It’s my absolute pleasure to welcome Alison Stockham to Linda’s Book Bag to celebrate publication day for her brand new psychological thriller, The New Girl, published today.
Let’s find out more:
Staying in with Alison Stockham
Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Alison and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.
Thank you for having me, it’s lovely to have a chat with you and especially on publication day!
Happy publication day. Tell me, (although I know) which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?
I’ve brought along my latest domestic thriller, The New Girl, which publishes today, 9th April.
So exciting to share publication day with you. What can we expect from an evening in with The New Girl?
It’s about what happens when secrets are left to fester and when those closest to you are those who betray you. Readers so far have said that it’s full of twists and turns, with an ending they did not see coming. It’s a can’t put down til it’s done sort of book so I think an evening in would be a copy of The New Girl, your favourite drink/snacks, curled up on the sofa.
That sounds like the perfect evening to me.
This book has been a long time coming in that the baby scan being posted through a front door actually happened to one of my teachers when I was in secondary school! I must have squirreled it away for the “one day” that I would become a writer.
I think writers are magpies and squirrels. They are always collecting things and storing them up for their writing.
What else have you brought along to celebrate publication day and why have you brought it?
I have brought along coffee as it’s set in an office and Anna, the main character, is always tired.
Anna has my sympathy. I’m always tired too – though coffee doesn’t suit me!
Also, The New Girl was written during a very busy year in my life with my debut and follow up book publishing, and my job at Cambridge Literary Festival, as well as my two children and other family commitments. I needed a lot of coffee myself!!
I have also brought foam bananas which are my bribery treat when I don’t want to sit down and write or sit down to edit. I bribe myself with foam bananas when I hit certain points or word counts. A very random fact that I like about them too is that they don’t taste like bananas do because they are based on the old variety of bananas, the Gros Michel, before they were wiped out. The bananas we eat today are the Cavendish variety. Sweets with a hidden past! (I MAY be overthinking this!)
I’m not sure you can over think bananas! Fabulous fruit and fabulous sweets.
Thanks so much for staying in with me to chat about The New Girl Alison. It sounds like my kind of read. Have a wonderful publication day and whilst you grab a coffee, I’ll give readers a few more details:
The New Girl
BRAND NEW from Top Ten Bestseller Alison Stockham
The letterbox clatters and sitting on the mat is a piece of paper, in black and white, with everything needed to blow Anna’s perfect life apart.
A baby scan photo.
Anna and Jon have been trying for a baby with no success, so after years of disappointment, this feels like a kick in the teeth.
Who sent it? And why?
Anna’s thoughts fall on Grace – the keen young woman Jon hired at their printing business. Something about Grace isn’t quite right. She asks too many questions and makes Anna nervous but she can’t work out why.
And she can’t deny she sees the way her husband looks at her.
All she knows is this baby scan might tear her marriage apart…
Published by Boldwood today, 9th April 2024, The New Girl is available for purchase here.
About Alison Stockham
Alison is the author of three psychological domestic thrillers, The Cuckoo Sister, The Silent Friend and The New Girl. Her debut The Cuckoo Sister, was longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize 2020 and was a top ten kindle bestseller in its first month. The Silent Friend, hit the UK and US Top 20 Crime chart. The New Girl publishes in April 2024.
Having spent 15 years working in film and television production, mostly for the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky, Alison turned her focus back to creative writing, working for Cambridge Literary Festival and working on her books. Alison’s short story, An Unexpected Visitor, was included in the charity anthology Everyday Kindness, in aid of Shelter, published by Dark Skies in November 2021 and then her novels, published by Boldwood Books, followed in 2023.
She lives in Cambridge with her husband, two daughters and a cat.
For further information, you can follow Alison on Twitter @AlisonStockam, or find her on Instagram and Facebook. @AlisonStockhamAuthor.
