Little Girl Lost by Brian McGilloway Interview

Little Girl Lost

by Brian McGilloway

on Tour February 17 - March 21, 2014

Book Details:

Genre: Thriller
Published by: Witness Impulse
Publication Date: 2/18/2014
Number of Pages: 305
ISBN: 9780062336583
Purchase Links:   

Synopsis:

During a winter blizzard a small girl is found wandering half-naked at the edge of an ancient woodland. Her hands are covered in blood, but it is not her own. Unwilling or unable to speak, the only person she seems to trust is the young officer who rescued her, DS Lucy Black.

DS Black is baffled to find herself suddenly transferred from a high-profile case involving the kidnapping of a prominent businessman's teenage daughter, to the newly formed Public Protection Unit. Meanwhile, she has her own problems—caring for her Alzheimer's-stricken father; and avoiding conflict with her surly Assistant Chief Constable – who also happens to be her mother. As she struggles to identify the unclaimed child, Lucy begins to realize that this case and the kidnapping may be linked by events that occurred during the blackest days of the country's recent history, events that also defined her own childhood.

LITTLE GIRL LOST is a devastating page-turner about corruption, greed and vengeance, and a father's endless love for his daughter.

Read an excerpt:

There was definitely something moving between the trees. He’d been aware of it for a few moments now, a flitting movement he’d catch in the corner of his eye, weaving through the black tree trunks set vertical against the snow. At first he had dismissed it as the result of snow hypnosis from staring too long through the windscreen into the unrelenting downdraught of snowflakes.

Michael Mahon shunted the gearstick back into first as he approached the hill leading into Prehen. He knew almost as soon as he had shifted down that it was the wrong thing to do. He felt the wheels of the milk float begin to spin beneath him, could see the nose of the vehicle drift towards the kerb. He eased back on the accelerator, pumped the brakes in an attempt to halt the inexorable movement sideways but to no avail. He knew the wheels had locked and yet still the float shifted sideways, sliding backwards across the road, coming to rest finally against the far kerb.

Cursing, he shut off the engine and dropped down from the cab onto the road. Just behind him lay the edge of the ancient woodland stretching for several miles from Prehen all the way up to Gobnascale. Light from street lamps reflected off the snow, illuminating further into the woods than normal at this time of night. Black branches of the trees sagged in places under the increased weight of snow.

Shivering involuntarily, Michael turned his attention to the milk float again. He picked up the spade he’d left on the back for just such an emergency. As he was bending to clear the snow from the wheels he became aware once more of a movement in the woods, on the periphery of his vision.

It was cold, yet the goosebumps that sprang up along his arms and down his spine caused him to start. Brandishing the spade in both hands, he turned again to face the woods, dread already settling itself in the pit of his stomach.

A child came into the open at the edge of the trees. Her hair, long and black against the white background of the forest floor, looked soaked through, hanging lank onto her shoulders. Her face was rounded and pale. She wore a pair of pyjamas. On the chest of the jacket something was written. Her feet were bare.

When the girl saw him she stopped, staring at the spade he was holding, then looking at him, challengingly, her gaze never leaving his face, her skin almost blue from the luminescence of the snow. It was only as he stepped closer to her, crouching cautiously, his hand outstretched as one might approach an animal, that she turned and ran back into the trees.

Author Bio:

Brian McGilloway is the bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Inspector Benedict Devlin series. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974. After studying English at Queen’s University, Belfast, he took up a teaching position in St Columb’s College in Derry, where he is currently Head of English. 

His first novel, Borderlands, published by Macmillan New Writing, was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger 2007 and was hailed by The Times as ‘one of (2007’s) most impressive debuts.’ The second novel in the series, Gallows Lane, was shortlisted for both the 2009 Irish Book Awards/Ireland AM Crime Novel of the Year and the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2010. Bleed A River Deep, the third Devlin novel, was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of their Best Books of 2010.

Brian's fifth novel, Little Girl Lost, which introduced a new series featuring DS Lucy Black, won the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award in 2011 and is a No.1 UK Kindle Bestseller. The follow-up novel, Hurt, will be published in late 2013 by Constable and Robinson.

Brian lives near the Irish borderlands with his wife, daughter and three sons.

Interview:

1. Did you research Alzheimers, or is it a cause you want to spread info about?


A number of my relatives have suffered from Alzheimer’s. In particular, my Great Aunt, who lived with my Grandmother, suffered terribly when I was a teenager. It’s a horrifying experience to watch someone lose that sense of their own identity. Arthur Miller saw modern tragedy as recoding our attempt to retain our identity in spite of our own actions; Alzheimers deprives people of that, robbing them of their identity through no fault of their own. It also was symbolic for me in the book; so many people have their own versions of the past here and use their own versions to justify their present behaviour. I did wonder whether they had considered that their memory of the past might not be wholly accurate. This book is about the impact of the past on the present, which is a hallmark of most of the crime fiction coming from Northern Ireland at the moment.

2. How did you come up with the girl being in the ancient woodland?


The book is about fairy tales, and is based on their use to identify forms of trauma is children, and many fairy tales feature children in woodlands. Indeed, the books title comes from the William Blake poem about a girl being lost in the woods at a point of liminality. The book is about fairy tales, but also is one, in its own way. Plus, the woods which feature in the book are next to where I grew up and I’m very fond of that area.

3. Is this part of a series?


It is. The second Lucy book, Hurt, is already out in the UK and Ireland and I’ve just finished the third. Though each book stands alone in terms of the main narrative, there is an overarching story to the series based on the events at the end of Little Girl Lost. I can’t say any more than that without spoiling the ending.

4. What do you think is the most important thing to include on a book's image?


That’s a tricky one, because the cover image is really about marketing the book, which isn’t something I hugely consider when I’m writing it. I do remember when my first novel, Borderlands, came out here, the original cover was of the river near where the book is set. The Irish market insisted on changing the cover to something more American, and used an image of a burning car. Ironically, when the book was released in America, the publisher used the same original image of the river. I guess the image should signify something of the genre without giving the story away. I’m really pleased with all the various covers for Little Girl Lost so far; I think they all reflect the spirit and tone of the book.

5. What would you like my readers to know?

There are various lost girls in the book, each with their respective associated fairy tale which is reflected in their stories. The most lost of all, initially, is Lucy herself. 

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