I have read all of Helen Matthews’ novels, which have found a new home at Bloodhound Books. Here I use the 6 Ws format — who, what when etc. — to let her tell you about Girl Out of Sight, which was re-released July 29 by Bloodhound Books, and how she writes.
Who is author Helen Matthews?
Thanks for inviting me, Joan. I’m a British author, originally from Wales but I now live with my husband in a village in Hampshire, about an hour away from London. My son is a journalist and my daughter’s a police officer – handy when I need some detection and crime scene details checked.
My novels sit within the crime genre but are page-turning psychological suspense and domestic thrillers rather than police procedurals. Although people die or face life-threatening danger in my books, investigating a crime isn’t the main plot driver. The books are more whydunnit than whodunnit. I’m fascinated by the darker side of human nature, flawed characters, unreliable narrators and how a life can change in an instant.
What is your latest book?
My latest book Girl Out of Sight was re-released July 29 by Bloodhound Books. It’s a suspense thriller with a theme of human trafficking and tells the story of seventeen-year-old Odeta, who leaves her remote village in Albania with a man she believes is her boyfriend. She thinks she’s going to begin an exciting new life and career in London, never imagining that her dream is about to descend into a nightmare. Odeta’s life isn’t especially grim but it’s colourless and lacks opportunity. Since leaving school, she’s been working in her father’s shop and thinks nothing interesting will ever happen to her again.
Girl Out of Sight is a human-scale story not a vast-canvas thriller about international organised crime. I wanted readers to relate to Odeta, who could be you or me or one of our daughters, and walk in her footsteps, sharing her hopes and dreams as she travels to England and discovers what awaits her behind the doors of an ordinary London street.
Odeta is the central character but there’s a second storyline about Kate, a London journalist, whose seemingly perfect life is filled with anxiety for her son, Ben. He’s obsessed with online gaming but struggles to make friends. Kate comes from a village in Wales and wants her son to experience the simpler childhood she enjoyed. In desperation, she disconnects her family from the internet and tries to build a community on her London street so her son can make friends in real life. It doesn’t go well for her marriage. And danger lurks behind closed doors. Perhaps Kate’s neighbours are not the friendly community they seem …
This book was first published in 2017 by another press, under the title After Leaving the Village, and won first prize in the opening pages of a novel category at Winchester Festival. Time moves on but the struggle to raise awareness of the hideous crimes of human trafficking and modern slavery continues. I’m delighted Bloodhound Books is publishing this new edition to bring the book to more readers.
When did you begin writing?
I might seem like a late starter but I think of myself as someone who has served a long apprenticeship to get my novels published. From early childhood, throughout my teenage years and into adulthood I was always writing. I won a few competitions and had pieces published in teen magazines. A first degree in English was a setback due to years spent reading great literature which made me wonder how I could have the arrogance to write. The urge to write didn’t go away. After long days in a busy corporate career, I wrote late at night after my children were in bed, a glass of wine by my side. My job conditioned me to write in business-speak and legalese, empty of emotion. I found it harder to write fiction but I didn’t give up. I switched to writing non-fiction and had some success with articles accepted by family and lifestyle magazines, a couple in national newspapers and even recorded some columns for BBC Radio.
Finally, when my children were almost grown up I quit my day job with no redundancy package, too young for my pension and went to Oxford Brookes University to do an MA in Creative Writing. I was lucky to get freelance consultancy work which kept me going for several years while developing my writing career. Eventually I switched into copywriting which sat well alongside novel writing.
How do you write?
Probably due to my corporate background, I’m instinctively a planner. I’d say I’m 70 per cent planner: 20 per cent free flowing ‘pantser’ and the remainder is just generally confused. I don’t always stick to my plans. Once my characters take on a life of their own, the book can go in an unexpected direction.
I keep a notebook with me and jot down ideas as they occur. Sometimes, if I’m out walking my dog I’ll record thoughts on my phone. When I have an idea for a new novel I do some pages of mind mapping, assemble my notes and start initial research. Then I’ll do character sketches and a rough plan before starting to write to see if the idea has legs and will sustain 90,000 words. Not all stories can. I don’t use any tools like Scrivener just Word on my laptop and lots of notebooks and post-it notes.
Where do you write?
I’ve tried writing in cafes and on the move but I’m distracted by noise and other people’s conversations so I write better at home where I can close the door. I tend to move around rooms so I might write in the kitchen or dining room for a while or move upstairs to my daughter’s old bedroom. Oddly, I never write in the study perhaps because it has an in-tray full of admin and bills needing to be paid shouting for my attention. In summer, I write outside in the garden if I can keep the glare of sunlight off my screen.
My ideal working environment is when I’m alone in my house so I can go deep into the world of my characters and live with them while figuring out their lives, plot and conflict. Having an empty house is rare unless my husband goes to France without me for a week or two. The minute the door closes behind him I whizz around and tidy up so I’m not distracted by dirty dishes or piles of ironing. Then it’s head down and on with the writing all day and late into the night.
Why do you write?
No one holds a gun to our heads and forces us to write but, for me, writing is a habit that’s impossible to kick. It’s even harder than ignoring that bottle of wine in my fridge that will be empty before bedtime. On a bad day, the urge to write feels like a disease: a virus that inhabits my body and steals my soul. When pitching to publishers is going badly, feelings of rejection can be crippling. It’s tempting to despair, press delete or stick an unfinished novel in a drawer. But do we give up? Of course not.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that writing can be both a painful addiction and a source of joy. The writing life might not be lucrative but it’s a total privilege. As well as the creative aspects, I’ve met some amazing author friends on my MA course, in local groups and in the online world – a whole new network of support through the tough times.
More about Helen: parting words; links to your books; social media
My back catalogue is in slight disarray at the moment as three of my novels have left their previous publisher, Darkstroke and are moving to Bloodhound Books. Girl Out of Sight is back on sale this week but the other books won’t be on sale for a few months. Façade, to be republished in December, is domestic suspense about a family whose lives seem perfect on the outside but everything is rotten at the core. The Girl in the Van will be republished in January 2025. It won the crime and suspense genre prize in the 2022 international Pageturner Book Awards. It has a theme of modern slavery around young people being groomed by gangs to deliver drugs out of cities into small towns and rural areas. In the UK, this is called ‘county lines’ exploitation, named after the mobile phone lines gangs use to control their young victims.
My novel Lies Behind the Ruin and short story and travel writing collection Brief Encounters will continue to be available from Amazon.
As well as novels, I occasionally write short stories and flash fiction and these have been shortlisted and published by Flash 500, 1000K Story, Reflex Press, Artificium and Love Sunday magazine.
Homer, my rescue dog – originally a street dog from Romania – keeps me fit as he needs to walk at least three miles every day. I also swim, cycle long distances with my girlfriends, sing in a choir and once appeared on stage at Carnegie Hall, New York in a multi-choir performance. In the year 2000 my husband and I impulse bought a tumbledown cowshed in France to renovate into a holiday home. It took years! We’re still tinkering with it now and love spending time there each year.
When I was researching the original version of Girl Out of Sight I became a supporter of the charity Unseen UK which supports trafficking survivors and works towards a world without slavery. The charity has since appointed me an Ambassador and I donate a percentage of royalties and fees from talks, in which I explain modern slavery as well as talking about my books.
You can download Girl Out of Sight at: https://geni.us/GirlOutofSight. Check out my other novels by clicking through to my Amazon page.
Find out more at: https://www.helenmatthewswriter.com
