When I was mulling over ideas for this novel, I read lots of opinion pieces and internet forums to see what women were talking about, the problems they face, the issues that are important to them. Over and over again, the discussions came back to the intricacies of family dynamics. In particular, I was struck by how much give and take is required – usually from the women – to keep everything bubbling along happily and how devastated they feel when they are at odds with members of their family. Because this is a novel – and at the heart of any good novel is conflict – I was drawn to exploring how much more complicated relationships become when people marry for a second time, finding themselves obliged to weave a delicate path through the established history of ex-wives (or deceased wives), step-children and in-laws. I’ve seen friends weep over the reluctance of other family members to accept them as the new spouse and plunge into despair over the difficulties of parenting step-children. But I’ve also watched patient persistence result in the creation of a new family, still with challenges, but also with its own traditions, celebrations and joy.

As well as exploring how hard it would be to fit into a family where the first wife had died, I wanted to look at how we never know the truth about other people’s marriages. Over and over again, I see how much women will endure to protect their children and how hard it is to ask for help when a marriage turns nasty for fear of not being believed, being labelled a drama queen, of repercussions on the children. Because this is fiction, I was able to write a happy – but hopefully credible – ending. I do understand that real life is not always so simple.

Anyway, if you have enjoyed The Silent Wife, I’d be very grateful if you would consider posting a short review – reviews are so important to authors in getting the word out about our books. Also, I cannot tell you how much it brightens my day when readers get in touch, so I’d be delighted to hear from you on Facebook or Twitter. Messages from readers are motivational treasure!

If you’d like to be kept up-to-date with news of my next book, please sign up here: Kerry Fisher email sign-up. We won’t bombard you with anything else.

All the very best

Kerry xx

@KerryFSwayne

kerryfisherauthor

Acknowledgments

It’s only now with my fourth novel, that I really understand how much hard work is involved in bringing a book to fruition. Which means a lot of thank yous are required. I’ll start with the wonderful team at Bookouture working away on all the things the authors probably never even know exist! Special thanks to Lydia Vassar-Smith for her wonderful editing and general cheerleading, as well as Kim Nash for being a tireless publicity whirlwind. It’s been a privilege to be part of the Bookouture community of authors too – a lovely, supportive bunch.

As always, the book bloggers and Facebook groups have been amazing – I daren’t mention anyone by name for fear of missing someone out – but thank you, I really do appreciate the time you take to comment, read and write reviews.

One of the biggest perks of this job is finding a whole new tribe of friends, whom I probably would never have encountered if I hadn’t become an author. I have to mention Jenny Ashcroft and Jane Lythell, plus all the members of the DWLC – your support means everything! And I’m indebted to Adrienne Dines for her ability to unpick stories, see what’s really going on and send me scuttling off in the right direction. I owe such a lot to Allie Spencer for her friendship, as well as her advice on divorce procedure!

My lovely agent, Clare Wallace, has been such a star. It’s a privilege to be lucky enough to find an agent whose judgement I trust completely. I’m very grateful to the whole team at Darley Anderson for all their hard work on my behalf.

The writing of this book coincided with the lead-up to my son’s GCSEs. This threw an extra level of nuttiness into the household mix, so thank goodness for my husband, Steve. He did a great job of plugging the gaps and taking over when I thought my brain was going to blow up.

Finally – a huge thank you to all the readers who buy and recommend my books. You make my day.

Also by Kerry Fisher

The School Gate Survival Guide

The Island Escape

After the Lie

After the Lie

An addictive and gripping read about love, life and living a lie.

One little lie can make one big difference …

Lydia has the ‘right’ kind of friends, her children are at the ‘right’ kind of school and she’s married to the ‘right’ sort of man – kind, steady, reliable Mark. Her wedding business is flourishing and even though she is at loggerheads with her mother, she couldn’t ask for anything more from life.

But the truth is that Lydia has been lucky. She has been living a lie for years and Mark has no idea who he is really married to. But nothing lasts forever and the past has a funny way of catching up with the present. When the person who knows all of Lydia’s dark little secrets turns up at the school gates, his presence threatens to blow Lydia’s life apart.

What is Lydia’s terrible truth? Once the secret is out, you can’t put it back …

A powerful and heartbreaking story, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Jane Green.

Read here!

Praise for After the Lie:

‘Kerry Fisher’s novel is woven with funny and amusing narratives, it is also filled with moments that fill you with dread as Lydia tries to keep the lid on her shameful secret, that she has kept from her husband and her well-to-do friends. I loved this book. We all have childhood memories that have the “cringe-factor” and ones we try not to remember, but Lydia’s secret is beyond anything I can imagine having to go through and Ms Fisher captures Lydia's fears perfectly.’ Postcard Reviews

‘Five out of five stars. Past collides with present in this compelling book…as is the way with secrets they have a way of getting out eventually with results that no-one can predict…’ Portobello Book Blog

‘This was such a riveting story...having now read two of Kerry’s books I am becoming quite a fan. Kerry’s books are so true to life that you feel as if you are one of the family. A thought-provoking, poignant and funny book that doesn't disappoint.’ The Book Magnet

Read on for an exclusive extract of After the Lie…

After the Lie

Exclusive extract

Prologue

In June 1982, I was thirteen. Pre-internet. Pre-Facebook. Pre-Twitter. We were oblivious to the #proudparents of four-year-olds who’d swum five metres for a duckling certificate. We had no idea how many people were eating perfect poached eggs for breakfast. We certainly didn’t know that our neighbour down the road ‘loved her husband to the moon and back – twice’. And we didn’t have the pressure of capturing the one nanosecond that the whole family was happy against a sunny backdrop of turquoise sea, so that everyone else could feel a grumbling sense of dissatisfaction with their own lives.

1982 didn’t seem different to any other year. At weekends, I’d disappear off on my bike with a couple of jam sandwiches, a bottle of squash and a warning from my mother to ‘Mind what you’re up to’ before reappearing at teatime hours later. When it was rainy, I’d lie on my bed taping Kool & The Gang off the radio with the microphone jammed up against the speaker, desperately trying to get a version of Get Down On It that didn’t have the DJ talking over the beginning or someone shouting ‘Dinnertime!’ in the middle. When it was hot, I’d sunbathe on the Norfolk dunes slathered in baby oil, flicking through Smash Hits and plotting how to buy and wear a mini skirt without my mother finding out. The perennial arguments still raged on: why I couldn’t have my ears pierced, why we couldn’t have a video recorder, why I still had to go to church every Sunday.

The one thing my mother and I weren’t at loggerheads about was how often I needed to cycle to the library after school to find new reference books for a particularly onerous history project.

Or at least, that’s what I told her.

And that little lie made the big difference. It led to the ten minutes I could never get back, never undo. Like smashing your iPhone, leaving your bag on the bus, driving into a bollard in a car park – but with consequences that money couldn’t fix. That sick feeling of self-loathing that all of this could have been avoided if you’d just slowed down, taken your time, thought things through. Or as my sixteen-year-old son would say now, ‘Not been such a dickhead’.

But in those glorious ten minutes, I didn’t even realise I was making a mistake.

Let alone one I could never leave behind.

If the internet had existed back then, I’d have dreaded logging onto Facebook. No doubt my classmates would have been retweeting and WTFing until their fingers fell off.

But in 1982, the only thing that went viral in my little Norfolk village was glandular fever. I wouldn’t have expected to get away completely unscathed, of course. I would have braced myself for shocked disapproval from the milkman, an abrupt halt to conversation in the greengrocer’s or some knowing looks from the neighbours. Worst case scenario, I’d have skulked past the bus shelter, ignoring the jeers from the boys sharing stolen Benson & Hedges and swigging Bacardi filched from their parents’ cocktail cabinets.

No, for a mistake to go viral in the ’80s, you needed a deputy headmaster for a dad. A dad who adored his daughter and ended up in prison. To make sure it haunted you forever, you needed a Catholic mother to fall on her rosary beads and declare that ‘all that business’ should never be spoken about again.

Ever.

Chapter 1