An interview with novelist, AA Chaudhuri

This week, we caught up with novelist AA (Alex) Chaudhuri who is the author of the new thriller, Under Her Roof. Alex, who will be at the festival on Saturday the 14th of September to discuss her latest book, will appear alongside CM Ewan and BA Paris, at our Everyday Extraordinary event.

How did you become a novelist?

Like most authors, I always loved reading. I was an only child, so I always had my nose buried in a book. In the back of my mind, I think I always knew I’d like to be an author, but things took a different turn, as they do in life. I used to play tennis professionally, so that was my life for about 13 years. But I always had a book with me on the tour!

I went back and did my A Levels and then went to law school but I knew by the time I was three years qualified that I wasn’t really enjoying it. I had my first child, and I knew that I wanted to spend more time with the kids and I’d had this book idea in my head for a long time. When I was pregnant with my second child, I started writing and it just sort of felt right.

You’ll be appearing alongside CM Ewan and BA Paris, what can Bloody Scotland fans expect from the event?

I’m so excited about it. Our panel is about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. And I think that’s what makes the psychological thriller so compelling. It takes ordinary people and very ordinary circumstances and looks at the worst thing that could happen! I think that’s what makes psychological thrillers so relatable for readers. They tend to explore issues we can all relate to, but then take things down a dark path! I think that’s what makes it so exciting because we can all see ourselves going down a dark path sometimes. We’re all fallible human beings and we try to live within morally acceptable boundaries, but the characters in our novels tend not to.

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your latest book, Under Her Roof?

My novel is about a landlord and tenant, which is a very ordinary situation that many of us have been in – most of us have been tenants at one point, I’m sure. But what struck me about that particular setup was the fact that they’re both strangers to each other. So, you don’t know what the other person’s past is, or what they’re hiding. And that’s the other thing in psychological thrillers – a lot of it is about what people keep back, behind that facade. It’s all about the secrets that people keep and the things they don’t show to the outside world. You don’t know what your next-door neighbour might have been up to – that’s what makes it so thrilling, I think.

I chose to base the book in Hampstead because I know that area quite well. I used to live in northwest London, so it was an area I was very familiar with. Hampstead’s supposed to be quite a rich, affluent, nice area of London. And I thought that would provide quite a lot of dramatic irony because my characters are in this amazing house where they should feel incredibly safe but of course it’s anything but! I really like the idea of that juxtaposition – something very dark happening somewhere very beautiful.

What compels you to write crime thrillers?

I just find them really exciting. For me it’s a real challenge. I love constructing puzzles. I love trying to fool readers and getting them to guess what’s going on. I love the red herrings and all the twists and the turns. I love to be shocked, and I love to shock my readers as well. I think that’s really exciting. There’s just so many challenges to crime writing.

I also love the way the genre comments on society. A lot of it is about human nature, about what drives people to do the things they do. Human nature is not all black and white, circumstances can drive people to do terrible things. I think crime writers and psychological thriller writers show the good and the bad and try to give even their bad characters some sort of redeeming qualities. I think readers appreciate that. They don’t want all perfect characters.

Is this your first time at Bloody Scotland?

Yes – I’m so excited. I’ve visited Edinburgh and Glasgow, and I’m really excited to go to Stirling too. I’ve heard so many nice things about the festival. I’ve seen all the photos, and it seems like such a friendly crowd. It’s one of the biggest crime fiction festivals in the world, so I’m really honoured to have been asked. I can’t wait to be a part of it.

AA Chaudhuri will be at the festival this year to talk about her novel, Under Her Roof at our Everyday Extraordinary panel on Saturday the 14th of September at 10am.