Author Interview: Tess Stimson

Tess Stimson is an author and journalist. Born in England, she graduated from Oxford before working as a television news producer.

She lived in Beirut, Lebanon, from whence she juggled reporting on the Middle-East for CNN, BBC and NTV (Lebanese television) with raising a family. She also freelanced for UK-based TV stations Sky, Channel Five and other cable channels, and wrote for the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Express, You and Glamour Magazine and The Times.

Tess Stimson is the author of  the booksThe Adultery Club, One Good Affair, and Who Loves You Best. She lives in Vermont with her family. Today I talk with Tess about her newest book, The Wife Who Ran Away

What inspired you to write The Wife Who Run Away?
A friend once told me years ago of a moment she had in Selfridges. Her husband had barely spoken to her in a week, her teenage daughter was being stroppy and difficult, her mother was driving her crazy, and she hated her job. She was coming down the escalator and she thought, what if I just got into a taxi and went to the airport and disappeared? I sat on that story for years, and then the time just came to write it and say, yes, what if....?

What influences and experiences did you bring into the book?
There was a time in my life, a year after I'd found out my husband had been having an affair, but before I'd confronted him, when I felt overwhelmed by all the changes and decisions I had to make. My sons were then 4 and 1, and I left them with my mother for a few weeks while I flew to the US to spend some time alone sorting out my next move. I drew deeply on those feelings when I was writing about Kate. And I now have teenage children myself, so I know exactly the complexities they bring to life!

What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, and logistical) in bringing the book to life?

I lived in Rome for four years, so I know the city well, but I had to make sure my research was up to date. And I read widely around the subject of issues such as cyber-bullying, for the sub-plot centering on Kate's son. As always, the biggest challenge is making your characters fully rounded and realized, and in this book, there was also the additional difficulty of making a character who was doing something unsympathetic - walking out on her family - become likeable. I think I managed it; I hope so. You tell me!

Could you tell us about your path to publication? Any sprints or stumbles along the way?
My first book was actually non-fiction, and stemmed from my experience as a news journalist with ITN. It was the biography of one of the Beirut hostages, and when I finished it, I met with the fiction editor at Mandarin and discussed an idea for a novel set in the world of TV news. She signed me to a three book contract, but when it expired, I had two very young children and was in the middle of a divorce, and didn't feel up to committing to another contract. A few years later, I moved to Pan Macmillan, for whom I have now written six books and I hope that I'll be with them for a long time to come!

Which authors inspired you the most? And which are your favourite books and authors now?
My favourite book as a child was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and the year I turned six I spent hours in the back of wardrobes looking for a snowy forest. The book that inspired me to write was Jean Plaidy's historical novel, The Sixth Wife, set in the Tudor court of Henry VIII; I was 12 when I read that, having picked it up at a soup kitchen where I was supposed to be helping my mother. The first book I ever wrote (at eighteen; it was never published!) was actually an historical novel. And then the book I read every year - Pride and Prejudice. Love love love it. As for authors I read now: Barbara Erskine, Penny Vincenzi, Douglas Kennedy, Maria de los Santos... there are so many!