Blog Tour ~The Good Mother by A L Bird

Jaffareadstoo is excited to be part of 

The Good Mother 

Blog Tour

Carina
7th April 2016

Please welcome the author, A L Bird to answer my questions about her latest novel

The Good Mother

Where did you get the first flash of inspiration for The Good Mother?

When we visited Berlin a couple of years ago, I was struck by the stories of families so suddenly and unreasonably kept from each another by the Berlin Wall. I wanted to transplant that wall into an analogous domestic setting to understand what happens when an individual is cut adrift from their loved ones.

Can you tell us three interesting things about The Good Mother which will surprise the reader?

I wrote much of it on an iPad while my newborn was sleeping on me.

The working title was ‘Trapped’.

There are more Oreo cupcakes than you would expect in a thriller.

In your research for The Good Mother did you discover anything which surprised you?

The human mind has an incredible facility to redraw its map of the world where necessary.

And Oreo cupcakes are really tasty. But maybe that’s not surprising.

Are you a ‘plotter’...or ...a ‘start writing and see where it takes you’ sort of writer? 

A combination. I always start out knowing the overall plot and character arc – usually the last scene will be present in my mind when I begin. I think you need that for a thriller, otherwise how do you know what information to drip-feed? But on the flip side, if a brilliant additional twist occurs to me while I’m writing, I’ll always make room for it.

What do you want readers to take away from The Good Mother?

Bleary eyes after staying up until 2am to finish it! And a reflection on what it means to fulfil that loaded accolade of being a ‘good mother’ in today’s pressurised world.

Can you tell us about your plans for you next novel?

It’s still in its nascent stages so I can’t say too much. But I expect I’ll still be very much be in that twisty grip-lit zone.

About the Author

AL Bird lives in North London, where she divides her time between writing and working as a lawyer. The Good Mother is her major psychological thriller for Carina UK, embarking into the world of ‘grip-lit’. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London, and is also an alumna of the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ course, which she studied under Richard Skinner. She's also a member of the Crime Writers’Association. For updates on her writing, you can follow her on Twitter, @ALBirdwriter, on Facebook at or by visiting her website

The Good Mother Blog Tour runs between 5th - 10th April

Do visit the other stops for more exciting content.

My thanks to the author and also to Cara at Mira for her kind invitation to be part of this exciting blog tour.

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