Author Gillian McAllister talks literary favourites, her journey into writing, and her newly released title, Caller Unknown.
One of things Gillian McAllister does best in her novels is put ordinary people into extraordinary situations, making her characters and their choices totally believable, and the high stakes utterly gripping. She’s done it again in Caller Unknown, where headstrong chef Simone must become a fugitive in order to save her teenage daughter, Lucy. There is nothing she wouldn’t do to save her child. Hide the truth. Commit a terrible crime. Become a wanted woman. There’s one thing Simone hasn’t considered: What if this is just what the kidnappers want?
Gillian’s books have been selected for the Radio 2 Book Club, Reese’s Book Club and the Richard & Judy Book Club. Wrong Place Wrong Time was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and was shortlisted for The British Book Awards Crime & Thriller Book of the Year. Her most recent novel Famous Last Words was an instant number 4 Sunday Times bestseller and number 13 New York Times bestseller in hardback. Gillian’s books are published in thirty-eight languages.
A road trip across America with her teenage daughter was meant to be much-needed bonding time for Simone before Lucy leaves home for university. But on the first night of their stay, in a cabin deep in the Texan desert, Simone wakes to find Lucy missing and a mobile phone in her place. The phone rings and the voice on the other end issues instructions: Don’t tell the police. Come to this location. Be prepared to do a deal… There is nothing Simone wouldn’t do to save her daughter. Hide the truth. Commit a terrible crime. Become a wanted woman. But this is no ordinary kidnap and ransom. Getting Lucy back is just the beginning.
Did you always want to be a writer? Tell us about your journey to becoming a published author.
Always, from the moment I knew what books were. I started writing in my teenage years, and wrote countless novels that I did nothing with (though I did post one through the letterbox of a neighbour who I discovered had left publishing!). I started writing seriously when unwell with glandular fever and its complications in my late twenties, and I got an agent at 29, but didn’t get a publisher until 31.
What inspired you to start writing?
I really can’t remember a time when I didn’t write. It’s not so much that I have been inspired by novels (though I am), it is more an innate urge to textualise the world around me; to write about it and to observe it.
Tell us about your new book Caller Unknown. Where did the idea come from?
The idea came from the notion that two parents might disagree on how to respond to a ransom for their kidnapped child. The note says not to tell the police, but what if they can’t decide? One thing I really enjoyed was tapping into the wider issue of how one parent might feel differently about their child to the other. Is the love equal? What about when one parent wants to use logic and reasoning, and the other wants to act only with emotion?
What do you hope this book instils in the reader?
I wrote Wrong Place Wrong Time about a mother and a son, and a lot of readers found so much comfort in that book. And now this novel is about a mother and a daughter, but rather than reconnecting, it is about the parental sacrifice of letting go of your almost-adult child, and all the complex emotions that involves.
What did you learn when writing this book?
Ha, I learnt rather a lot about myself. Perhaps too much!
Tell us about your writing process?
I like to start thinking about the next book before I have delivered its predecessor – this gives it time to marinate. Then I spend a while planning and thinking, and then I do several drafts which only take a couple of months. I’m a prolific rewriter, and can only seem to manage to do one thing per draft, so plot, then character, then prose, for example.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
People. The news. Interesting stories. Television and film.
What are your top three favourite books of all time, and why?
Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty as a perfect example of domestic noir. Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes because it is pretty much a gold standard thriller. And You Don’t Know Me by Imran Mahmood because it is so, so bold and interesting.
Who are some of your favourite authors, Irish or otherwise?
Catherine Ryan Howard rarely puts a foot wrong in her wonderful thrillers, especially The Nothing Man.
What are some upcoming book releases we should have on our radar?
Dolly All The Time by Annabel Monaghan is a really brilliant romcom coming in May, Under Story by Chloe Benjamin is a totally breathtaking speculative novel coming in September.
What book made you want to become a writer?
The Louise Doughty I recommended above showed me that it is possible to write that sort of novel, a kind of mash-up of women’s fiction and crime.
What’s one book you would add to the school curriculum?
On Writing by Stephen King.
What’s the best book you’ve read so far this year?
Most definitely Under Story – it’s about a couple who find a portal to the past, and enter it together.
What’s your favourite bookshop in Ireland?
Nothing beats the smell of an Easons as you walk in the door.
What’s some advice you’ve got for other aspiring writers?
Just finish the draft. A lot of aspiring authors get mired in tinkering with the opening, and I think finishing the draft is the most important step you can take.
‘Caller Unknown’ by Gillian McAllister (€17.99, Michael Joseph) is on sale now.