A New Zealand author who has captured interest worldwide with her debut novel says she drew on her love for the ocean as a major ingredient for the plot.
New Zealand author Rose Carlyle. Photo: (C) Jane Ussher
Listen to Rose Carlyle on Sunday Morning with Jim Mora
Rose Carlyle considers herself to be an ordinary person who wrote a book, but her novel The Girl in the Mirror is not ordinary in the slightest.
After she sent her manuscript to a publisher, it was quickly sent on to Australia and within weeks she received an email from one of the big five international publishers which soon progressed to an auction of the rights.
There has also been "intense interest from Hollywood" and there would be an announcement shortly, she told Sunday Morning, adding that she's not allowed to say much more on that topic at present.
Carlyle is an experienced sailor, and has circumnavigated New Zealand. With her ex-husband and children she once sailed to the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, where they all lived on an uninhabited desert island.
"That was a really magical experience that my kids still talk about constantly," Carlyle says.
Photo: Allen & Unwin
Her debut novel The Girl in the Mirror centres on identical twin sisters, Iris and Summer, who are on board a boat when one disappears.
"What I really wanted to capture was my own love of the ocean, so that is one of the few things that I share with my main character, Iris... I wanted to capture that sense of isolation and of having to rely on your own resources in order to survive. There's no emergency services out there."
Carlyle worked closely with her sister, Maddie, on ideas for the storyline. She remembered after having lunch with Maddie one day, her sister then rang and predicted the book would be a big success.
"I felt absolutely elated and excited and half of me agreed with her but half of me was thinking it's harder than you think."
She was pleased the book was snapped up so quickly because it meant more help with the editing process.
"We were still in the middle of the editing process at that point, so it's really lovely to have these great American editors come in on the process and provide a different perspective.
"It's like the book gets twice the editing and I love having editors - I'm not one of those writers who pushes back. It's a collaborative effort."
A mother of four teenagers, she finds writing is an escape. Prominent authors Stephanie Meyers and JK Rowling were both single mums and created a world where they could be someone else, she says.
"It's just a case of being able to have a little bit of time just for yourself and create the world that you want to be in —although it's ironic you give your characters terrible problems."
Carlyle said while she was at school she was torn between science and arts and dreamed early on of being a writer, although she also has a hankering to do a maths degree.
She has practised as a barrister but found it difficult to combine with motherhood and she gave it up when one of her children was unwell.
Carlyle said the focus in New Zealand tends to be on "very literary novels" and a feeling that page-turners aren't worthy.
"I really reject that. I believe a book should be able to do both. You should be able to read it when you're tired and just want a good story. But you should also be able to read it more carefully and critically and it should stand up to that sort of scrutiny."
Carlyle believes books can appeal to a wide range of readers but not be cheaply written or easily dismissed. She has almost finished her second novel which is also a thriller.