I’m delighted to have a copy of E.V. Seymour’s The Nanny’s Secret waiting for me on my TBR, and as it sounds so good I simply had to invite Eve to join me on Linda’s Book Bag and tell me all about it. My enormous thanks to Eve for agreeing to come along and for sending me a copy of The Nanny’s Secret. Not only are we chatting about the book, but Eve has provided a brilliant insight into how she creates twists in her writing that I’m thrilled to be able to share with you.
Let’s find out more:
Staying in with E.V. Seymour
Welcome to Linda’s Book Eve and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.
Thank you so much for inviting me and I hope we can chat over a glass of fizz! (More of this later).
Oo. I’m very fond of a glass of fizz!
I know you’ve brought your latest thriller, The Nanny’s Secret, with you, so what can we expect from an evening in with the book?
Families come in all shapes, sizes and variations and provide a rich seam for the thriller writer to mine, (especially when you chuck in a body or three) so it’s no accident that The Nanny’s Secret is all about family. To possibly put this into context, my mother was one of nine children and I have five grown-up kids. Consequently, I’m no stranger to complex family dynamics!
Crikey! That’s what I call a family.
The idea of moving in with the in-laws is not particularly novel (no pun intended). I know several people who have opened their doors to their grown-up children and, occasionally, grandchildren, too, sometimes to facilitate a house move. Some years ago, I read a lot about multi-generational living in Britain. While it’s not uncommon in other countries, it felt pretty new here. I wondered what it would be like and decided that it wasn’t for me and probably not for my children either! But it definitely provided the background to my story. I should probably stress that my tribe is nothing like the Percivals, the family from hell.
It might be just as well to make that clear Eve!
Superficially, the Percivals are good upstanding, generous folk who are well respected in the community. They live in Cotswold splendour at Blackthorn, a home that has been in the family for generations. But underneath the facade, the Percivals are tribal, secretive, and with an array of grubby skeletons rattling around in their cupboards (and the odd secret passage.) To expose them for who they really are, I needed a down to earth and lovable main protagonist. I hope, in Rose, I’ve achieved this. A hairdresser, she is very much an outsider and comes from humble beginnings.
It sounds as if social class is quite important in The Nanny’s Secret.
The difference in ‘class’ was something I wanted to play around with to provide an extra dimension to the story and a degree of social commentary, without getting heavy about it. Married to Rafferty, the Percival’s only son, Rose is as much an observer as involved in the action. She has a keen sense of humour and needs it. Living at close-quarters, poor Rose witnesses just how awful her in-laws are. What she doesn’t bargain for are the more sinister aspects of living at Blackthorn.
It sounds brilliant. How is The Nanny’s Secret being received?
Some reviews are:
‘Very chilling! This book had great suspense, intriguing action, murder, mystery family secrets, secret rooms and a fabulous who done it.’
Wow – what a family! Murder and betrayal with an ending which I did not see coming.’
Wow! I did not see the last twist coming! I’m still thinking about it.
You must be delighted with those responses. Twists are crucial to thriller writing I think Eve. How do you manage the twists in your writing?
‘I never saw that coming’ is joy to my thriller writer ears. Conversely, ‘Duh, spotted that fifty pages ago,’ or, worse, ‘Duh, great but doesn’t make sense,’ would have me reaching for the smelling salts! So how to perform this Houdini like twist, not once, but twice, or, sometimes, three, or more times? It isn’t easy to fool sophisticated and committed thriller readers whose only goal is to winkle out potential plot twists and nail who done it.
I think readers are becoming more demanding of twists. Do you know what yours will be or do they arise naturally out of your writing?
I tend to be a planner rather than a ‘pantser’ (flying by the seat of my knickers.) As someone who started writing ‘Aga-Saga’ novels, mercifully never published, I more or less fell into writing spy-fiction, (one of my passions). A genre that demands rigorous planning, it’s simply not possible to ‘wing it’ and, having adopted the habit, I employ a similar approach to writing ‘domestic noir’. Where are we going with ‘the twist’ you may ask? Bear with me.
Tell me more.
Before creating a solid architecture for a story, I spend a long time ‘noodling,’ which looks a lot like going for a walk, staring into the middle distance, earwigging in restaurants and ‘being there’ while actually ‘being somewhere else’. Quite often, the big plot twist of the crikey, jaw-dropping variety will occur during this early ‘incubation period’ and before any words appear on the page or, in my case, screen (although all my notes are written long hand.) I might also jot down a couple of ideas regarding potential twists but I don’t angst too much at this stage because I often find during the first draft, (more often in the second) irresistible twists will naturally present themselves. This is particularly so when I go ‘off-piste’ – and I pretty much take a scenic detour every time I write a story. These happy, accidental twists are the most satisfying because they’re naturally plausible. And this leads me to the BIG PITFALL.
I love the concept of ‘noodling’, but tell me about the big pitfall…
Anyone can drop in a ‘twist’ but it can’t be bolted in to the narrative simply to grab reader attention. Basically, it must be credible and that means characters must also be credible.
As in real life, characters can be inconsistent and flawed (the best are) but they do need to tick to some kind of internal logic. To take an exaggerated example: if the primary antagonist is a dubious estate agent, he or she is hardly going to whip out an AK47 or abseil down a tall building– a fabulously surprising plot twist, incidentally, but it will tank the plot if it doesn’t make sense within the context of the story. In short, a twist needs to feel possible and yet something the reader didn’t consider. There needs to be an element of ‘Goodness. Clever. What a surprise.’ It’s usually the result of a character revealing his or herself to be something he isn’t, or doing something she shouldn’t and, crucially, you didn’t expect.
That’s a cracking definition. It sounds as if you’re very aware of reader response.
I’m an amateur psychologist on the quiet – most writers are – and I’m endlessly fascinated by what drives perfectly reasonable people to extremes. Whenever I put together a profile for a character, I’ll always consider what pushes his or her particular buttons because, for me, characters drive plot and, ultimately, create the opportunity for twists. If plot comes first there’s a temptation to shift characters around a narrative board like chess pieces purely to make them fulfil plot requirements. It’s then too tempting to hammer in a twist that doesn’t quite come off. By letting well-developed characters lead, with all their foibles, vulnerabilities, contradictions and failings, inevitably, the twist will seamlessly follow. In theory!
I have a feeling that in The Nanny’s Secret the twists will be excellent.
So, what else have you brought along this evening and why have you brought it?
The Percival family are party animals, no expense spared, so it would be remiss of me not to bring along canapés and a bottle of Dom Pérignon. (A champagne I’ve yet to try!) I’d quite like us to sip it with Rose’s best friend, Florence, a paralegal, who specialises in divorce. Highly intelligent, Florence has Rose’s back, offers sound advice and has a wry sense of humour. If Rose were to join us, I could ask her to give us a cut and colour!
Guests who bring champagne are welcome back any time Eve. I could do with a haircut actually, but you can have the colour. I’m determined to go grey (dis)gracefully!
More seriously, there’s a little of Rose in me. I come from the Midlands, was born in the Black Country and originally from quite modest beginnings. A sequence of tragic events changed my life completely and I wound up being sent to boarding school when I was ten. I know what it’s like to be jettisoned from safe and familiar to scary and strange. This is mirrored in Rose’s life when she first moves to Gloucestershire, after the death of her little sister, and then marries into the weird and not so wonderful Percival tribe.
How interesting. I think it best that I give Linda’s Book Bag readers a few more details about The Nanny’s Secret whilst you pour us a glass of champagne and then you can tell me a bit more about your own past. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed our evening together. Thanks so much for staying in with me.
The Nanny’s Secret
Nannies have a habit of dying in my husband’s family.
His family: The Percivals live in a grand fourteen-acre estate in the Cotswolds, with tennis courts, indoor swimming pool and several cottages – or ‘lodges’ as they call them. I’m only surprised they don’t have a helipad.
My family: Mum’s a florist, Dad’s a kitchen-fitter. They live in a modest maisonette in Gloucester. I’m a hairdresser who dreams of owning my own salon.
I recently married the man of my dreams. The difference in our backgrounds was never an issue. Until now.
My husband persuades me to move into his family home while we save for our own place. It’s the worst mistake I ever made.
I don’t really fit in. My father-in-law has a twinkle in his eye I don’t like. My effortlessly chic mother-in-law intimidates me. My sister-in-law’s husband bullies her. They make no secret of their amazement that my husband chose me.
And now they’ve hired a new nanny for his sister’s kids.
But nannies have a bad history in this family . . .
Published by Joffe Books on 24th September 2024, The Nanny’s Secret is available for purchase here.
About E V Seymour
Born in West Bromwich and with her family roots deep in the Black Country, Eve has spent much of her life ‘on the run’; she has probably lived in more houses in various parts of the country than most people eat dinners. Currently settled in Herefordshire with her husband, she often has a houseful of offspring, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, partners and a growing tribe of little ones.
When not writing she can be found playing the piano, enjoying a glass of wine and/or reading, and has a particularly soft spot for historical and spy fiction.
For further information, visit Eve’s website, or find Eve on Facebook.
Linda's Book Bag 