INTERVIEW
READ ON... With the holiday season in full swing and time to relax in the garden or on the beach with a good book, Lynda Clark talks to author Alex Dahl, who has written six exciting novels and has a couple of TV series adapted from her books in the pipeline
Alex is half American and half Norwegian and was born in Oslo. With a novelist grandmother who wrote many books, Alex always wanted to follow in her footsteps and become an author. She said, “I loved going to my grandmother’s house as a child as she had a wonderful library filled with all her books. Writing came easily to me and at school I loved the creative writing classes, although the rest of the class didn’t agree with me! I was fascinated about understanding the structure of stories and I was lucky enough to have an English teacher who was very encouraging and told me that I would become an author when I was older. My family are very artistic and creative too and they encouraged me, so that really helped.” She went on to do her degree in Russian and German linguistics with international studies and then went to Paris to do a summer programme in creative writing. She then came to London and went to Bath Spa University to do her MA in creative writing. “It was 2005 and I was only 23, and in hindsight I think it was a little premature to do an MA as I really didn’t have any life experience at that age. While I was writing my first novel, I was pregnant with my son and after he was born he had a few health issues so I had to leave writing for a few years. It was painful to be away from the thing I loved doing the most but it was lovely to spend time bringing up my family. It is very hard for women today trying to juggle bringing up children and having a career.You need a level of mental capacity and space which is difficult. “Eventually I needed to write again and earn money and my first book, The Boy at the Door was published in 2018. I had written several other books before this – they were not published but it was great that I had such encouraging feedback, which spurred me on. I sent off my ideas for The Boy at the Door to an agent and they loved it but they wanted to see the whole
“THE STORY CAME TO ME VERY QUICKLY AND I HAD A STRONG IDEA ABOUT THE PLOT AND CHARACTERS AND MY INSTINCT TOLD ME IT WOULD WORK”
literally nobody around. But during that period Playdate went straight into Apple Books Top 10 and had excellent reviews in The Guardian and Financial Times , which was a real gamechanger. It was then that Brightstar Productions and Quay Street Productions saw this and got in touch about making a TV series. Later on, Disney+ greenlit the series and it finished filming last autumn.” Alex has just published her latest novel, Girl Friends . “I wanted to write a book which was a little different to the others. A holiday read that you might pick up at the airport. I have recently been spending some time in Spain and wanted to set the story there. So it all takes place in Ibiza, and though I usually write thrillers which are quite Scandi-oriented, this book has elements of real fun and looks at female friendships and how women relate to their girlfriends. It does, however, turn quite dark – in the first chapter, two of the characters find a dead body but they have no idea what happened and they have to get rid of the body and not tell the authorities. I had lots of fascinating conversations with my own girlfriends to get a feeling of what they would do in the same circumstances – it was really interesting.” The future looks very bright for Alex and she is currently Executive Producer on a French TV series in development, based on her first novel, The Boy at the Door . She is also writing a TV series from scratch, which will be set in France. She is planning another novel too and said, “It’s a constant balance though – I have three children and I have to attend lots of events, book signings and travel all the time so it’s important to get a work-life balance just right. I can’t imagine a life without writing and I am always buzzing with ideas.” As we finish our chat I am delighted that I will soon be on holiday and will have time to read her books – I’m hooked and come away with the feeling that Alex’s grandmother would be very proud of her!
thing and I was only half way through, so I had to turn it round very quickly! “My first agent was based in London and was wonderful. It was such a game changer when she managed to sell the rights to my books all over the world. She is retired now and I have signed with a lovely new agent. I then got a two-book deal and wrote The Heart Keeper , which was very well received, and then Playdate . It’s really exciting because that book is being made into a five-part TV series for Disney. I am the Executive Producer and it will be shown worldwide later this year. “The story came to me very quickly and I had a strong idea about the plot and characters and my instinct told me it would work. It’s a thriller about child abduction – a little girl goes on a playdate with a new girl in her class. Her mother drops her overnight things round and the next morning her father goes to pick her up but the house is empty – no family, no furniture and no daughter. So it’s a missing person story with a twist as it turns out it’s all about revenge. I am fascinated about the whole idea of abduction and parts of the idea came to me several years ago on a plane going from the UK to Spain.We were over the French Pyrenees and I looked out of the window and saw a really remote farmhouse, high up in the mountains. It made me think that if you wanted to hide anything or a person this would be the perfect location. “During the pandemic it was the strangest time, especially in Norway which is quiet at the best of times. It was so odd as I used to go out walking and there was
OUT NOW Girl Friends by Alex Dahl, published by Head of Zeus Playdate by Alex Dahl, published by Head of Zeus
Available at Amazon and all good bookshops
60 First Time Buyer August/September 2024
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker