#BlogTour #The Innocent Wife by Amy Lloyd #QandA

Following on from my review post earlier this week I am excited to have been offered a place on the blog tour for Amy Lloyd's debut novel The Innocent Wife which was released at the end of December.  I was invited to pose a few questions to one of the newest authors on the block - an opportunity which I couldn't possibly let pass by.

First of all, let us re-cap the book description:

A young schoolteacher falls for a man on Death Row whom she believes is falsely accused, only to begin wondering after their marriage – and his release.Twenty years ago Dennis Danson was arrested for the brutal murder of Holly Michaels in Florida’s Red River County. Now he’s the subject of a Making a Murderer-style true crime documentary that’s taking the world by storm – the filmmakers are whipping up a frenzy of coverage to uncover the truth and free the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice.

Samantha may be thousands of miles away in Britain, but she is as invested in Dennis’s case as any of his lawyers. Perhaps even more so, as her letters to the convicted killer grow ever more intimate. Soon she is leaving her life behind to marry Danson and campaign, as his wife, for his release.

But when the campaign is successful, and Dennis is freed, events begin to suggest that he may not be so innocent after all. How many girls went missing in Red River, and what does Dennis really know? 

Q and A

1)      The Innocent Wife is based around quite an emotive subject. Were you at all concerned how the subject matter would be received by readers?

 I think fiction is supposed to make us feel things we wouldn’t normally feel. It isn’t there to reflect back at us our own view of the world or to act as a moral compass. I read to experience things outside of my own existence and I enjoy being challenged by difficult characters or awful situations.

The Innocent Wife is entirely fictional and so I wasn’t worried about how it might make people feel, I just hoped that they would be gripped and they would be absorbed by it. If I worried about how other people felt about what I’m writing I don’t think I could do it! Because inevitably there will be people who feel very negatively about it. I guess that if people have any strong feelings about the book then I’ve done my job. It’s indifference that would make me feel like I failed.

2)      How did you go about researching the wives of Death Row prisoners? Are people like Samantha keen to discuss their own personal experiences? 

 I watch a lot of documentaries about Death Row and women who marry men on Death Row. From watching these it became obvious that there was no ‘one’ type of woman who marries a Death Row inmate. It could be anyone, with any background, from the lonely women who seem a little damaged to the women who are successful and confident who believe passionately that the man they love is innocent.

I was really interested about the women who surrounded serial killer Ted Bundy. Alongside Carole Ann Boone who married him during his trial in 1979 (literally during his trial – Google it) there was a constant supply of pretty young women who came to watch him defend himself in court, giggling and blushing as he turned to grin at them. What’s so fascinating is that these women seemed attracted to him because he was dangerous, rather than in spite of it. They wanted the thrill of being close to a man who killed women, while remaining safe enough in the secure environment of the courtroom.

That is the type of woman I envisioned Sam being. I liken it to the thrill of shark diving inside a cage. Take the cage away and suddenly it’s not so fun any more…

3)      Which character did you enjoy writing the most?

 Dennis. Without a doubt. I just couldn’t wait to get him out of prison so I could play with him some more! A big part of this is because it was very fun to write him being a fish-out-of-water, learning new terminology and being generally awkward. He also scared me a lot and that was exciting. Dennis really got inside my head! It was a relief to not write him anymore by the time I was finished but during the first few drafts it was great fun to write someone so emotionless and selfish.

4)      As a published author, are you an avid reader yourself?  If so, which are your preferred genres/authors?

 I love reading and I buy WAY too many books! I think my favourite writers of all time are Bret Easton Ellis and Donna Tartt. I do love a good thriller (obviously) and I love Megan Abbott. I’m so excited about the thrillers coming out this year! I really enjoyed The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor and The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton and I’m super excited for The Tall Man by Phoebe Locke and Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough.

5)      Has it been a long-held desire to be a published author or did the idea for the book come in a flash of inspiration? 

I’ve never wanted to be anything except a writer but until The Innocent Wife I really didn’t have any ideas that seemed novel-worthy. I did a degree in Creative Writing and I wrote a lot of short stories and personal essays but I just couldn’t think of anything that would be a good novel. One day I got the idea for The Innocent Wife and the idea wouldn’t go away. I really wanted to read that book and I realized that the only way to read it would be if I wrote it. I wrote around my work hours and eventually I had pretty much a whole novel. I think, rather than the desire to be a published author, I had a long-held desire to write a book I was proud of. The fact it got published and the success it’s having is all second to that. I’m just happy I actually finished it.

6)      Are you a writer who needs a quiet environment to write or do work better in a bustling coffee shop or such like, people watching as you work? 

I prefer to write in coffee shops, for sure. Partly it’s because I lure myself there with the promise of cake (I put on so much weight writing the first book that I was sure I’d be weighing myself on equipment borrowed from a zoo by book five…) and partly because there are fewer temptations. If I stay in the house I will eventually convince myself that watching two hours of Nathan For You is pretty much the same as writing so long as I’m worrying about writing at the same time. So if I get myself up and out I have to get on with it because there’s nothing else to do.

7)      Can we look forward to seeing more from Amy Lloyd soon?

I’m writing my second book now and let me tell you it is TOUGH! Wow. I haven’t known pressure like it before. But I am also super proud of what I’ve written and I can’t wait for people to read it in early 2019.

I would like to thank Amy for featuring on the blog and taking the time to answer my questions today.  I will definitely be looking out for book two - I'm sure it will have me on the edge of my seat once again! My thanks also to Anne Cater, tour organiser, and Random House UK publishers for the advance copy of the book via NetGalley.

 Follow the rest of the tour: