Eva's life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination - an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her 'other', if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it's like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.
But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.
Now she must abandon everything she's ever known - the guardians who raised her, the boy she's forbidden to love - to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive . . .
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Please
describe your book in 5 words.
Romantic, heartbreaking, thrilling (I hope!),
eerie, sad (okay, that last one was lame)
What
kind of research did you need to do for The Lost Girl?
Not much, actually! Most of the places in the
book are places I know very well, so I didn’t have to do much there – I
remember looking up zoos in England once, and I frequently checked over London
tube maps, but that was it – and I also did a bit of research into cloning and
clones in fiction but, as echoes aren’t strictly clones (in my head they’re
closer to Frankenstein’s creature than they are to clones), I didn’t go into
too much detail there. I suppose most of my research revolved around reading
and rereading Frankenstein.
Were
any of the characters or their traits inspired by people you know?
None of the actual characters were inspired
by real people – they usually appear so real and rounded to me that they feel
organic, like they’re their own person already, so I don’t think it would ever
work for me to try and base a character on someone I already know. But I do
occasionally take a detail from someone I know and use it to add a bit more
(most often their name!). I picked Ophelia’s shoes, for example, because
they’re like a pair my friend Lindsey often wears; Lekha is named after my
aunt; and I originally named Erik after my husband Steve, but ultimately ‘Erik’
felt much more right…
How
have your life experiences affected the way that you write?
I can’t pinpoint much, specifically, but I
would say that three years of studying English Lit and creative writing at
Lancaster University really helped me learn about new books, new genres, new
styles and, consequently, taught me how to use the things I learned to make my
writing better and stronger. Death is also a factor. My aunt died when I was
fifteen and that loss has changed me in a lot of ways and ultimately shaped The Lost Girl, which is essentially
about people wanting to create a world in which there needn’t be any death or
loss anymore.
Some
authors do certain things while they write like listen to music etc. Do you
have to do anything like this while you write?
I do like to listen to music. All of my
stories have their own playlists and music really helps me set the mood or
atmosphere. It’s also a huge inspiration. But to be honest if I’m really,
really into what I’m writing, it can be silent or noisy or music-y around me
and I’ll shut the world out anyway. My husband frequently has to repeat
himself, louder and louder each time, before I even notice he’s there! (So I
guess that means there isn’t much I do when I write, except write…)
Which
YA (human) character would you love to be and why?
Maybe Kate from Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races. When I read that book
I so wanted to go and live on Thisby, the little island, and race deadly
water-horses along the windswept beaches.
Which
YA (non-human) character would you love to be and why?
Hermione from Harry Potter. I know she’s human, but she’s also a witch so
technically not human? Because she’s
so amazing. And I’d get to do magic. Wingardium Leviosa!
What
has been your favourite book of 2012?
Tell
The Wolves I’m Home by Carol
Rifka Brunt. I cried for over an hour after reading it. It’s beautiful and
tragic and full of incredibly well-rounded, memorable characters. I also give
it full points for making me love and
hate its protagonist.
When
did you know that you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always been writing and I’ve always been
telling stories, so for a lot of my childhood it was just something I did and
would always do and wasn’t necessarily something I was going to do as a job. I had phases of wanting to be other
things “when I grew up”, like a ballerina, actress, astronaut… I think the
first time I consciously thought “yes, I want to be a writer when I grow up”
(and then promptly put aside that thought for another few years) was probably
when I was nine. I wrote a story starring myself, typed it up on our home
computer, printed it off and stapled the pages together, and, as the little
cherry on the cake, I finished by gluing a photograph of myself on the front so
that it would look like a real ‘book’ with a real ‘cover’.
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Thanks so much Sangu! The Lost Girl is out now so go and grab yourself a copy.
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