The Pact follows two sisters and double tennis partners and champion athletes who have their relationship tested when one sister gets engaged. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

All of my novels are essentially about women and their relationships with others: family, friends, lovers, colleagues etc.

With The Pact, I specifically wanted to write about sisters. I’ve been fascinated by siblings, and my place in my own family since I was old enough to realize I had an older sister and a younger brother. I asked my parents a lot of questions. Why am I blonde? Why is my sister taller? Lots of questions my parents didn’t have answers for.

At school in biology, we studied genes, familial traits, and nature versus nurture. I was fascinated, and still am today. Why does my sister behave the way she does? Why do I? Is it because of our upbringing, or was she just born with an aversion to cheese?

I wanted to know the answers.

I chose tennis as the sisters’ job – professional double partners and champions. As partners, Annie and Samantha work together as a united team, but when their personal relationship falls apart and they embark on singles careers, the dynamic changes and they become competitive rivals.

Your characters are wonderfully emotive and relatable. Were you able to use anything from your own life to inform their character development?

Yes, definitely. Because I have a sister, I’ve always been keen to explore the sibling dynamic, especially looking at oldest and youngest personality characteristics, differences, and why they behave the way they do. 

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

As I mentioned, tennis is the vehicle used to amplify the usual sibling issues and also explore the sisters’ professional partnership and personal relationship –similarities, differences, motivation, competition, abandonment, and grief.

For example, how do the sisters respond to the stress of constantly being under the media spotlight? What happens when, at the pinnacle of fame, their relationship falls apart? With dreams shattered and egos destroyed, how do they cope?

It also deals with poignant themes, including the disappearance of the sisters’ mother when Samantha was 13 years old, and Annie was 11;  and how they each handled her absence differently.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

My next book, Christmas Actually, will be released worldwide October 2, 2024. 

Every picture tells a story, but it’s not always the one we expect, or remember, in this festive drama about family and forgiveness. Christmas Actually is a snapshot of modern family life; addressing Instagram to motherhood, and everything in between. 

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