About the author... Helen Callaghan

She was born in California and now lives in Cambridge, England. She used to work as a fiction specialist and buyer for a variety of bookshops.

These days, she combines writing novels – this is her second – with working as a technical writer for an IT company.

This novel was inspired by… “The way that adults can manipulate and destroy one another. I also wanted to engage with our perception of the past and other people. I guess the point is that we all have hidden depths.” My writing habits are… “Late at night or dawn, ideally somewhere neutral, such as a café or a motorway service station. For most of my writing life, I’ve lived in shared flats and held down full-time jobs, so the habits I picked up then have never left me. I’m more productive when I am stealing magic hours, those times when everyone else is in bed.”

What I love about writing fiction is… “The way I get to explore my fears vicariously. I can imagine what it’s like to be tested to the utmost. I also get to imagine what it’s like when your lover really comes through for you or you’re reunited with someone you thought you’d lost forever. It’s several lifetimes crammed into a single life.”