What She Knew (46 page)
Reading Group Discussion Questions |  |
Reading Group Discussion Questions
1. At the very beginning of
What She Knew,
Rachel states that “in the eyes of others we’re often not who we imagine ourselves to be.” How much do you agree with this statement and do you think it’s a liberating idea or an unsettling one?
2. The narrative in
What She Knew
is presented in some unusual ways, including through social media excerpts, transcripts, and the alternating viewpoints of Rachel and Jim. What did you make of this?
3. Do you think Rachel and Jim change as the story evolves and, if so, how?
4. Does Rachel deserve the criticism that she gets via social media?
5. Do you think that the influence of social media has a negative impact on how the case develops for both the police and Rachel?
6. Rachel feels that the media would have treated her differently if she hadn’t been a single mother. Do you agree with this?
7. Do you think it was understandable for Rachel to follow her instincts at the press conference?
8. Does the ending of the book work for you? Would you have liked to see it resolved differently?
9. Were you surprised when you discovered who was responsible for Ben’s abduction? Do you think having a position of trust or authority means that people can get away with more than they would otherwise?
10. Did you sympathize with Jim by the end? Should he have let his instincts or personal feelings interfere with his rational judgments about the case?
11. What is the importance of secrets in this novel?
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always wanted to write and have loved writing. Ever since my early twenties I’ve written bits and pieces whenever life hasn’t got in the way. Most of it was fairly unstructured, but as I got older I began to wonder whether I had it in me to write an entire book. However, I’m not sure I ever thought I could actually be a writer. That always felt like an impossible goal.
Can you tell us a little about what inspired you to write
What She Knew
?
By the time I started
What She Knew
I had already tried to write two different books, and had abandoned them for various reasons. I was at a point where my children had all begun school and I realized I probably had one more shot at actually trying to produce an entire book before it would be essential for me to go out and get a “proper job.” With that in mind I decided the best idea might be to try writing in a genre that I absolutely love and to get on with it. I’m a massive fan of crime novels, and psychological thrillers in particular, so I thought I would see if I could write a page-turner.
At the time I had just read Linwood Barclay’s book
No Time for Goodbye
, and that book inspired me because of its domestic setting and simple, strong premise, which I found deeply unsettling. An everyday life suddenly and shockingly turned upside down is something we can all imagine and which we all fear. I tried to think of what would be my worst nightmare as a mother, and it didn’t take me long to decide that it would be for one of my children to disappear without a trace. So the book started with that one idea: a mother, walking in the woods on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, feeling hopeful, and then minutes later her son is gone and her life will never be the same again. The idea made me shudder then and it still does now.
Once I’d thought of that, I set myself a goal of writing a thousand words a day for five days a week, which was just manageable between school runs. That was how the first draft of
What She Knew
was produced.
What does it feel like to see your debut novel in print?
Absolutely amazing. And terrifying.
Were there many stumbling blocks along the way?
The biggest stumbling blocks were the rewrites I had to do in order to take the book from its first incarnation as a pretty dodgy first draft to the finished product that it is now. I was lucky enough to find my agent, Nelle Andrew, fairly quickly, and with Nelle’s help I had to work on getting the book into shape for submission to publishers. Among other things, this involved sorting out the pacing of the plot and adding the character of Jim Clemo (as Rachel was the only narrator in the first draft), so it was a lot of work.
Just over a year later Emma Beswetherick, my editor at Little, Brown, acquired the novel, and we embarked on another round of rewrites to improve the story further. Emma worked very closely with me on those so that they weren’t as painful as they might have been. All in all, the rewriting process has been an extraordinarily good discipline for me and I’ve learned huge amounts about pacing and putting together a strong plot, as well as many other things along the way.
Did your characters appear fully formed or did they evolve along with the story?
Rachel’s character appeared fully formed. The parts of the book that haven’t significantly changed during its evolution are her prologue and the scenes that take place in the woods, as well as her attitude toward Ben and her strong love for him. The other characters definitely evolved as the story did. For example, I had to work very hard to get Jim right: his personality, his motivations, and his feelings about the case. That was a particular challenge, as I was also concerned about writing effectively and believably in a man’s voice.
You’ve written about a very sensitive subject. How difficult was that for you?
At all stages of writing this book I have been very, sometimes painfully, aware that I was tackling an extremely sensitive subject. That thinking informed the way I approached the story. I feel boundless amounts of respect and sympathy for any family who has not only suffered the disappearance of a child, but has had the additional burden of doing so in the public eye.
Most of all, I wanted Rachel’s voice to be as strong and as truthful as I could possibly achieve, and I spent a long time trying to imagine what it must be like to be her, and the experience she has to go through. To help with this, and to try to find an authentic voice for her, I did a great deal of research on missing children. I also read a lot of accounts written by parents, and others, in order to try to get it as right as possible.
Of course,
What She Knew
is a figment of my imagination, and I haven’t experienced what families who’ve gone through this in real life have—no doubt there are places in the book where I might have got it wrong—but I have tried my hardest to imagine it truthfully and respectfully. I was determined that the book would not trivialize or sensationalize any part of their experience, or that of their children.
What made you want to include so much social media in the novel?
A response on social media to big news stories is inevitable these days, and I felt that to tell a story like this without it would be to omit a large part of many people’s everyday experience. I’ve always been staggered by the vast gulf between the actual experience of families who find themselves in desperate situations and the public’s often swift and judgmental response via social media. Because people are able to remain anonymous, or comment from the safety of their own homes, it gives them courage to make judgments that they might not be brave enough to articulate otherwise.
If you watch stories evolve in the press and online, as I did as part of my research, it quickly becomes clear that the nasty opinions expressed in social media can become absorbed into the narrative of that particular story, usually for the worse. The danger of that is that swiftly it becomes, at best, a rather shocking invasion of privacy, and, at worst, downright cruel. In the book, invasive social commentary and press attention turn into an act of vandalism and then violence against Rachel—the scary thing is that I don’t feel that is taking it too far.
If I were in Rachel’s situation, I feel strongly that the trial by online and media commentary would be one of the most difficult things to bear.
Did you have to research a lot of the police procedural? How important was it that you got this right?
It was incredibly important to me, because I wanted the book and the action within it to feel as realistic as possible. I am most terrified by thrillers when everything that happens feels as if it could happen to me. Having said that, you inevitably take some liberties when you’re writing fiction, so I’m sure there are mistakes in the book that the better informed or eagle-eyed might spot. To try to get things right, I met two retired detectives who very patiently talked me through processes that were relevant to the story, and gave me all sorts of other bits of information that were invaluable to the book.
There are many ways this novel could have ended. How did you decide on the ending?
The ending! It has tormented me! I rewrote the end of the book at least three times in the quest for the perfect resolution. I needed it to strike the correct balance between something that wouldn’t be too neat and easy (Draft 1) or be unpalatable to readers (Draft 2). Above all it had to be realistic and believable for all the characters involved, as well as resolving the story in a way that would satisfy readers, and it also needed to maintain the pulse of the story as a whole. I think (I really hope!) that I’ve achieved that now. The finished ending is as truthful as I could make it.
What advice would you give to aspiring novelists?
Read as much as you can, especially within the genre you’re writing in; write as much as you can so that you are always developing; be willing to listen to and collaborate with agents and editors because they almost certainly know the market far better than you do; be prepared to work very, very hard to get a finished book out there; and sometimes, most difficult of all, hold your nerve while you do all of that!
What are you working on now?
I’ve just put the finishing touches on my second book, which is another psychological thriller called
Butterfly in the Dark
(in the UK). I’m really excited about it because it has a complex plot and a cast of characters who both thrilled and unnerved me as I was writing. The action takes place over a short time scale and is intense and claustrophobic.
The main character is Zoe Maisey—child genius, musical sensation—who, several years earlier, caused the death of three teenagers. She served her time and now she’s free. Zoe’s story begins with her giving the musical performance of her life, but by midnight her mother is dead. The book is an exploration into the mind of a teenager burdened by brilliance. It’s a story about the wrongs of our past not letting go in the present and how hard we must fight for second chances.