SHELF LIFE
PHOEBE MORGAN
The psychological thriller author and HarperCollins editorial director shares the five books that mean most to her
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To read an extract from The Wild Girls
‘My new book is called The Wild Girls, and it’s a thriller about four women who take a trip to a luxury safari lodge in Botswana – only to find that everything is not quite as it seems. When they arrive at the lodge, it’s deserted – the birthday party they were promised doesn’t seem to be happening, and they’re alone in the wilderness with just their secrets… I had the idea in 2019 as Africa is a place I’ve always wanted to visit – due to the Covid lockdowns I wasn’t able to go, but I enjoyed escaping to another country in my imagination nonetheless.
‘My writing routine varies – I work full-time during the week, so any writing has to fit around that. I do the bulk of my writing at weekends, and generally will spend a large chunk of the day doing it rather than trying to fit in bits and pieces after work. My brain is too fried by 5.30 so I find it easier to really get down to the writing on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I like to have a lot of coffee, a nice candle burning, and I need silence to write – I’m not one of those people who can write with music as I just get too distracted. Before the pandemic I would go to the British Library to write, but now in 2021 I am pretty much confined to my flat!