What was the inspiration behind The Waiting Place?

I was inspired by the quote 'I do not regret the things I've done, but that which I did not do' - even though this book is about death, it's also very much about how to live, authentically and fearlessly. I also work in social media for a news outlet, so I was inspired by the Tradwife TikTok trends, and I've also been very fascinated with cults, how they convince ordinary people to give up their autonomy, which is kind of what Tradwife TikTok accounts are also telling young women to do. So all of this mixed together to become Emily's story in The Waiting Place. A girl who has never been allowed to be herself in life, finally getting that opportunity in death. 

Is there a book that was especially meaningful for you growing up?

I was a voracious reader, so it's hard to choose. As a teenager, I loved Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, and I loved her Fig Tree analogy. The idea that if you choose one life, you can't choose another, and it's really stuck with me, the importance of making the choices that felt the most true to me.

Why do you think it’s important for young people to read books with emotions and issues they can relate to - even in the afterlife?

I know that when I was young I thought about the meaning of life much more than I do now. In adolescence and young adulthood you're trying to figure out who you are and what you believe, as opposed to who you've been told you are and what you should believe. You're building yourself, you're on the cusp of everything, and you understand that things you choose now can have long-lasting ripple effects. Young people are so smart and think so deeply, it's doing them a disservice by staying in the shallows. I remember feeling all the emotions more keenly as a teenager than I have before or since, and by reading books about big emotions and big issues, I felt less alone. I felt seen. So, yes, The Waiting Place is about the afterlife, but more than that, it's about life. 

What do you hope readers take away from The Waiting Place?

I hope that young people learn to put their ear to their soul and listen hard, to trust their instincts about who they want to be, and how they want to live. I want them to also realise that the boxes we put people in aren't real. And the boxes we put ourselves in aren't real either. And that love is the meaning. Of life. Of everything.