What does an author keep on their desk….?

28.3.16



When a Lesley Kinnock buys a lottery ticket on a whim, it changes her life more than she could have imagined…
Lesley and her husband Mack are the sudden winners of a 15 million EuroMillions jackpot. They move with their 15-year-old daughter Rosie to an exclusive gated estate in Buckinghamshire, leaving behind their ordinary lives - and friends - as they are catapulted into wealth beyond their wildest dreams. 
But it soon turns into their darkest nightmare when, one beautiful spring afternoon, Lesley returns to their house to find it empty: their daughter Rosie is gone.
DC Maggie Neville is assigned to be Family Liaison Officer to Lesley and Mack, supporting them while quietly trying to investigate the family. And she has a crisis threatening her own life - a secret from the past that could shatter everything she's worked so hard to build. 
As Lesley and Maggie desperately try to find Rosie, their fates hurtle together on a collision course that threatens to end in tragedy. Money can't buy you happiness. The truth could hurt more than a lie. One moment really can change your life forever…

What. A. Thriller. Full of plot twists, Gone Astray really made me question whether winning the Lotto would actually be a good thing… 

It's a page-turning debut from Michelle Davies, full of secrets, revelations and mystery. Utterly brilliant. I can't wait for her next novel!  

And have you ever wondered what an author has on their desk when writing - and what they shouldn't? Michelle spills the beans… 

Michelle at her book launch in Waterstones, Covent Garden 

1. A wireless keyboard – I developed serious neck ache after writing Gone Astray hunched over my laptop, so for my second novel (Wrong Place, out in February 2017) I went old school with a big clunky keyboard. Now I can't write without it.

2. Nigel Clough - the little plastic figurine of former Nottingham Forest player Nigel Clough was given to me for by my first boyfriend while we were training to be journalists. It was meant to be a jokey good luck present but Nige has sat on my desk at every place I've ever worked, even at super-stylish Grazia! I'd be lost without him.

3. Glossy magazines – when I'm not writing books I freelance for women's magazines as a journalist, so invariably my desk is littered with latest issues. I've always been a magazine junkie, right back to when I was a child and my mum bought me Twinkle and Bunty. My daughter, who's six, now reads the CBeebies one - I'm very proud to be passing the baton!

4. My Kindle - every time I write a chapter or edit a section of my novels I download the Word document to my Kindle. I find that reading it back in proper book format makes it easier to spot what sentences jar. But when it comes to the final draft I still print the entire thing out on paper – I need to be able to flick through pages one last time before I'm satisfied it's done.

And the one thing I shouldn't have on my desk...

Cat litter! Right now I'm sharing my office with our new kitten, Lolly Longwhiskers, because we have an older cat, Woody, as well and the two of them need to have their own private space to escape to while they get used to each other (his domain is the kitchen, wise boy). Lolly's litter tray is in a corner of the office, on the floor, far away from my desk, yet somehow she still manages to sending bits of grit flying in my direction. I'm counting the days until she can take her ablutions out into the garden!

Michelle's desk - where the magic happens!


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