Today I am thrilled to welcome Sarah A Denzil to the blog to talk about her psychological thriller, Stolen Girl, which was released on March 1st as an audiobook by Audible with an all star cast:
Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey, Liar), Rosalie Craig
(Company, The Queen's Gambit) and Gerran Howell (1917, Catch-22).
The sequel to Audible’s 2017 Thriller of the Year SILENT CHILD
A dark and thrilling listen about breaking cycles of abuse,
written for audio Stolen Girl will be performed by an all-star cast, including:
Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey, Liar), Rosalie Craig (Company, The Queen's
Gambit) and Gerran Howell (1917, Catch-22).
When Emma Price’s daughter Gina is snatched, it is every
parent’s nightmare. But Emma has lived the horror before. As the clock ticks,
and Gina is still missing, a dark game of cat and mouse begins. Emma and Aiden
must piece together the kidnapper’s puzzle, to discover who has taken her – and
why. Emma, Aiden and Gina stand on the brink of a new life. After the trauma of
Aiden’s abduction and return, they are slowly healing and returning to a
fragile normality. Emma is desperate to protect her children, but the world is
fascinated by Aiden, the silent child who is finally learning to speak for
himself.
Against her better judgment, Emma allows her son to attend a
talk show. Her worse nightmare comes true when her daughter, Gina, is snatched
from the studio and a chilling game begins. Emma is convinced the answers lie
in the darkest corners of the family’s past, and that Aiden must be able to
work out the puzzle, if only he dare reach into the horrors of his memory. But
as the mystery deepens and Gina is still missing, the family must face a
terrible question: is history repeating itself, or is there a new enemy to
contend with?
Layered
with emotion, and told from Aiden and Emma’s perspectives, the sequel to Stolen
Girl is a dark and thrilling listen.
Welcome to Books, Life and Everything, Sarah.
Would you
like to start by telling us a little about yourself and how you started as a
writer?
My writing journey began just over ten years ago when I
realised the nine to five lifestyle wasn’t for me. I was in such desperate need
for a creative outlet that I kept doodling on post-it notes when I was supposed
to be working. I took an online course to help me start a novel, I wrote lots
and lots of short stories, and I used company time to write a book during
NaNoWriMo (don’t tell anyone!). After several draft rewrites, I decided to
self-publish my first book.
That book ended up becoming The Blemished, a YA dystopia novel.
I spent just over three years writing and publishing YA until I read Gone Girl
and decided that I wanted to write that book. But obviously not that book, one
from my own head just with the same sense of suspense. I’ve been writing
psychological thrillers for just over five years now and have more planned!
What is
it about the psychological thriller genre which attracts you?
I’ve always enjoyed dark suspense. Even when I was writing
YA, I remained drawn to mystery and horror. My books ranged from dystopian to
paranormal because I couldn’t settle on a genre I truly loved. But when I
started writing psychological thrillers, I noticed that something about this
genre played to my strengths as a writer. I drew from all the Gothic novels I’d
consumed as a young woman and mixed those elements with crime and mystery.
But on another level, the new wave of psychological
thrillers—and in particular the domestic suspense novels of authors like Paula
Hawkins and BA Paris—provided many women with an outlet to explore our deepest,
darkest and most personal fears about being a woman. I hadn’t realised
thrillers and crime could do that. Before Gone Girl, I hadn’t read a crime
novel for about a decade.
Stolen
Girl is the sequel to your 2017 Audible Book of the Year, Silent Child. When
and why did you decide to write a sequel?
At first, I was determined not to write a sequel. I didn’t
want to write a book for the sake of writing it. I also loved what I’d achieved
with Silent Child and I didn’t want to spoil the ending to that story. But as
time went on, I felt as though my skills as a writer were improving, and I felt
there was one loose end that needed to be resolved to give the story closure.
Tentatively, I made the decision that I could write a sequel and not mess up
the story of Silent Child.
When I revisited the characters, I started to unpack Emma’s
journey. Silent Child is all about Emma taking control back after her life
dramatically unravelled. Stolen Girl is about her learning to relinquish some
of that control to find a peaceful balance. I wanted to write that for her.
Was
writing the second story harder than the first?
Yes! I always find sequels hard. I tend to work in a state
of organised chaos which means keeping track of small details is a struggle within
one book let alone a series. It’s why I don’t tend to write them anymore.
Because I’m not organised enough to create spreadsheets and
book bibles, I occasionally have a mini panic attack that I’ve forgotten
something important!
Without
spoiling the plot, could you let us know a little about the story?
Emma, Aiden, and little Gina have moved to Manchester to
start a new life after Aiden’s return. But they have to cope with the fame that
Aiden has acquired since his escape from his kidnapper. Aiden wants to use this
fame to help him begin a career as an artist, but Emma is more cautious.
When Aiden and the family attend a televised interview,
Emma’s worst fear is realised. Someone snatches Gina. Her precious child is
gone.
Emma thinks she knows who took Gina, but when a ransom note
turns up to her house, she’s pulled into a game that she might not win. All the
while, her daughter’s life is at stake.
You wrote
Stolen Girl from two perspectives, Aiden and Emma. Was it difficult to get back
into the mindset of your characters?
It wasn’t as difficult as I expected it to be. Emma’s
character has always been very clear in my mind. In Stolen Girl she’s still
Emma, only with greater life experience. I think she makes different decisions
in Stolen Girl that she might have made before the events of Silent Child. She
has more confidence now.
In Silent Child I had to keep Aiden’s perspective a secret
for the mystery to unravel, which meant I got to explore more of his character
this time around. I loved giving him an active role in the mystery, actually
doing a bit of detective work himself. That was one of the best aspects about
writing Stolen Girl.
Did you
have any input into the process and casting of the recording of Stolen Girl?
I did. We really wanted both Joanne and Gerran to come back
as Emma and Aiden and then there was the third narrator to find. Rosalie was a
fantastic choice for that particular POV, but unfortunately, I can’t give away
any information about her character because it would spoil the story!
Finally,
if Stolen Girl was made into a film, who would you like to star in it?
It would have to be Joanne Froggatt. She gives so much
warmth and emotion to her roles (and to Emma throughout the audiobook!). When I
was first writing Silent Child, I kept picturing Olivia Coleman as Josie, but
that was before her well-deserved Oscar win!
I would love to see Silent Child and Stolen Girl made into a
short crime-drama series like Broadchurch. That would be perfection to me.
Thanks so much, Sarah. Fingers vrossed for that crime-drama series!
About the Author
Sarah A. Denzil is a million copy bestselling author of
psychological suspense novels. Her books include number one bestseller Silent
Child, which was a Goodreads Choice semi-finalist in 2017. Her books have been
published in several different languages and have appeared on the Wall Street
Journal bestseller list.
Sarah lives in Yorkshire with her husband and cat, enjoying
the scenic countryside and rather unpredictable weather. She loves to write
moody, psychological fiction with plenty of twists and turns.
For cat pictures and book news follow her on Instagram,
Facebook and Twitter.
You can follow Sarah here: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Audiobook link: Amazon UK
Thanks to Sarah a Denzil and Amber Choudhury of midaspr for the interview.
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