Second book’s a real thriller

Janice Brown, a grandmother from Muirhead, will meet her readers at the launch in Waterstones, Sauchiehall Street on Thursday, June 18 at 6.30pm.

She said: “Just meeting people who like books is always a great experience. Meeting people who have read mine is wonderful for me.

“I love it when they tell me about how what I’ve written corresponds with something or someone in their lives, or what they think would have happened next. I just love the connection.”

The novel ‘Through Every Human Heart’ is set in Scotland and the central character, Eastern European, Feliks, encounters a psychopath while trying to rescue the grand-daughter of the last Archduke of his homeland.

“For this book I had to research East European plants, interior design and psychopathic behaviour. I read in one academic book that all of us know at least one psychopath, whether we recognise her/him or not. Isn’t that very interesting?” She said.

“I would say the research is more fun than the writing. Writing can be desperately hard, or beyond exhilarating when it’s going well, when the so-called ‘magic’ kicks in.”

Janice lives with her husband, has five grandchildren and started her writing career when she became a mother for the first time.

She said: “I didn’t begin writing until I had my first baby and became very bored. I wrote magazine articles about her which were published, to my surprise.

“In fact the Kirky Herald published an article about her first day at school and how it felt for me. I think this was the first time I was published.”

She also spent time working as a ghost writer and put together her friend’s autobiography whose idyllic childhood was violently interrupted by the Russian invasion of her Eastern European home.

“Obviously this was a thriller too. But there is always a romance in the thriller because I’m incurable. I fell in love at first sight myself.”

After going back to university to do a PhD in English Literature in 2012, her book Hartsend was published by Sandstone Press shortly after. For more information visit www.janicembrown.com