Australian author Emma Grey swept readers away with her novel The Last Love Note, in which protagonist Kate Whittaker, an aspiring writer and single parent, attempts to regain her footing in the aftermath of her husband's death. The book, Grey says, was born from her own experience of losing her husband to a heart attack. Grey might have channeled her grief into a memoir—or perhaps a self-help book for others navigating the death of a partner—but fiction proved the most cathartic outlet. “It was liberating,” Grey says. “I could pour my thoughts and emotions into the world of my protagonist, without it being exactly my private story. It helped me go even deeper into the rawness of loss than I might have done were I writing a memoir with a backward glance over my shoulder, worried about sharing too intimately.”
While The Last Love Note features a character struggling to make sense of a profound loss, Grey's new book, Pictures of You, explores the crushing impact of a controlling relationship and one woman's journey toward rebirth and renewal. In the novel heroine Evie Hudson wakes in the hospital with no memory of the car crash that landed her there and killed her husband—or any memories of him, for that matter. Evie, who initially thinks she's still in high school, pieces together the fragments of her former life and, in thriller-like suspense, winds closer to the truth about her marriage. By her side is Drew, a talented photographer whose circumstances
become intertwined with Evie's.
As with her previous novel, Pictures of You, due out November 12 from Zibby Books, offers the lead characters a chance at new romance. “Again, there is a second love story,” Grey says, “this one healthy and hope-filled.” The darkerthemes of the story, she says, were seeded decades ago, as she spoke with other women about their experiences with abusive partners. To this day, Grey says, “I
receive messages in my inbox in midlife from friends still finding themselves trapped in controlling partnerships or watching their young adult daughters grapple with something similar.”
The complex, messy, and joyful experiences of women and girls have long served as inspiration for Grey's work. When her daughter was 14, she hated to read but loved Harry Styles. “I wrote a novel about a singer-songwriter clashing with a boy band to show her that reading could be fun,” Grey says. “At that time, I was surrounded by my girls’ teenage dialect and drama, so writing for young adult readers felt fun and organic.”
Flash forward, and Grey's daughter has again been instrumental in the author's work—in this case, for Pictures of You. She's a criminology doctoral candidate focusing on gendered violence. “In a delightful turn of events, she became my expert adviser and we’re now planning joint interviews, podcasts, and articles combining her research and the way I tackled translating those themes into fiction,” Grey says.
Grey is focused on writing for adults now, though there are some high school flashbacks in Pictures of You. After all, the past is never really over.
Her current work in progress also with Zibby Books is called Start at the End. The book involves a parallel universe and explores the impact on a family when one partner dies versus the other. Readers may recognize some themes—loss, memory, second chances—but Grey makes sure to continue to surprise and subvert expectations. “I love playing with structure, timelines, perspective, and high-concept hooks,” she says. “I think the most important thing is to follow your creative heart and pull in the story that feels closest.”
