A real character in a fictional thriller (but not what you expect)
My new novel, The Last Trace is a domestic thriller—entirely fictional apart from one character who is completely real. But I didn’t have to get legal approval to write about her because . . . she’s a doll. Betty is the size of a toddler, weathered with age and falling apart. In the book, she’s a link between past and present, between different generations, parents and siblings. The doll has been in the household for as long as anyone can remember.
In real life, Betty is even older. My mum was given Betty for her seventh birthday in 1941. She has stayed in the family ever since, even emigrating from England to Australia. Seventy years later, worse for wear, Betty was terrifying the grandkids but Mum still loved her, and would sit Betty in an armchair to keep her company after Dad had died.
Now that Mum has gone too, Betty lives in our house. We’ve taken up the game of propping her in unexpected places to scare each other, just like Lachy and Sheridan do in The Last Trace. I played the same trick in a meeting with my unsuspecting publishers—the Allen & Unwin team were shocked to enter the board room and find Betty chairing the meeting!
The Last Trace is a gripping thriller about siblings and secrets, and the traces we can never erase. When you’re reading the book, keep an eye out for Betty the doll because she helps to unravel certain mysteries.
But the big question I have for readers is . . . should I bring 83-year-old Betty on my book tour? Is she intriguing or too frightening?
The Last Trace
by Petronella McGovern
What if you're scared you committed a crime but can't remember? From the bestselling author of Six Minutes and The Liars comes an unputdownable thriller about the secrets we keep from each other - and ourselves.