In Conversation with Penny Batchelor

Join us at Kenilworth Library where we'll be in conversation with Penny Batchelor about her new book, The Woman Next Door., to celebrate National Crime Reading Month.

The Woman Next Door

She knows all your darkest secrets . . . Now she's the woman next door.

"It can't be. Please God, don't let it be. I left all that behind over twenty-five years ago. Didn't I?"

We've just got home after two weeks of sun, sea and relaxation when the doorbell rings. My husband answers and as soon as I hear her voice something jolts through me. It's adrenaline. My body is already in fight-or-flight mode.

It's been twenty-five years, but I'd know that laugh anywhere. I freeze. Don't let her in.

Now she's standing in my kitchen, smiling and shaking my husband's hand with her perfectly manicured nails. Stacy. She's our new next-door neighbour. What is she doing here? What does she want this time? I worked so hard to put the past behind me, to build this life for myself.

I will not let her take it from me.

About the author

Penny Batchelor is an alumna of the Faber Academy online ‘Writing a Novel’ course, a freelance journalist, a former BBC content producer and website editor for various educational institutions, and lives in Warwickshire with her husband. She writes a monthly column for The Bookseller magazine.

Penny is passionate about positive disability representation in fiction. One fifth of the UK population is disabled, so why don’t we see that reflected in novels? Along with publisher Clare Christian, Penny co-founded the ADCI Literary Prize for authors with a disability or chronic illness who write adult novels with one or more disabled characters.

Her thrillers My Perfect Sister, Her new Best Friend, The Reunion Party and The Woman Next Door are published by Embla Books. She is currently enjoying writing fiendish plots, killer twists and jaw-dropping cliffhangers for another Embla novel and is also working on an historical literary thriller.

Refreshments provided. There will be copies of Penny's books for sale at the event, courtesy of Kenilworth Books.

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