I had the idea for The Pool when visiting friends in the south of France, and I hope something of the sense of that beautiful part of the world comes across in this book: the heat, the sounds and the smells. Of course, there was no dead body in that particular swimming pool, but even without such a traumatic discovery, holidays sometimes don’t live up to expectations. We often wait a long time for them - and set great store by them – and once we finally get away and start to unwind, we want everything to be perfect.
But life doesn’t always work out like that and some families just don’t get along. This was never going to be a book about a dead body; I wanted to write about people who should have cared for and been there for each other, but ultimately couldn’t do that because too many resentments, jealousies and insecurities had built up over the years. As Alice says, towards the end of this book: ‘We can’t choose our families – we just end up with each other and have to get on with it.’
Having said all that, I couldn’t have written this book – or any of my others – without the love, support and encouragement of my own wonderful family: Mat, Sam, Maddy and Jessie. Thank you for everything, Clan, you’re the very best.
Finally, another big thank you to Betsy, Fred and everyone at Bloodhound. It’s a pleasure working with you all. Clare is a great editor and Tara makes the production process smooth and stress-free - even when authors like me throw curve balls at her along the way.
If you’d like to find out more about me and my writing, please visit www.