Last night I had the pleasure of interviewing author of psychological thriller, Forget Me Not, Luana Lewis. We met in Gerrards Cross in the church above Gerrards Cross Bookshop. We had 30 – 40 people, many of whom had read the book and many belonged to local book groups.

I started by asking whether Luana had felt the pressure of writing her second novel, a task many authors find rather difficult. It was a huge pressure, especially as she had a deadline to meet. With the first book, you can write it in your own time but the second has to be delivered to meet the publishing timetable.

Luana is a clinical psychologist who sees patients with problems as part of her day job. Many of them have fractured relationships and that was the starting point of this novel. What happens when the relationship between a mother and daughter is less than loving? How will it affect both in later life if indeed it will? The story of Forget Me Not is that of a mother  and daughter who do not get on. The mother Rose, is a single parent, working as a neonatal nurse with long shifts. This has an effect on her daughter, Vivian, who is lying dead on the bathroom floor as the book opens. Rose, having been a less than perfect mother, has not been a very supportive grandmother but when he daughter is found dead she hopes to make up for that by looking after her granddaughter, Lexi. Vivian’s husband, Ben, is uncertain about that. All the characters become suspects as you read the book. It is suspenseful and compelling.

Luana told us that she was character driven and that the characters came to her fairly fully formed. She knew the end as she wrote but had not meticulously planned the plot as some authors do. “Writing is the fun part of my life and too much planning would make it more like work”

You can read all about Luana and her two novels by clicking here.