year of each other.

7) What do you enjoy reading? And which books have inspired you to write?

My heart lies in American literature: Cormac McCarthy, Anne Tyler and Annie Proulx are my favourites. I also love well-written Nordic thrillers, partly for their strong sense of location and mood. If I could aspire to write like anyone, it would be Alice Sebold.

8) How did you come up with the title for this book?

My agent came up with it! She comes up with great titles – including the next one, Accidents Happen - and thought of it ten minutes before she was about to send the book out. As soon as I heard it, I loved it.

9) What do you hope readers will take away from your novels?

I hope they will enjoy The Playdate as a fast-paced thriller, but also come away thinking about some of the issues that occurred to me when I was writing it, about the pressures on working mothers who choose to have families away from the traditional support network of family and community, and how we adapt to it.

10) What can readers look forward to next from you?

Another domestic thriller. This time it’s about a young widow who lives her life in constant anxiety, then meets a man who promises to help her restart her life in a rather unorthodox way.

9) Talk about the secondary characters. Did any stand out for you?

10) Are there situations and/or characters you can identify with, if so how?

11) This novel includes characters who suffer with both physical and mental illnesses, discuss how these impairments can have an effect on peoples’ every day lives.

12) Do you agree with Callie’s decision to go back to work? Talk about the considerations she would have to make.

13) What passage from the book stood out to you the most?

14) If you could ask the author a question, what would you ask?

15) Discuss the ending of the book.