Tell us about your latest novel in 15 words or less.
Comatose and fighting amnesia, out-of-body Faith must rediscover herself and wake up before she’s murdered.
What inspired you to write The Trouble With Dying?
I’ve always had a fascination with “spooky stuff”: life after death, angels, clairvoyancy. And when a friend mentioned an out-of-body experience she’d had after a bad accident, and how she’d heard and seen things she shouldn’t have known about (because she had just flatlined in the hospital), it got me thinking. How would it be for someone in a coma? Voila! The Trouble With Dying was conceived.
Where do you do most of your writing?
On my laptop. I sit on the couch, or in our bay window, but when I’m in a real writing funk I head down to my local café and set myself up there. It goes without saying my coffee is always needing a refill. A lot of my writing also happens in the dead of night, when the rest of the house is asleep.
Ack! What a question! I’ve loved so many! Confession: I’m not really into “literary” books—I’m more of a commercial fiction girl. It started with Mary Stewart (eg Touch Not The Cat), expanded to Wilbur Smith (OMG! River God!) and James Patterson (eg When The Wind Blows). Then I discovered chick lit and Marian Keyes (eg Rachel’s Holiday) and… yeah. Eclectic tastes, I guess.
Which part of The Trouble With Dying did you enjoy writing the most?
The flashbacks. Faith’s flashbacks contained the essence of the past she and Nate had shared, and I couldn’t wait to reveal their story to readers.
Who is your favourite literary heroine?
What—I can only have one? Unfair! I’ll go with Anne Frank. She showed so much hope and courage in the face of the Holocaust’s horrors. I read her diary as a young teen and it had profound impact on me.
Do you have any tips for readers who are looking to become published writers?
Write write write. And don’t expect to succeed overnight: be in it for the long haul. (This is where it helps if you have persistence—aka bloody-minded determination—in your genes.)
Are you working on anything else at the moment and if so, can you tell us?
I’ve just started book three which is a sequel to my rom-com, A Heat Of The Moment Thing. It’s about a woman who inherits a house when her great-aunt dies but, for all sorts of reasons, it’s a house she really doesn't want.
Thanks, Maggie!
You can find out more about Maggie Le Page and her books at her website, Facebook, Amazon page, or by following her on Twitter.
The Trouble With Dying by Maggie Le Page
When Faith Carson wakes up on a hospital ceiling looking down on her body in a coma, it’s a bad start to the week. A very bad start. She has no idea who she is or how she got there or why, and the biggest mystery of all is why she married the schmuck who wants her ventilator switched off.
As if that’s not enough Faith has a dead gran haunting her, a young daughter missing her, and one devilishly delicious man making her wish she could have a second chance at life.
And maybe she can, if she finds a way back into her body and wakes up by Friday. But if she doesn’t, this will be her last bad week—ever.
Nate Sutherland decided long ago he’d settle for friendship if he couldn’t have Faith’s heart. But now, as she nears death, he’s going to have to listen to his feelings in a whole new way—and act. Because if he doesn’t, this week will be the worst damn week of his life. He’ll lose everything he’s ever loved.
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