HOW A GIRL WHO COULD SING BUT NOT TALK, INSPIRED MY NEW NOVEL by Jane Corry

Jenn McKinlay: Today I'm delighted to have a guest author who was recommended by my dear friend Hannah Dennison. When Hannah told me she had a guest for us, I knew it would be a good one as she's never steered me wrong. Please welcome the prize winning author and journalist, Jane Corry.

ORDER NOW

JANE: Nearly fifteen years ago, when running a writing group, I met someone who couldn’t talk after a stroke – but could sing her story instead. She stayed in my mind and emerged out of the blue when I wrote the first line of I DIED ON A TUESDAY. And so Janie was born: a young girl who was knocked off her bike and left for dead, just before she was leaving her seaside town to start a publishing job in London.

My ideas come like a floating feather. I don’t sit down and think ‘What can I write about?’  After the first feather, another follows and another  - rather like layers of millefeuille pastry. I try not to think too hard about them because if I don’t, another idea will come along – often when I’m not in a position to write it down, such as swimming in the sea.

I knew I wanted to write about an historic crime. I’m fascinated by the way in which a crime can be discovered, years after someone thinks they’ve buried it. Perhaps I should say here that I started my working life as a magazine journalist but then became a writer in residence of a high security male prison for three years after my divorce, when I needed money a regular income to bring up my three children. It changed my life. Until then, I’d had some romantic novels published but prison opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know about. 

Stories are often inspired by people you meet and through another area of my life, I was very moved by a woman who’d been a witness supporter – a voluntary role which involves looking after witnesses in court and showing them where to sit; explaining how court procedure works and metaphorically holding their hands. So Vanessa was born: my character whose dead husband had been the policeman in charge of Janie’s accident when the culprit was never found. 

Then along came Robbie. Robbie had been one of the 18-year-olds in the van which had knocked down Janie but didn’t stop. Twenty years later, those boys are famous musicians. ( I know a bit about this because my youngest is a music journalist: his podcast is called ‘101 Part-Time Jobs with Giles Bidder’ about jobs that musicians had before they were famous).  But suddenly new evidence comes up about the accident. Janie, Robbie and Vanessa each have different stories about the day of the accident. Which one is right?

I like to keep my readers guessing because I adore twists. But I am also in love with three-sided characters because no one is a stereotype: not the men I met in prison or the celebrities I’ve interviewed or you or me.  Of course, there’s another character who I’ve mentioned briefly. The sea. I was landlocked in outer London for the first fifty years of my life until I married the best man from my first wedding (long story) and escaped to the sea. It’s where I belong. I hope you enjoy the waves I’ve tried to create in my plot and scenery. I

‘I DIED ON A TUESDAY’ is being published by Penguin Viking on June 6 on Kindle and in audio and on June 20th (paperback). You can also order ‘I DIED ON A TUESDAY’ by clicking https://bit.ly/3SE8UVi. Thank you.

BUY NOW

You can also buy ‘COMING TO FIND YOU’, my 2024 novel about Nancy whose step-brother is sent to prison for murder.  The press believe Nancy was involved so they follow her to the family holiday home in Devon. But what no one knows is that during the Second World War, the owner Elizabeth was a secret spy for Churchill – and committed a terrible crime herself.  Can Nancy learn from a dead woman’s mistakes? You can order now on Amazon.

If you’d like to read more about my books, you can find details on www.janecorryauthor.com.  Thank you.

JENN: Thank you, Jane. These novels sound fabulous! Readers, what are some of your favorite plot twists?