‘As I set out on the long writing journey that ended with the publication of my debut novel, I wish I’d known it was my keenness to learn that would eventually make it happen. It’s quite a hop from music teacher to novelist and, although I’ve written short stories all my life, I had previously written nothing on the scale of a novel.
‘Secret of the Song grew out of conversation during a choir practice years ago. I hadn’t heard of the composer Prince Carlo Gesualdo, but that evening some other members of the choir were muttering about discordant music, madness and murder. When we sang some of Gesualdo’s songs I began to wonder just how haunting could a melody be? What if singing the music actually caused harm?