Sanjida Kay's Blog, page 14

February 19, 2017

Behind the scenes: Filming The Stolen Child trailer

I thought you might like to see what went on behind the scenes when we were filming The Stolen Child trailer! The crew and I all live in the south-west, and it was going to be too tricky to get us all to Ilkley, West Yorkshire, where The Stolen Child is set…so we decided to use Porlock common, a heathland in Somerset, to stand in for Ilkley moor.


 



 


Here’s our actor, Ela Chia Gutierrez, playing Evie, being filmed by Director of Photography, Rob Franklin.


We wanted to start with Evie, who is a happy contented child, until she receives a sinister card… We planned to film this in a playground in Porlock – but when we arrived, it had been closed the night before as a piece of equipment was unsafe to use. Ah, the best laid plans.


We ended up filming next to some toilets in a car park… So glamorous!


 



 


Here’s Ela being lit by our camera assistant, Zoe Masters. Evie has just spotted a card left for her.


Hello my darling, 
I’m your real father. I’ve been searching for you ever since you were stolen from me. I love you so much. 
Daddy 

 


When we filmed on the common, aka, Ilkley moor, Ela dressed in a Princess Elsa dress and had to run across the heath –


 



 


– with my mobile taped on her back so we could tell her when she needed to STOP, and come back to us. We used a drone camera, operated by Jack Stevenson, to try and capture the feeling of isolation, wilderness and fear that Evie must have felt when she was lost on the moor…


 



 


I love this place. I love this land. It’s part of me, it’s part of who I am. But it’s no place for you: a seven-year-old girl in a princess costume. 

 



 


Here’s Rob and Jack operating the drone, filming Ela as she sprints across the moor.


Rob and Zoe then drove up to Ilkley moor and filmed a few shots to drop into the trailer to give that feeling of authentic wilderness.


 



 


The dark edge of the moor and the Cow and Calf rock are crisp against the blue-black sky. I can’t see anyone outside, watching us. As I shut the door behind me, I hear a noise. It came from the hall. I feel the hairs rise on the back of my neck. 

 


Let me know what you think! Here’s the finished trailer:


 



 


 


 


 

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Published on February 19, 2017 07:08

February 16, 2017

The Stolen Child Trailer


 


The Stolen Child trailer is live! Here’s our fabulous actor, Ela Chia Gutierrez playing Evie, being filmed by DoP Rob Franklin. We were also joined by Zoe Masters, our camera assistant, and Jack Stevenson, the drone pilot. Ela had to run across the moor in a Frozen dress being pursued by a drone camera! We bought her a slap-up ice cream afterwards!


Let me know what you think of the trailer!


 



 


 


 

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Published on February 16, 2017 02:10

February 13, 2017

Peter James on The Stolen Child

Two of my writing heroes, Peter James and Peter Swanson, have kindly given me a quote for the book cover of my next thriller, The Stolen Child.


 



 


And two of my favourite psychological thriller writers Holly Seddon, and Amanda Jennings, have also said nice things:


‘Grips to the very last page… I couldn’t put it down.’ Amanda Jennings


‘The Stolen Child captivated me, terrified me and left me deeply moved.’ Holly Seddon


 


You can pre-order The Stolen Child here


 


 


 

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Published on February 13, 2017 11:08

February 5, 2017

Coming Soon – The Stolen Child

My second thriller, The Stolen Child, is out soon: 6 April! And I’m delighted to be able to reveal the cover to you!



 


The Stolen Child is set on Ilkley moor, where I grew up. It’s about a couple, Zoe and Ollie, who long for a baby but are unable to have one. They adopt a child from birth, a little girl called Evie. A few years later they have their own child, a boy called Ben. The story begins when Ben is two and Evie is seven. Evie’s starting to realise that she’s different from the rest of her family, and beginning to understand what it means to be adopted.


One day she receives a card addressed to My Daughter. Inside it says:


                           Seven years ago, you were stolen from me. 

                           Now I’m coming to get you back. 


                                                              Love, your Daddy.


 


I’ve been fortunate to have had some wonderful pre-publication comments:


 


‘The Stolen Child captivated me, terrified me and left me deeply moved.’ Holly Seddon


‘Beautiful terse writing and the build to the shattering climax is palpable.’ Peter James


‘Gut-wrenching… The Stolen Child succeeds as both a fast-paced thriller and a haunting tale of a fragile family.’ Peter Swanson


‘Grips to the very last page… I couldn’t put it down.’ Amanda Jennings


 


I hope you enjoy it! It’s available for pre-order from Amazon.


 


 


 


 

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Published on February 05, 2017 11:35

December 10, 2016

Amazon Rising Star!

AMAZON RISING STAR!


category_icons03I’m so delighted that Bone by Bone has been selected as an Amazon Rising Star for 2016! These are the most promising debuts of the year.


I’m in stellar company: fellow Corvus author, Catharine Ryan Howard with Distress Signals, multi-million bestseller, Hideo Yokoyama with Six Four, and Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris.


 


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There’s some incredible-looking book covers and titles – I’m intrigued by Fen by Daisy Johnson, You Have Me to Love by Jaap Robben, with its eerie image of a seagull’s head, and  Jihadi: A Love Story by Yusuf Toropov.


 


Needless to say, we’ve been celebrating!


 

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Published on December 10, 2016 02:15

November 30, 2016

Bone by Bone is picked as one of The Guardian’s best books of 2016

BONE BY BONE IS PICKED AS ONE OF THE GUARDIAN’S BEST BOOKS OF 2016


category_icons03I’m so delighted – Bone by Bone has been picked by Mark Lawson in The Guardian as one of the best crime books and thrillers of 2016!


 


Mark calls Bone by Bone a noteworthy and unnerving debut. I’m in good company – Val McDermid, Ian Rankin and Ann Cleeves are also must-reads, as well as one of my favourite thrillers of the year, Noah Hawley’s Before the Fall.


 


Who would you recommend for 2016?


 


 


 


 


 

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Published on November 30, 2016 08:37

October 9, 2016

Inspiration

INSPIRATION


 


category_diary80Find out the places that inspired Bone by Bone! On my Pinterest board.


 


sanjida kay pinterest


 


 


What inspires your writing?

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Published on October 09, 2016 11:39

October 2, 2016

Mothers & Daughters

MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS


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In my thriller, Bone by Bone, there are three generations of female characters – Autumn, who is nine years old, and is being bullied at school; her mother, Laura, who, like her child, is shy and unconfident, and her rather more forthright mother, Dr Vanessa Baron-Cohen, a well-known anthropologist. The bond between mothers and their children, particularly their daughters, is usually the strongest one that exists in human beings.


20160304BoneByBoneLaunch-81


Mothers shape their daughters, but daughters often rebel against being moulded. I was interested in exploring this most tight and intimate bond; how some women raise their daughters to be like them, and their daughters then reject their values, but in doing so, may make mistakes of their own with their daughters – a tale familiar to some of us! As Oscar Wilde so glibly said, ‘All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.


Vanessa’s field work is in Namibia, and she shuttled Laura back and forth between Africa and London as a child, so she could continue to have a career in the sciences – and see her daughter. Laura is bitterly resentful; as a result, she now puts Autumn’s needs before her own. Unlike her mother, though, she doesn’t have the confidence or the inner-strength to help her child properly – because, thanks to her peripatetic childhood, she was bullied as a girl too. If she just asked her mum for help with Autumn…!


The first part of Laura’s healing process occurs when her mother describes how awful she found it, leaving baby Laura with a Namibian man, so she could carry on studying. Laura hadn’t realised she’d mattered so much to her mum, who she thinks of as completely career-driven. But then, as so often happens between mothers and daughters, Vanessa says something that Laura misconstrues, and she turns away from her mother, deciding not to ask for her help. Autumn’s relationship is similarly complicated, not just with her mother, but with her grandmother too.


She could already feel the dryness in her throat, the catch in her voice, when she’d have to stand up in class and tell everyone what her grandparents did. After the other kids read out their work on grannies who baked them squidgy chocolate chip cookies, she could imagine how the others would look at her when she talked about Grandmother Vanessa who strode through the desert with her binoculars, counting kudu. 


                Bone by Bone


One of the books I read for research on this topic is Deborah Tannen’s You’re Wearing That? which gives some eye-watering accounts of conversations between mothers and daughters. As Tannen says:


The smallest remark can bring into focus the biggest question that hovers over nearly all conversations between mothers and daughters: Do you see me for who I am? And is who I am okay? When…the answer implies there’s something wrong with what you’re doing, daughters can feel the ground on which they stand begin to tremble.


Recently, I read a gentler interpretation of mothers and daughters in the brilliant book, Before the Fall by Noah Hawley:


You bring a child into this fractious, chaotic world out of the heat of your womb, and then spend the next ten years walking beside them while they figure out how to be a person.


I hope Laura and Autumn learn to walk companionably alongside each other for the next decade.


 


 


Thank you to Dave at espresso coco, who originally ran this as a guest post.


 


 

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Published on October 02, 2016 11:37

September 30, 2016

Bone by Bone paperback launch!

BONE BY BONE PAPERBACK LAUNCH!


 


category_diary80A little throwback to the book launch for Bone by Bone at Waterstones. Here’s me reading the prologue…


 



 


…and here’s actor Laura Soper reading an extract from Autumn’s perspective.


 



 

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Published on September 30, 2016 04:41

August 29, 2016

Bone by Bone supports anti-bullying charity, Kidscape

BONE BY BONE SUPPORTS ANTI-BULLYING CHARITY, KIDSCAPE


category_diary80I’m so delighted – Bone by Bone will be out in paperback this week! I’m donating 10 % of any profits I make to anti-bullying charity, Kidscape.


Here’s a short video with five tips for children to help them stop the bullies:


 



 


And here’s a wonderful statement that Kidscape have written for the paperback edition of Bone by Bone:


 





Bullying and abuse can destroy childhoods and damage futures. Kidscape has been working for over 30 years to keep children safe from harm and to give parents and professionals the knowledge and skills they need to ensure that every child is protected. We were the first charity in the UK to tackle bullying and child sexual abuse and remain committed to our mission to support and protect children and help them to grow into happy, confident adults.


 


We are hugely grateful to Sanjida for working so closely with us and donating a portion of the profits of Bone by Bone to Kidscape. Bullying is an issue which can affect anybody, regardless of family background, location or economic circumstance, and Bone by Bone handles these issues in an incredibly thoughtful and incisive manner, as well as being an exciting read. Kidscape supports families through the torment of bullying, and educates teachers and other professionals about how they can prevent it occurring. All the money raised through sales of Bone by Bone will help Kidscape to continue its highly effective early intervention work in schools throughout the country.


 



kidscape



 

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Published on August 29, 2016 06:18