A brave woman on the run from her vindictive husband faces a dangerous path in the thrilling new romantic suspense novel from Oscar-nominated actress Meg Tilly.
We chat with author Meg Tilly about her latest novel, The Runaway Heiress, including the challenges she faced, as well as writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Meg! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! Let’s see, I’m an author/sometimes actress/mom/grandmother/wife/sister/good friend/YouTuber vlogger on “Meg’s Cozy Tea Time”/a pretty good cook/ and dog lover. Other occupations have included, working at a deli, as a waitress, and in the hats and gloves department in a big department store.
How has the first half of 2021 been for you?
The first half of 2021 has been much less stressful than 2020. Many of my family and friends are now double vaccinated and those of us here in Canada are eagerly awaiting our booking invitation to receive our second dose. Things are feeling more hopeful. Thank goodness!
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
I had to think back to answer this one. The first book I remember being able to read by myself was, 10 Apples Up On Top. I think I was four. My big sister had been teaching me how to read, and then suddenly, I was able to. I was so proud of myself.
It wasn’t a particular book that made me want to become an author. I have always been a voracious reader and every book I’ve ever read has become a part of me, however being a writer was never on my radar. And then I wrote a book, and another, and another…
The novel I can’t stop thinking about is the one I’m working on now. I’ve been steeped in it for the fourteen months. I am doing a polish and then off to my agent it goes.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
It wasn’t so much a love for writing as a need. I didn’t write my first piece until I was thirty. And even then, it wasn’t because I thought I was a writer. It was because I had gotten to the point where I had to write the truth of my life or I would suffocate, choke on all the words and memories that were rising up from my belly and creating a log jam in my throat. Those memories became my first novel, Singing Songs (Dutton/Penguin)
Your new novel, The Runaway Heiress, is out July 27th 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Extremely satisfying, unexpected twists and turns. Okay, that’s six but does the “and” really count?
What can readers expect?
Readers can expect a fast-moving rollercoaster ride with thrills and chills and a satisfying, deeply intimate love story to boot.
What was the inspiration behind The Runaway Heiress?
My readers wrote to me after Hidden Cove, the third novel in my Solace Island series, and begged me to write ‘Mary Browning’s’ story. They needed to know what happened to her, if she was okay.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
When I first started getting letters from my readers I thought, no, writing ‘Mary Browning’s’ story would be an impossible task! How do you tell a story when the main character had a different fake name, adopts a new name at the beginning of the book, plus wouldn’t it be super confusing when I have to reveal her real actual name? I seriously didn’t know how I could possibly pull it off. But the requests kept coming and so I sat down and started writing, just playing around, to see what-would-happen-if? One day, around fifty pages in something clicked in place and I got those tingles inside, because I knew I was on to something and just had that sense that it was going to be a novel after all.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
When Mick Talford starting talking to me, I was filled with happy glee.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
Best advice: Keep writing. Don’t wait for inspiration. That’s what sneaks up on you unawares while you are butt in the chair and slogging away.
Worst advice: In one of my writing groups it took a while for me to realize the facilitator had an agenda. Oddly, it wasn’t a critique that she gave me that opened my eyes, it was when I listened to her tear apart a beautiful piece a friend had written. A piece that had torn my heart asunder with its brutal, unflinching honesty. It was such a true piece. But instead of honouring his bravery and vulnerability that was required to write this breakthrough piece, she attacked it, because it didn’t match up to her political agenda. As a fledgling writer one must be very careful whom you trust with your writing voice. As writers, we must be at liberty to speak our truths, however uncomfortable or painful they can be.
Or… ahem… conversely, once one has ripped the truth of life as they know it out of their belly, it is perfectly fine to segue into writing novels to entertain and please oneself. Which is what I am doing now. Yes, you will find great chunks of me embedded in my characters. Everything I write is an offering of myself. And at this stage in my life, the offering I want to put out into the reading public’s hands is a world where the reader can escape to find a few days of respite from the onslaught of life.
What’s next for you?
I am writing a new series which has taken an odd turn on me. Will be sending it to my agent at the end of the month. Fingers crossed!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I am in the middle of Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Dial A For Aunties, (contemporary romance) which has me laughing out loud. I read an ARC of Mimi Matthews (historical romance) The Siren Of Sussex, that is a delight. I especially appreciated the historically accurate details and that Mimi’s heroine operates within the confines and structures of the time. You can never go wrong with any Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle novel, and her newest offering, The Lady Had A Past (1930’s noir romance) is no exception to the rule! And then on the literary side, I just finished reading Mary Bly’s Lizzy and Dante and it made me want to seize life, and the beauty of the moment with both hands and inhale the sweetness, the gift of existing in the now.
