Hello,
I’m Debbie and it’s a dream come true to be weeks away from publication of my first women’s fiction novel for Boldwood!
The Life You Left Behind is out on 23rd February. It’s essentially a love story – about Casey and Ben, their heartfelt passion for this planet and everything on it; the personal issues that threaten to destroy them. It’s the first of six books I’m writing for Boldwood and I’m over the moon that these will be out in the world.
In the last few years, I’ve written six psychological thrillers, published by Pan Macmillan and Avon. But scrolling back a bit… My love for writing women’s fiction started much longer ago.
Before I wrote my first thriller, I self-published three women’s fiction novels. The first two were under a pen name, Susie Martyn. I was still running my wedding flower business and two identities, two names… seemed to make sense – plus my writing name was a play on my mum’s maiden name and I wrote the first book, This is Your Life, just after losing her.
Another book followed, after which I wrote Wildflowers as me. I poured my heart into that book and six literary agents requested the full manuscript. For a few days the dream seemed within reach… until all of them passed.
Deflated (to say the least), I decided to try something different and I started working on my first psychological thriller, The Bones of You. That was the point at which so much changed. It was published in 2015 around the world and was a Sunday Times bestseller. I love writing thrillers and creating twisty plots – and more have followed.
But recently, I’ve been writing other books – about family, friendship, love, loss – things that happen to all of us. They’re inspired by many things: this time of change we live in; the life events that come our way, challenging us but in a way that can be transformative; how the darkest times can lead us to rediscover the strength and light we have, that maybe we don’t realise we’ve lost sight of.
These books have also been inspired by spending time away from everything I know – a winter in Ibiza, followed by time in unfamiliar, very quiet parts of rural France, where the only sounds are the birds, or the wind in the trees (and a few passing sheep); where I’ve felt myself reconnect with something.
Isolation and solitude are not how I’d like to live forever, but something happens when you spend time alone. Your mind becomes quieter. You become more attuned with nature, with the subtleties of the changing seasons; to a wider sense of connection. More in tune I think, also, with yourself. Without this, these books may have remained unwritten, as it’s over this time they seem to have flowed into being, almost as if they’ve come from somewhere else.
Finding a publisher for them feels like a gift. I hope reading them makes you laugh and cry, but ultimately leaves you with a sense of hope. I hope so much you enjoy them. It means the world to be sharing them.
Debbie x
Get your copy of The Life You Left Behind below: