Finding Hope in a Hopeless World: What My Readers Taught Me About Domestic Abuse

Every book I have ever written has meant a lot to me, but with my latest book The Runaway Wife, something really special happened when the real world and the fiction I love to write collided. It changed me as a person and a writer, forever.

I was getting ready to research my tenth novel, which with the help of my Facebook readers I’d decided should pivot around the theme of domestic abuse. It was a subject I’d touched on briefly once before, when I wrote my short novella Woman Walks into a Bar, which to this day remains one of the pieces of work of which I am most proud, but I was ready to look into the subject in more depth, I felt it could make a really powerful subject for a novel.

I go to my Facebook and Twitter followers a lot, ask them to name characters in a book, or a bar or café. I really enjoy getting my readers involved in the writing process, so I didn’t give it much thought when I posted on my Facebook page asking if anyone had any personal experiences of domestic abuse, or any stories they might share with me in confidence. I’m not sure I expected any replies.

I was shocked and amazed by the response; when I opened my email the next day there were more than 200 emails waiting in my inbox. Each story I read was horrific and frightening in its own way, giving me an insight into the secret lives of many women; lives that all too often remain hidden. Domestic abuse can happen to anyone — well educated wealthy women are just as likely to suffer as women from a less privileged background — but the one thing all those women had in common was that they were survivors. After years of being mentally and physically beaten down, they had managed to find the emotional strength, somehow, to break free and start again. And that was where I found the beginnings of the character that was to become Rose. I knew I wanted this to be a book about finding hope in world that seemed hopeless.

As I was writing The Runaway Wife I realized that this book had captured my heart in a way that no other had, I cared so much for Rose, because in my head she embodied all of the women that had so generously and bravely shared their stories with me. It meant so much to me that I got this book right, that it became the most challenging project I have ever worked on.

Soon after publication in the UK I began to receive emails and letters, facebook messages and tweets from readers who The Runaway Wife had meant something to, and who recognized themselves in Rose, and that came as a huge relief to me. I was glad that women who had been through a similar journey to Rose approved of the book, but more than that, when I heard from a few who were still caught up in abusive relationships, I was heartened by hearing that in some small way The Runaway Wife had helped then think about getting help and changing their lives. And since writing this book I have become an active campaigner and fundraiser for domestic abuse charities.

When I set out to write a novel, the first thing I always want to do is to tell a good story. But with The Runaway Wife the story of so many women became part of my own, and it’s a book that will stay with me for the rest of my life.