Our Kind of Cruelty(90)

But within this there are certain basic human emotions which survive, love being the primary one. This novel often reads as a love story because, for Mike, it is absolutely a love story. I have intentionally blurred the lines. These two people were very in love, very compatible, very sexual, very secretive. I want the reader to wonder at the truth and to feel as if there are parts of the story which are being denied them. I want them to find both characters plausible. I want them to get to the end of the book and find they have made a judgement and then ask themselves where this judgement has come from.

Having said all that, while this novel might have its head in the clouds philosophically, it is unashamed of the ‘psychological thriller’ tag. I teach creative writing on an MA course and I have a class called ‘How to inject tension in psychological thrillers’. It’s always oversubscribed, but I’ve noticed that people seem almost embarrassed when they arrive. So now I begin by asking everyone which genre they are writing in. Out of a room of twenty people, one or two usually say psychological thriller or crime, most say literary fiction. Then I always tell them that I hope that, whichever genre they’re occupying, they’re all writing a psychological thriller: because isn’t that what all compelling literature is? In my opinion all novels begin with character, and believable characters must be fully formed to feel real – which is, of course, psychology. And we create stories by putting these characters into challenging situations, otherwise why would anyone want to read the book? And that is thrilling.





Acknowledgements


The first draft of this book was written in a mad spurt of anger at the continued injustices perpetrated against women in our so-called civilised society. So thank you to my husband Jamie and my son Oscar for putting up with this male-centred anger (when neither of them are the types of men I am angry with). And thank you to my daughters Violet and Edith for at least pretending to be interested as I instruct them against the patriarchy at any given opportunity.

Thanks also to the people who always read early versions of my books, this one included – my mum and dad, Lizzie, Emily, Polly and Dolly. The encouragement and pushing is much appreciated.

Thanks to Sarah Thorne, for letting me watch her in court and for her invaluable legal advice.

Huge thanks to my agent Lizzy Kremer, who is most definitely the best asset any writer could hope for, with her forensic eye and measured, thoughtful, calm advice which is always, always right.

And finally thank you to my two editors, Selina Walker in the UK and Daphne Durham in the US, who have both read and edited this book in a way I could have only dreamt of, with lightness and wisdom.