I’m delighted to welcome dear friend and fellow author, Ruby Speechley to the blog today to talk to us about her debut, Someone Else’s Baby, which is released by Hera Books on 25th July. I have this one on pre-order and am so looking forward to reading it! Here’s Ruby to tell us a bit more about her novel.
Can you describe your new novel in one succinct but sensual sentence?
A young surrogate gives her babies away only to discover that the new parents are not who they said they were…
Who is your favourite character and why?
My favourite character in this novel is my protagonist, Charlotte, because she shows huge compassion and resilience in impossible circumstances. I would not be brave enough to be a surrogate and I think what she goes through to help a childless couple is incredible.
Which authors have been your main inspirations?
I’ve been influenced by so many writers, but in particular, Lesley Glaister, Kate Hamer, Daphne du Maurier, Maggie O’ Farrell and Ian McEwan. They all have a dark thread running through their novels, some more so than others, but this is what I aim for with my stories.
How does your writing process work; confusion and paper flying everywhere or calm and ordered?
I don’t have a set process, but I usually start by daydreaming about a character in a particular situation or dilemma. I go through lots of ‘what ifs’ until I come up with a story I’m excited to tell. With this novel for example, the idea came to me after I saw a surrogate on TV with the baby’s new parents. I started wondering, what if the couple weren’t who they said they were? I write a long synopsis, which is basically me downloading the story from my head onto paper, so I don’t forget it, then I write a first draft as quickly as I can.
What is your guilty pleasure when writing? (Chocolate, wine, coffee…)
I don’t have a guilty pleasure when writing, but I drink gallons of strong tea! I make sure I eat a good breakfast and lunch, usually homemade stilton and broccoli soup, because writing makes me hungry and I can’t write on an empty stomach.
Please share your blurb with us
She gave away her children. Now she wants them back.
Charlotte Morgan knows how it feels to desperately want a baby. As a child, seeing her mum devastated by losing her longed-for babies, Charlotte wished another woman could give her mother what she so craved.
Now Charlotte’s a mum herself, and knowing how much love her daughter, Alice, brings into her life, she vows to help others achieve their dreams of becoming a parent.
When she meets Malcolm and Brenda on a surrogacy website, it seems that she has found the perfect couple. In their late forties, they’ve spent their life building a successful business and travelling the world, but there’s just one thing missing – a child of their own.
When Charlotte falls pregnant with twins, the pair are overjoyed. And while Charlotte’s heart breaks as she hands them over, her reward is knowing how much happiness the two tiny babies are going to bring into their life.
But are Malcolm and Brenda all they seem? As secrets become unravelled, Charlotte is forced to face that she has handed her babies over to virtual strangers. And when Malcolm and Brenda disappear without a trace, Charlotte is plunged into a frantic search for the babies she carried – before it’s too late…
Thanks so much, Ruby! If you are as excited about this one as I am, you can pre-order here!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ruby Speechley, graduated from Sheffield Hallam university in 2009, with an MA in Creative Writing. She is a Faber Academy alumna and prolific writer whose work has been longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish College Fiction prize, the Exeter Novel Prize, the Caledonian Novel Award, the Bath Novel Award and has won the Retreat West First Chapter Competition.
Ruby is a mum of three, lives in Bedfordshire and was born in Lisbon, Portugal at the time of the first earthquake there in 200 years!