Written by Sam Ali
Imagine having a stranger show up on your doorstep claiming to be your sister. Now, imagine she was persistent in being a part of your family. Would you run? Or would you accept it? In Sandie Jones’ new novel, THE HALF SISTER, sisters Kate and Lauren must come to terms that their parents have a dark past filled with secrets – and they are determined to find out.
With the growing interest in Ancestry findings and DNA testing, it’s becoming much more accessible for an individual to find out more about what where they come from – add a couple of twists in, and you got yourself a binge worthy, drama thriller! Perfect for summer!
This book was fast paced, and incredibly intriguing in terms of the mystery regarding the two sisters. It was a book that I had to keep turning the page in order to find out more about the family. It really is a great book to pick up, sit outside and finish in one sitting. It’s a grab your popcorn, binge kind of read!
I had the pleasure of asking author Sandie Jones a few questions about her writing process, and her new novel, THE HALF SISTER!
Hi Sandie! Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I’ve been a freelance journalist for 25 years, interviewing celebrities for the likes of The Sunday Times, Woman’s Weekly and Hello magazine. In January 2017, I decided to try fiction, for no-one else’s eyes apart from mine, just to prove to myself that I could do it! The result was The Other Woman which incredibly went on to become a New York Times bestseller and a Reese Witherspoon bookclub pick. I live in London with my husband and three children.
What is your favourite book?
Let Me Go by Claire Mackintosh
And what about your favourite writer?
On British soil, it’s BA Paris. From across the pond, it’s Harlan Coben.
Your latest standalone novel, The Half Sister, features a very interesting family dynamic/scenario. What inspired you to write this plot? And which character do you sympathize with most?
I love writing about ordinary people who have extraordinary things happen to them and The Half Sister explores the old adage that you can’t choose your family. They are who they are and there’s nothing you can do about it – you just have to choose whether to get on with them or not. When you then throw in the curveball of someone turning up, claiming to be your half-sibling, it naturally sends the whole family into a tailspin.
Lauren is probably my favourite character as she learns so much about what’s she’s done, who she is and who she wants to be. The person she is at the beginning of the book is very different to the Lauren at the end and although some of her decisions aren’t always well-thought out, they come from a good place.
Have you ever tried the DNA/Ancestry process yourself?
It was my fascination with DNA and how far we’ve come that started the ball rolling on this idea in the first place. So I did a DNA test when researching this book and from a globule of saliva, I was able to find out my ancestry make-up, which stretches from Ireland to Asia, and track down members of my extended family. Nobody unexpected popped up (which I was rather grateful for!) but it showed me how easily they might have done. With millions of people uploading their DNA onto genealogy websites, it’s going to become a common occurrence to find relatives you didn’t know you had. At the moment, the closest I’ve found is a third cousin, who you’d think I’d already know of, but when you factor in that they’re the child of one of my parents’ second-cousins, who I only share great-great-grandparents with, you can see why we might not be aware that each other even exists!
You have written multiple novels and looped into the genre of domestic thrillers… Where do you find the inspiration for these kinds of stories?
Just from everyday life. I meet lots of people – I listen to lots of stories, and suddenly something will light a bulb in my head. It’s usually the tiniest fragment of an idea that grows and grows into something I feel compelled to write.
What type of research do you do before writing a new book?
As I tend to stick to a domestic setting, most of my research is emotional. I think about the different characters and what makes them tick, applying it to people I’ve known or read about. If a character has a particular trait, such as being a narcissist, or there’s a gaslighting theme, then I will read up on their modem operandi. But most of the time, I’m able to track back to an old friend’s boyfriend or a neighbour’s mother-in-law, to give me a sense of the real character.
After publishing your first book, how did your writing process change?
Writing your first book is completely different to writing another one thereafter. Obviously a publisher doesn’t come on board until you’ve written the first draft and made it as good as possible. But for every book after that, they want to know what it’s going to be about, who’s going to be in it and how it’s going to end, all before you’ve written it, which I find so difficult to predict. So ironically, there’s now more likely to be major edits or rewrites than there was for my first book!
Out of all the books you have written thus far, which one would you like to see adapted to the big screen?
The Other Woman has already been optioned for a TV series which I am beyond excited about. My dream cast would be Lily James as Emily, Henry Cavill as Adam and Meryl Streep as Pammie! She’s who I picture whenever I think about Pammie and I can so easily hear her withering put-downs and see her condescending expressions.
I’d love to see The Half Sister adapted, as finding long-lost relatives on genealogy sites is so current right now, mostly for good reasons. So I’d be intrigued to see how a screenwriter would weave the thriller element in when there might be other reasons at play.
Do you have any advice for any aspiring writers out there?
If you want to write a book, the hardest part is starting it. I spent many years thinking about it, dreaming of it and waiting for the perfect time, but all I actually needed to do was get started. It doesn’t really matter what you write, or the quality of the words – just as long as you get something down on paper, you’ll suddenly realise you’re over the most difficult part.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us?
The Dilemma by BA Paris was unputdownable. The Second Wife by Rebecca Fleet made me gasp out loud, and The Safe House by Anna Downes is my tip for a sure-fire summer hit.
