Colleen

Colleen asked Tana French:

I have read all of your books and just finished The Secret Place. I loved it; as an educator pf adolescents and young adults, I compliment you on how well you captured their lives and minds. Please refresh my memory on Holly and Stephen; how did they encounter each other in a previous novel?

Tana French Thank you so much! I'm too old to have teenage friends and too young to have friends with teenage kids, so I was worried about getting that right - I'm delighted it hit the mark for you.

Holly and Stephen met in Faithful Place, my third book - she was a witness not to murder itself but to some evidence about it, and at the end of the book it's made clear that Stephen is the detective she'll be talking to.

More Answered Questions

Cristina Ferrandez

Cristina Ferrandez asked Tana French:

Tana, I found the idea of the 'animal' in Broken Harbour extremely chilling and a superb metaphor for mental illness and/or depression, but also loved the ambiguity of it (we can never be quite sure that the animal didn't exist - what about the skeletons in the attic?). Could you please tell us how you came up with the idea of the animal, and whether this ambiguity was intentional? Thanks!

A Goodreads user

A Goodreads user asked Tana French:

This is the second book that is centered around a group of friends who have turned each other into their family; who will do anything for each other. Does this inspiration for these close groups come from personal experience or is your draw to them more like how it is for Stephen (in the way that he envies it)?

Jess

Jess asked Tana French:

Hi Tana! One thing I really love about your books is the way that they look at bigger societal issues while also dealing with the mystery at hand, like the gender dynamics of In the Woods and the class struggles in Faithful Place. What is the writing process like for including these concepts? Are they something you strategically set out to include or do they flow naturally from the characters and the story?

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