thriller – Sandy Barker

Huge congratulations to Amanda Brittany on publication day of The Island House, her stunning new contemporary thriller.

Cover of The Island House by Amanda Brittany
Ocean rocks in the foreground, eerie island in the background. Large stone house on the island with one room lit up.
Tagline: Once you're there, you'll never want to leave... Until you can't

Welcome Amanda. Tell us what inspired you to write The Island House?

I’ve always been a huge fan of Agatha Christie, and it’s fair to say the queen of locked room mysteries inspired me to write The Island House.

Visiting Burgh Island in Devon was the inspiration for the setting for The Island House – although Flynn House in the book is a Gothic residence, rather than Art Deco like Burgh Island Hotel. When writing the scenes on the actual island, Burgh Island Hotel was never far from my thoughts.

The locations of Whitby and the Suffolk coast are places I love to visit. I remember being in Whitby a few years ago when the Gothic festival was on, and thought then that I must include it in a novel one day.

And when did you start writing seriously?

I’ve loved writing and telling stories since I was young, and always had a good imagination. I dreamed of writing a book one day, but it wasn’t until 2006, when I was in a serious car crash, that I thought, ‘If I don’t try now, I never will.’ I studied Literature and Creative Writing with the Open University, and subbed my first story to My Weekly in 2008. 200 published stories later, my first novel Her Last Lie was published by HQ/HarperCollins in 2008.

What do you love most about being an author?

I love hearing from readers who have enjoyed my books. It really is the icing on the cake.

Can you tell us what you’re working on now?

I have three projects on the go at the moment. I’ve just finished the first draft of my sixth psychological thriller, am working on the outline for my seventh, and Karen Clarke and I are presently writing out third co-written novel, which is always great fun.

What do you hope readers will take away from The Island House?

I hope that The Island House will entertain readers, that they will enjoy trying to work out the twists – and will hopefully be surprised by some of them.

More about the book

A DARK FAMILY SECRET

When Alice’s father dies after a tragic hit and run, his death stirs up unanswered questions about her childhood. Who was her mother, why did her father never speak of the past, and why can’t she remember anything before the age of seven?

AN ISLAND CUT OFF

But when she receives an anonymous letter containing a photograph of a refurbished gothic guesthouse surrounded by water, and an invitation to stay, old memories fight to resurface.

Alice has visited before. She is certain of it.

WHO WILL SURVIVE?

Convinced the clues to her past lie at the hotel, she checks in. But once on the island, a wild storm rages, waves crash violently into the rocks, and the house is cut off by the roaring sea.

Then two guests are found dead. And the hotel owner is missing. Will Alice ever uncover her secret past?

And will anyone leave the island alive?

Where you can get it

Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon US

Kobo | Google Play | Nook

More about Amanda

Author Amanda Brittany - Smiling middle aged woman with shoulder length brown hair wearing a black dress and seated at a table in a restaurant with a bunch of flowers and a copy of the book

Amanda Brittany is the best selling author of five psychological thrillers Her Last Lie, Tell the Truth, Traces of Her, I Lie in Wait and now, The Island House.

Her debut, Her Last Lie is being made into a film supported by Creative Scotland, and she has raised almost £8500 for Cancer Research UK from her eBook royalties, in memory of her sister. (Huge congrats on this too, Amanda!)

Amanda lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and a crazy, cute dog. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her family and friends, travelling, walking her dogs, reading & sunny days. Though, since childhood, she has loved the snow, which features in Her Last Lie and I Lie in Wait.

She also writes psychological suspense novels with Karen Clarke. The Secret Sister and The Perfect Nanny are out now, and the writing duo are presently working on their third novel.

Follow Amanda

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

All the best with publication day, Amanda!

Today I am very excited to welcome my friend and fellow author, Andie Newton, who is here to talk about her debut novel, The Girl I Left Behind, a taut, pacy, spy thriller set in Nazi Germany. Let’s talk to Andie!

Tell us what inspired you to write THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND? I wrote the first words of my debut novel, The Girl I Left Behind, just over ten years ago. I never thought I’d write a novel. Ever. One day I caught a documentary on the History Channel about Nuremberg’s historic Kunstbunker, a secret art bunker the townsfolk hid from Hitler, and I was instantly intrigued. More so, the documentary talked about the youth resistance. I have a degree in History, so I suppose you can say my thoughts are already in the past. In this case, I set out to learn more about the youth of the German Resistance. I tried to find a novel on the subject and couldn’t find one, and as corny as it sounds, set out to write the novel I wanted to read.

What research did you undertake when writing The Girl I Left Behind?

I read a lot. I read diaries, interviews and news articles about resistance members. I also contacted businesses in Germany and asked questions about their past. Yep. I did that too! One of the most interesting stories that came from these emails involved the Korn und Berg bookstore in Nuremberg. They wrote me a long email relaying a story about when Hitler came into their bookstore and demanded they change the shape of their windows because they weren’t modern enough. Oh, you better believe I wrote that into this book!

What was your favourite scene to write?

My favourite scene to write was the tea scene with Ella’s aunt and her Nazi friends. There’s so much going on here than just a group of gossiping women. I’d read that Hermann Göring’s family was elevated in status after his career in the Reich took off, so I wrote that into the scene with one of the ladies. Also, well… I don’t want to give anything away, but when Ella offers to serve her aunt’s guests…ooh, I love it!

What are you working on now?

My next book will be out this summer, THE GIRL FROM VICHY. It’s about a woman who joins the French Resistance (1942) and spies on her collaborator boyfriend—a gendarme in the Vichy police. This book is about a family that is politically divided, which was really interesting to write. This book, as with THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND, is very fast paced and full of suspense. My third book with Aria Fiction will be released in 2021. This book is still top secret, but what I can tell you is that it’s a WWII female-driven spy novel involving American women, and I absolutely love it.

When did you start writing seriously?

I started writing seriously the day I began my novel, October 3^rd 2009. Really. I started with zero experience, armed only with my ideas. I think the number one thing that stops writers who have great ideas is not writing regularly. You don’t need to have years of writing experience or have longed to be an author your whole life. But you do need to sit down and write, AND then work at it every day (and hopefully get better at it). My first pages were awful. AWFUL. I just kept at it.

What do you love most about being an author?

This may shock people, but the part I love the most is also the part I hate the most: Structural edits. These are the changes my editor suggests in the form of an editorial letter. My first letter (for THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND) was 7 pages long, my second letter (for THE GIRL FROM VICHY) was five. I think the biggest misconception is that people think an editor actually changes your manuscript, or the publisher does. Oh no, I’ve written every single word. The edit letter consists of broad suggestions, followed by smaller points. It is up to the writer to figure out how to apply those suggestions to the story.

The reason I love and hate structural edits is simple. I have to write under a deadline, which is stressful, but I love it because I can see the manuscript changing into something wonderful and strong, much stronger than it was originally, and that is why I love it. For me, the last day of edits is usually bittersweet, as it is the last time I’m knee deep in my character’s lives. What follows are the copy edits and proofs, and at this point all story elements are done.

Here’s more about Andie

Andie Newton writes female-driven historical fiction set in WWII. She’s the author of The Girl I Left Behind (Aria 2019) and The Girl from Vichy (Aria 2020). Andie holds a Bachelor degree in History and a Master in Teaching. She would love to say she spends her free time gardening and cooking, but she’s killed everything she’s ever planted and set off more fire alarms than she cares to admit. Andie does, however, love spending time with her family, trail running, and drinking copious amounts of coffee. Her next book, The Girl from Vichy, is coming in August this year.

You can find discussion questions for her novels on her website andienewton.com. And you can follow her on:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Bookbub

Tag: thriller