Sally Hepworth is one tough mother...plus a book giveaway

Photo by Mrs. Smart Photography

We welcome Sally Hepworth back to CLC today to celebrate the upcoming publication of her latest novel, The Mother-in-Law. Melissa A enjoyed this book and you can check out her review right here. Thanks to St. Martin's Press, we have one copy to give away!

Sally Hepworth is the bestselling author of The Secrets of Midwives (2015), The Things We Keep (2016), The Mother's Promise (2017) and The Family Next Door (2018). Her books have been labeled “enchanting” by The Herald Sun, “smart and engaging” by Publisher’s Weekly, and New York Times bestselling authors Liane Moriarty and Emily Giffin have praised Sally’s novels as “women’s fiction at its finest” and “totally absorbing.” Her novels are available worldwide in English and have been translated into 15 languages.

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children. You can find her at her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. (Bio courtesy of Sally's website.)

Synopsis:
Someone once told me that you have two families in your life - the one you are born into and the one you choose. Yes, you may get to choose your partner, but you don't choose your mother-in-law. The cackling mercenaries of fate determine it all.

From the moment Lucy met Diana, she was kept at arm's length. Diana is exquisitely polite, but Lucy knows, even after marrying Oliver, that they'll never have the closeness she'd been hoping for.

But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice, the matriarch of a loving family. Lucy had wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.

That was ten years ago. Now, Diana has been found dead, leaving a suicide note. But the autopsy reveals evidence of suffocation. And everyone in the family is hiding something... (Courtesy of Goodreads.)

What is something you learned from writing your previous novels that you applied to The Mother-in-Law?
That is a tough one. For me, every book is a different beast with its own unique challenges, so it’s hard to think of a specific thing I learned or applied. Of course, with every book I write I feel a greater sense of confidence that I will actually finish it, so that helps. But The Mother-in-Law was actually a fairly straightforward book to write. The characters came to me fully formed and the story really grew from there. One thing that was a challenge with this book was that it was my first ‘crime’ novel, so I spent a lot of time speaking to police about murder and pressing charges and all sorts of wonderful, exciting stuff like that. That was a highlight. I really felt like I was Olivia Benson and the world was an episode of Law and Order SVU.

Which character do you identify with most in The Mother-in-Law?
I really enjoyed writing both Lucy and Diana and I identified with both of them in a lot of ways. In fact, the fun part of this book (apart from being Olivia Benson) was getting to explore misunderstandings and looking at the way we interpret (and misinterpret) the actions of others. And could there be a relationship more fraught with misunderstandings than the Mother-in-Law / Daughter-in-Law relationship? Probably not. That said, the more I wrote each character, the better I understood them.

If The Mother-in-Law were made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
I haven’t given this a moment’s thought, but off the top of my head … here is my finalized cast:
Diana - Glenn Close
Lucy - Reese Witherspoon
Ollie - Dermot Mulroney (I love you, Dermot).
Patrick - Vince Vaughn.
Tom – Wallace Shawn
Nettie – Maggie Gyllenhaal
But again, haven’t thought about it.

If we were to visit you in the town where you currently live, what would be some must-see places to go?
My favourite beach in the world, Red Bluff Beach, is right at the end of my road, and it’s simply the best. There’s a secret beach there you can only get to by boat, or by climbing over the rocks. When we go there, my daughters pretend to be Moana, trapped on the island of Motunui. Also the city of Melbourne is beautiful. It’s full of laneways and art, good coffee, and great food. We also have a great music scene in Melbourne.

What is your favorite way to spend your "me time"?
In bed with a book.

What is the strangest dream you remember having recently?
Last night I had a dream that I was getting ready for my wedding and I found out my husband-to-be had cheated on me. We called off the wedding and my friends and I had a party instead. It never occurred to me, in my dream, that I was also cheating on my husband-to-be, as I am already married with three kids!

Thanks to Sally Hepworth for chatting with us and to St. Martin's Press for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

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Giveaway ends April 23rd at midnight EST.