The Marriage Lie(98)
Our leading lady, Iris, is a complex character you push to the emotional limits as she is confronted with serious dilemmas and difficult decisions over and over. Have you ever yourself, or know someone who has, been in a similar situation to Iris?
Not in a situation as severe as Iris encounters, thankfully, but I think we’ve all been deceived by someone pretending to be a person they’re not. The shock of discovering you were so wrong about a friend or loved one—and in Iris’s case, a life partner—will mess with your mind and make you doubt every emotion, thought and decision that comes afterward. But despite all of Will’s lies, the one thing Iris never doubted was Will’s love, and this knowledge made her journey that much more difficult. What circumstances would force a man to leave the woman he loves behind? Iris had to know in order to move on and, ultimately, to heal.
This is your third book and quite a departure from your first two. Did you take a different approach in writing The Marriage Lie? What was your toughest challenge? Greatest pleasure?
Yes, The Marriage Lie is much more suspenseful than my first two books, and the story was much more complicated to write. One of my main characters was “onstage” for only the first and last chapter, yet he was driving the book. This meant I needed to weave in plenty of flashbacks and reveal truths about Will through third parties. Though these techniques add depth to the story—what is true, and what is not?—it was a lot to keep track of, and it required much more planning before writing the first word. That said, the actual writing part is always the same—me, my laptop and endless hours in a chair.
What was your inspiration for the story?
Honestly, the idea found me rather than the other way around. I was writing another story—one I immediately put down when the idea for The Marriage Lie popped into my head. Or I should say ideas, as it was actually two story lines that I weaved into one: the story of a husband with a past full of secrets and what that would mean for a marriage, combined with a plane crash followed by mysterious messages that seemingly come from beyond the grave. There are enough stories of spouses disappearing in real life (North Dakota governor Mark Sanford comes to mind) that most people automatically assume an affair, but I wanted to take this story in a very different direction. Will and Iris appeared in my head, in love and sweet and sincere, and that image became the first chapter. After that, the story was off and running.
Which character did you enjoy writing the most?
I loved writing Iris and Will, especially the sweet scenes documenting their love for each other, but the character who was loudest in my head was Dave, Iris’s twin brother. He’s snarky and sarcastic but with a kind, authentic heart, which automatically makes him my favorite kind of character to write.
The book is set in your hometown. In what ways did this make writing the book a more personal experience for you?
I drew on a lot of my personal life in Atlanta for this story. My kids go to a private school, where families like Ava’s really do exist, and I definitely had a point to make with her story line. On a lighter note, I got to slip some of my favorite Atlanta haunts into the story—neighborhoods and restaurants and even the new BeltLine. It’s like a love letter to my own city, and it was a lot of fun to write.
What would you like readers to take away from this story?
I really hope it makes readers stop and think about what they would do in Iris’s situation. Yes, she loved her husband, but she had to decide if she could live with what he’d done. In her job and to her students, she preaches accountability, which meant she had to hold Will accountable for his crimes, as well.
Tell us about your writing process.
I’m a planner but not a plotter. When a story spark comes, it usually comes with a pretty good idea of my major plot points and main characters. The rest I fill in along the way. I’m not a fast writer, but the words I produce each day are generally keepers, and my first draft is pretty clean. It typically doesn’t need tons of work to get it to the final, polished version.
“Powerful and complex with an intensity drawn out through each page.”
—New York Times bestselling author Steena Holmes on The Last Breath
If you enjoyed The Marriage Lie, be sure to pick up more captivating and emotional thriller reads from Kimberly Belle.
The Last Breath
The Ones We Trust
“An emotionally moving, captivating story that is a perfect book club pick.”
—RT Book Reviews on The Ones We Trust
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