Changed My Life: A Guest Post by Jennie Godfrey

Set against the backdrop of Thatcher era UK political landscape, this is a moving coming-of-age mystery. A heartwarming tale of friendships and first loves that captures the essence of Yorkshire during a time of panic. Read on for an exclusive essay from author Jennie Godfrey on writing The List of Suspicious Things.

The idea for The List of Suspicious Things appeared in my mind, fully formed (title included) on a wintry dog walk in early 2020.

Prior to that day, I had been playing with the idea of writing a book and had even written 20k words of a psychological thriller, but I knew that something wasn’t clicking. Although the words were in the right order and there was a plot of sorts, the story had no heart, and the characters felt flat on the page. I had essentially abandoned that idea and was wondering what to do next when The List of Suspicious Things showed up, and I knew immediately that the idea had the potential to change my life if only I could do it justice (spoiler alert, it has indeed changed my life).

I ran home through the muddy, green fields around my home, dragging my poor dog, Rocco, behind me and began writing immediately that day, capturing everything I could about what I’d seen, and spent the next two years making it into a novel.

When I think back now, I realize that the idea itself came from a number of elements that were swirling around in my subconscious (especially the fact that I had recently watched a documentary about the hunt for the murderer Peter Sutcliffe, known in the 1970’s as the Yorkshire Ripper, and it had reminded me both of my childhood, and the fact that my dad had known him, and worked in the same place), and I love that the miracle of creativity put them all together to form the story of Miv and her town.

This all took place during the pandemic, which everyone will remember was a very strange time, but I had the opportunity to put all my nervous energy and worries about the future aside while writing, meaning I spent most of that time holed up in my study, getting the words down, only stopping to eat, sleep, and walk Rocco.

I loved every moment of the writing, even though it was hard work. Given that this was the first book I had ever written (bar the 20k words above), I had to learn while doing, and most of the time during those two years was spent rewriting as I learned more and more about how to put a novel together through books, courses and feedback (though having been a lifelong bookworm helped). It was pretty intense, but I now look back on it as one of the happiest and most fulfilled times in my life.

What has been amazing since has been the overwhelming response of readers to this story of a young girl and her search for a serial murderer in 1970’s Yorkshire. I have been so gratified by how people have taken Miv to their hearts and am so excited for Barnes and Noble customers and U.S. readers to discover The List of Suspicious Things.