Come Over to OUR HOUSE!

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HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Okay, Okay, I know I didn’t actually discover Louise Candlish, or her new book OUR HOUSE. But I will confess I’d never heard of her. Yes, I am cringing now with that admission.

 

Still, I must say there’s a special joy in finding a new-to-me writer who is an absolute gem. A gem! And OUR HOUSE? I could not put it down. Truly, it’s amazing.  From the very opening pages, I wondered—how on earth is she going to pull this off? And she did!  (It comes out in the US on August 7.)

I was so delighted she agreed to an interview. Because now you get to know about her, too.

HANK: Do you remember the first time you loved a book? Where were you and what were you reading? How did that change your life?

And hurray--Louise is giving a copy of OUR HOUSE to one lucky commenter! (US only please...) 

LOUISE CANDLISH: I was an obsessive Agatha Christie fan from about the age of twelve and I remember very clearly reading Death on the Nile. I was lying on my bed in the room I shared with my sister. We were both bookworms. The story was mind-blowingly exotic to me (I'd never left the UK) and totally fiendish and unguessable in its plotting. I think it opened my eyes to the wider world, both in terms of the places I might travel to and in the possibilities of human behaviour.

HANK: Oh, we had the same experience! But for me it was Murder on the Orient Express. I remember thinking--wait--how did she do that? And was fascinated with the architecture of the mystery--how the writers could completely surprise the reader.  She made me be want to be a writer--or a detective! So as an investigative reporter and a crime fiction author, I became a little of each.  Did you always plan to be involved with books and writing?

LOUISE:  At university, I hoped for a career in media, though I didn't expect to become a novelist. That ambition came later, when I had something to say. I think you need to have lived and had a variety of experiences before you can hope to construct a 100,000-word work of fiction that has the ring of truth to even a single reader. I worked as a copywriter for as spell: it was nothing like Mad Men, sadly. 

HANK: You know, interesting-I had a writer pal, who started her career much earlier in her life and is now on novel, maybe number 25, say she wishes I had started when she did. And I said no--I wasn't the person I am now, I couldn't have written a novel 25 years ago.

So tell us about Our House—the main character comes home and finds someone else moving in—and this person says she’s bought the house! Problem is, Fiona hasn’t sold it.  Whoa. Where did that come from? It’s so brilliant.

LOUISE: Thank you!  The idea began with a news feature I read in the Daily Mail about a woman whose house was almost stolen by a criminal gang. The article – or one like it – is actually mentioned in Our House.  I wanted to tackle the impact of the inflated property market, and the way it has altered our relationship with our homes. I also wanted to explore cybercrime.

I was interested, too,  in bird’s nest custody, a new and trendy parenting arrangement for separated couples. On an emotional level, I was interested in the way we can unravel mentally, so quickly, any one of us.

   

HANK: Funny--one of my books, TRUTH BE TOLD, is about the housing crisis-- and what really happens behind the closed doors of all those foreclosed homes. That was inspired by investigative stories I've done about mortgage banking and real estate schemes. And I thought--how far would you go to save your home? So again--we're like writing sisters. (I'm the older sister, I know...) 

Anyway. OUR HOUSE. And I love the structure! You use a podcast, and a Word doc as well as narrative. And it works so well! (Yes, I know, I am gushing.)  Tell us how and why you decided to handle it with those wonderful "extras"!

Photo credit: Jonny Ring

 LOUISE: Thank you! I'm a big podcast fan and, in a current bout of insomnia, turn to podcasts and audiobooks and radio drama in the dead of night. Interviews are the most intense of all: you have the voice and the emotion, but no visuals, so the listener plays an active part in making the speaker real. I wanted Fi's story to be very direct and persuasive. Bram's Word document, a soul-bearing, stream-of-consciousness confession, represents his isolation. He's pouring it all out, but will anyone ever read it?

HANK: I learned something new today--the phrase "grip-lit." I'd never heard that before---but it was used in describing your books as well as other psychological suspense. I love it! Your books have been called addictive, twisty, masterfully plotted. So, here's an easy question: how do you do that? Okay, who knows. But how much do you know about the plot when you start?

LOUISE: 'Grip-lit' was coined by the writer Marian Keyes, I think - I love it! OUR HOUSE has also been called crib lit, crib noir, and property porn lit - very funny! I began with a fairly loose plot to get the two voices going, then after about 20,000 words, I plotted quite tightly. The interweaving of the different narratives was refined over five or six drafts, with a lot of help from my wonderful editor at Berkley. The problem with a structure this complex is that one small alteration made at a later stage has an agonising ripple effect and you have to go backwards and forwards to catch the ripples.

HANK: Oh, yes, indeed.  I outlined TRUST ME like mad along the way—not in advance, but as I went. If I hadn’t, I was sure to lose a thread, or miss a loose end. But wow, OUR HOUSE surprised until the very last page!  Are you coming to the US?  That would be terrific!

LOUISE: I very much hope so, though no date is set yet. I can't wait to meet my publishing team and all those - like you - who've been so supportive of OUR HOUSE. A transatlantic debut is a scary and exciting thing, it depends on the kindness of strangers for a safe passage!

HANK: Awww. Well, we are all here to welcome you and host you—all over the country!  Readers, there’s a time zone problem today, but any questions for Louise? And we will get them to her.  But how about podcasts—do you listen to them?  

And a copy of OUR HOUSE to one very lucky commenter!

Just for fun--the UK cover!

OUR HOUSE

There's nothing unusual about a new family moving in at 91 Trinity Avenue. Except it's her house. And she didn't sell it.

When Fiona Lawson comes home to find strangers moving into her house, she's sure there's been a mistake. She and her estranged husband, Bram, have a modern coparenting arrangement: bird's nest custody, where each parent spends a few nights a week with their two sons at the prized family home to maintain stability for their children. But the system built to protect their family ends up putting them in terrible jeopardy. In a domino effect of crimes and misdemeanors, the nest comes tumbling down.

Now Bram has disappeared and so have Fiona's children. As events spiral well beyond her control, Fiona will discover just how many lies her husband was weaving and how little they truly knew each other. But Bram's not the only one with things to hide, and some secrets are best kept to oneself, safe as houses.

Courtesy: Jonny Ring

​Louise Candlish was born in Hexham, Northumberland, and grew up in the Midlands town of Northampton. She studied English at University College London and lives in Herne Hill in South London with her husband and daughter. She is the author of twelve novels, including THE SWIMMMING POOL  and OTHER PEOPLE’S SECRETS, and her brand new thriller. OUR HOUSE, a hardback bestseller and now an ebook #1 bestseller. It will be published  August 7 in US (Berkley).

Louise's novel The Sudden Departure of the Frasers (2015) has been optioned for TV by Hartswood Films.

Besides books, the things Louise likes best are: coffee; TV; cats and dogs; salted caramel; France (especially the Ile de Re); Italy (especially Sicily); tennis; soup; Vanity Fair magazine; 'Book at Bedtime'; lasagne; heavy metal; 'The Archers'; driving towards the sea (but not into it); anything at the Royal Opera House; white wine; Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (or, failing that, a Starbar).