The Bones of You - blog tour

The Bones of You

by Debbie Howells

A stunning, wonderfully assured psychological thriller that evokes Gillian Flynn and Alice Sebold, The Bones of You revolves around a young girl’s murder and one woman’s obsession with uncovering the secrets in an idyllic English village.

I have a gardener’s inherent belief in the natural order of things. Soft‑petalled flowers that go to seed. The resolute passage of the seasons. Swallows that fly thousands of miles to follow the eternal summer.

Children who don’t die before their parents.

When Kate receives a phone call with news that Rosie Anderson is missing, she’s stunned and disturbed. Rosie is eighteen, the same age as Kate’s daughter, and a beautiful, quiet, and kind young woman. Though the locals are optimistic—girls like Rosie don’t get into real trouble—Kate’s sense of foreboding is confirmed when Rosie is found fatally beaten and stabbed.

Who would kill the perfect daughter, from the perfect family? Yet the more Kate entwines herself with the Andersons—graceful mother Jo, renowned journalist father Neal, watchful younger sister Delphine—the more she is convinced that not everything is as it seems. Anonymous notes arrive, urging Kate to unravel the tangled threads of Rosie’s life and death, though she has no idea where they will lead.

Weaving flashbacks from Rosie’s perspective into a tautly plotted narrative, The Bones of You is a gripping, haunting novel of sacrifices and lies, desperation and love.

AUTHOR Q&A WITH DEBBIE HOWELLS:

 When did you start writing?

I began writing in earnest about five years ago, women’s fiction which was what I liked to read.  But I also wanted to write books that addressed more serious real-life issues as well.  I think with Wildflowers I achieved that. It’s had some wonderful reviews on Amazon, but though 6 agents asked to read the full manuscript, no-one actually took me on.

The Bones of You is a change of genre.  How did you come to write it?

I’d put everything I had into Wildflowers and it came so close, but not close enough.  I knew then I had to write something different.  Everyone says, write about what you know about.  I think that’s true, but I think also, you have to appeal to the market.  That said, I don’t think it’s possible to write without your heart one hundred per cent in it.

Were you surprised with the reaction you got from agents and publishers?

Completely blown away!  It was beyond my wildest dreams.  There are phone calls and emails from that time that I will never, ever forget.  When you’ve worked so hard for so long, battled rejection but kept going anyway, to reach the point where I’m being published is something I’m so excited about – and enormously grateful for.

 What advice do you have for other writers?

There are so many brilliant, unpublished writers out there.  Finding an agent and a publisher mean you have to write a good book, but it takes luck, too - in spadefuls -  to hit the right person with the right idea when the market’s right… It’s also a massively subjective industry.  What one person loves, another wouldn’t give the time of day to.  And no-one can predict tomorrow’s bestsellers.

If you can’t find an agent to take you on, consider self-publishing.  A number of authors have had huge success this way and in any case, you learn from it.  Then keep writing – the next book, the one after.  If you don’t, you’ll never know...

 Have you written your next book?

I finished it just before Christmas.  It’s another psychological thriller about not just what we hide from other people, but from ourselves, too.  It’s about a washed-up lawyer and a woman he used to love, who’s suspected of a murder.  He’s determined to prove her innocence but an overdose has left her in a coma.

As well as a thriller, it’s also a love story.