I am absolutely thrilled to be chatting to Gail Aldwin about her new read The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell.
Detangling the plot:
A true-crime podcaster investigates a decades-old suspected abduction, in this powerful psychological suspense novel.
1979 Sixteen-year-old Carolyn Russell grows increasingly infatuated with her school mathematics teacher who is also giving her private lessons. Then she disappears.
2014 Struggling journalist Stephanie Brett creates a true-crime podcast focused on the disappearance of Carolyn Russell. By digging deep into this mysterious cold case, her confidence and flagging career are boosted. But after she confronts the suspects—and talks to a potential witness—the leads dry up. However, Stephanie refuses to let the story rest . . .
Can a small-time journalist with a shoestring podcast really hope to reconstruct the ultimate fate of Carolyn Russell after all these years, or are some secrets best left buried?
Bobs and Books honest review:
A gripping dual timeline narrative. With a missing person, a podcast, and a cold case, this has all best top factors for a gripping read.
Stephanie is a great lead and I was rooting for her to crack the case. A gutsy lady with a passion for solving this, and loved her determination,
Some surprising moments, tricky characters and a good pace maintained throughout.
I've interviewed Gail Aldwin, author to find out more....
Hi Gail, thanks so much for agreeing to this interview!
Tell us about your latest new novel...
Thank you for inviting me onto your blog, Emma. I’m pleased to share details about The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell. It’s an exciting new venture for me, entering into the word of psychological suspense with a dual timeline mystery where a true crime podcaster investigates a decades old cold case. Can a small-time journalist with a shoestring podcast really hope to reconstruct the ultimate fate of Carolyn Russell, or are some secrets best left buried?
I see that your book got published due to the Bloodhound Books Pitch event they were running. Any tips for any budding authors on how to successfully manage this?
Normally, Twitter pitch events invite writers to use a 280-character tweet to attract the interest of an agent or publisher. If the Tweet is liked, you’re asked to submit the first three chapters and synopsis. It’s a good way to bypass the gatekeepers and get your manuscript under the eyes of someone who can take the novel forward. The #pitchhound event was a little different in that authors were invited to email a 100-word pitch directly to Bloodhound Books and from there, I was invited to submit the whole manuscript. I wrote a blog post about the experience here.
Below is the Twitter Pitch I used for the #pitchhound event
The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell (79,500 words) is a gripping dual timeline mystery, perfect for fans of The Widow by Fiona Barton, Sadie by Courtney Summers and novels by Kathleen McGurl.
It’s 2014 when redundant journalist Stephanie Brett (54) looks for a change of direction and chooses true crime podcasting. Locally, there’s only one case worth pursuing – the abduction of Carolyn Russell (16) from 1979. The shambolic police investigation came to nothing but rumours circulate in the West Country town. Early episodes draw a large audience and when an unexpected source comes forward, vitriolic accusations against a teacher gain momentum.
For this pitch, I covered the following:
· the main character: menopausal journalist
· the mystery: missing girl’s story
· the vehicle through which the mystery is solved: true crime podcast
Using a ‘when’ statement is a useful model for creating a Twitter pitch. I’d recommend entering pitch events – they’re a lot of fun and they help to hone those skills in writing about a manuscript concisely.
Brilliant advice! Your book centres around a missing girl, a hot topic at the moment. What drew you to this type of storyline?
I became hooked on true crime podcasts in early 2020 and many of them feature missing people. At that time, I was living in a remote town in the north west of Uganda and volunteering at a nearby refugee settlement. The power supply was very unreliable and cuts happened most evenings at eight o’clock. With no light to read by, I was often in bed and under my mosquito net around the same time. The nights were long and hot so I spent many hours listening to the podcasts I’d downloaded at a local hotel. I developed a fascination for crime stories from around the world but it was the series podcasts that allowed me to tune into the twists and turns that created crucial listening. One podcast, The Teacher’s Pet acted as really good research in that it covered the case of a missing wife from 1981. Listening to this, I was able to reimagine the norms of the time and give voice to Carolyn Russell.
Love that.
A centre point around this novel are the podcast interviews. I see you give us some podcast recommendations at the end of the novel. What 1 podcast would you choose for someone trying a podcast for the first time, particularly in this field?
Paradise from the BBC is a most intriguing account of a murder, particularly because the perpetrator was known for many years but managed to avoid investigation. The podcast gets to the truth of missing couple Peta and Chris who left home in 1978 to travel the world but came to an untimely end off the coast of Guatemala.
When writing the dual timeline, did you write the two timelines separately then merge or did you write as it is in the book?
I drafted each timeline from beginning to end separately and then wove the two storylines together. The novel starts with two chapters from Stephanie’s viewpoint, to lodge her importance as the main character in the reader’s mind. Following this, the chapters alternate between Carolyn’s story in 1979 and Stephanie’s 2014 timeline. The structure was a blessing and a pain. At one point, I decided to delete an entire chapter and this disrupted the alternating pattern until I came up with a solution to fill the gap.
As you know, I adored This Much Huxley Knows, do you have a favourite genre to write or do you like a mix?
While Huxley is a delightful young narrator who tries to understand community tensions following Brexit in this coming-of-age story, the novel didn’t sell. It received many strong reviews from book bloggers and came runner-up in a writing prize, but the book was with the wrong publisher. I realised it was a bad match soon after signing the contract. What did a small press in Texas want with this very British story? I asked to be released from the contract but the publisher refused. Advice from the Society of Authors suggested I had little option but to honour the agreement. Let my experience be a warning to other writers. Don’t get so flattered by interest in your manuscript that you lose sight of who you’ll be working with. After the failure to reach an audience with This Much Huxley Knows, I decided to write something more commercial and I found a suitable publisher in Bloodhound Books. This Much Huxley Knows is still available to purchase, so if anyone wants an unusual and uplifting read, this could be the book for you.
In terms of favourite genre, I don’t have one. I like to write what’s relevant at the time. There is one commonality in all my novels, the importance of character. Whatever I’m writing, it’s the characters that drive the narrative.
That really shines through your writing.
What can we expect to see from you next?
The manuscript I’ve been working on is another psychological fiction. I’ve used my experience of living in Uganda to imagine and populate an African island which is visited by rich tourists. When Ashley’s controlling husband books a holiday there, she finds the tropical island empowering but tensions exist between islanders and visitors. Determined to build friendships with locals, Ashley is unaware that her husband stokes the conflict. Following an incident where they’re targeted by youths, Ashley’s suspicions are aroused. Can she get to the bottom of what’s going on?
That sounds so exciting!
Out now in paperback and e-book 3 July.
Novelist, poet and scriptwriter, Gail Aldwin has been writing for over a decade. Her first two coming-of-age novels were runners-up in the Dorchester Literary Festival Writing Prize 2020 and 2022. Gail was awarded a creative writing PhD in 2018 and still laughs whenever she’s called Doctor. She has appeared at Bridport Literary Festival, Stockholm Writers Festival and the Mani Lit Fest in Greece. Her psychological suspense mystery The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell is published by Bloodhound Books. Gail splits her time between a tiny flat in South West London and a home overlooking water meadows in Dorset.
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