The first adult novel I started was The Cold Cold Sea, way back when my children were small. I wrote and wrote but then at some point I got stuck… and that was when I started The Paradise Trees. I zig-zagged between them for years, writing and tweaking and altering and chopping and changing. Having more than one project on the go works for me.

At the moment I’m working on three books. One is almost half-finished, one is in the middle of structural edits, and the third will be published next month. The title is –  Chosen Child. Here’s the story of how it came to life.

In October 2014, my niece in Scotland was married. It was a lovely wedding, sunshine and everything, and even the dog was there.
After the ceremony we all adjourned to the hotel where the reception was being held. So there I was, glass in hand, chatting to my sister-in-law’s sister. About adoption (she worked in child welfare). She was describing something that could go wrong during an adoption process, and – wham! – the idea for a book burst into my head.

The following morning I grabbed her at breakfast and grilled her thoroughly, writing notes on a posh hotel paper napkin. One of the things she told me about was ‘adoption activity days’ or ‘adoption parties’, which I’d never heard of. I decided my book would start at an adoption party. I could hardly wait to get back home to Switzerland to start writing.

So what’s it about? Two couples. One is nearing the end of their adoption process. The other has a little boy, and the mother is pregnant with a second child. But the book’s a psychological thriller, so things don’t go quite as you might think.
How well do you know your own family… and who can you trust?

Next week we’re having a cover reveal (it’s my most colourful cover so far) on a book blog, and I hope to have the video trailer ready by the end of the month. The eBook will be out on February 15th, the paperback a week or two later.

It’s a strange, scary feeling, like waving another child off on his first day at school, happy to see him start a new stage in his life, hoping that people will be kind to him…

Watch out next week for the link to the cover reveal post!

Merken