Briefly tell us about your book.
You Need to Know is a dark domestic drama about family secrets, fractured relationships, tragic mistakes and the ultimate betrayal. It opens with a major car accident on the freeway on Christmas Eve and it’s revealed that all of the people involved are members of the same extended family. From here, the story moves back in time to meet this family, explore their lives and investigate the question: who caused the accident? Was it the sleep-deprived parents of newborn twins? Was it the mother who’s started drinking more and more to escape from her problems? Was it the matriarch of the family who’s received a mysterious e-mail with the subject line: You need to know? Or the learner-driver-teen who’s been increasingly reclusive? Because someone is to blame. And they won’t all make it out alive.
But the most frightening part is that one person is missing from the accident… and no one is searching for her, because no one has even realised that she’s gone. And her time is running out.
What was the most challenging part of writing this book?
Dealing with delicate and controversial issues and making sure I incorporated them carefully and respectfully. And in particular, searching the dark, murky corners of the internet in order to research some of those issues.
What inspired the idea behind this book?
I’m not entirely sure where it came from, but I had this vision in my head of a person happening upon a terrible car wreck and stopping to help, only to discover that they know the people involved. The idea grew from there and throughout the writing process, I kept thinking about a book I read to my kids when they were little: Who Sank the Boat? By Pamela Allen. I had no idea who was going to be the cause of this major car accident at the centre of the story, so I kept muttering to myself, ‘who sank the boat, who caused the accident?’ And each time I did, these words from the book would run through my mind: Was it the mouse, the last to get it, who was smallest of all, could it be him?
What are you hoping the reader will take away from reading your book?
I hope this book will encourage people to question pre-conceived ideas of motherhood and that it will leave them asking themselves how far they would go in a similar situation to any of the three main women in the book. I hope it raises lots of moral and ethical dilemmas and most of all, I hope they enjoy the ride.
What’s your daily writing routine like and what are you working on at the moment?
My daily routine is not so much a routine as it is a chaotic attempt at getting work done. I’m not sure if I’ve ever really been any good at sticking to a routine, but once the kids are at school, I either try to get out of the house and head to a café to sit and do some writing, or else I go to an office I share with my husband and do some work there. Other times, I stay at home and try to work but I often find there are too many other distractions at home for me to stay focused.
My next book is only just underway, I’m only one chapter in. But at this stage it opens with a woman lying on the floor, thinking to herself that being dead isn’t going to be ideal. She then makes the decision that she will use her last few minutes to figure out who killed her. My plan is to take the reader back and forth, exploring her life and her family and friends and all the potential suspects!
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