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WORK TITLE: After the Storm
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Greene, Chloe
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://chroniclesofchloegreene.blogspot.co.uk/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: British
http://chroniclesofchloegreene.blogspot.co.uk/p/im-writer-wrting-underthe-name-jane.html * https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Lythell/e/B00IFE6R2I * http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/jane-lythell-flawed-people-are-interesting-it-doesn-t-matter-if-your-readers-dislike-them-1.2075539
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: nb2015006209
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/nb2015006209
HEADING: Lythell, Jane
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370 __ |c Great Britain |c England |e Brighton (England) |2 naf
373 __ |a British Film Institute |a British Academy of Film and Television Arts |2 naf
375 __ |a female
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a The lie of you, 2014: |b t.p. (Jane Lythell) back flap (She worked as a television producer and commissioning editor before becoming the Deputy Director of the BFI, and Chief Executive of BAFTA, now writes full time)
670 __ |a Amazon.co.uk, viewed 25 March 2015: |b author page (She lives in Brighton, UK. Is the author of The lie of you and After the storm)
PERSONAL
Born in Sheringham, Norfolk, England.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Novelist. Westcountry Television, television producer and commissioning editor; British Film Institute, deputy director; British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), chief executive.
WRITINGS
Author writes a Web log as Chloe Greene.
SIDELIGHTS
Jane Lythell writes psychological thriller novels. She previously worked at Westcountry Television as a television producer and commissioning editor. Before that she was deputy director of the British Film Institute and then was the chief executive of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). She has been writing full time since 2011.
The Lie of You
In 2015 Lythell published The Lie of You: I Will Have What Is Mine, a story of jealousy, rivalry, deceit, and destruction. Kathy Hartman has just returned from maternity leave to her job as editor at Britain’s top architectural magazine. She is juggling a high-stress job, new motherhood, and a surprising coldness from her husband, Markus. One of her employees, writer Heja Vanheinen, a former popular television host in Finland, is causing more problems for Kathy. To complicate matters, Heja was once Markus’s lover. In the office, Heja has fixated on Kathy and has vowed to bring about her downfall.
Kathy’s self-doubt and fear of failure at work make her careless. When Kathy forgets and leaves her keys on her desk, Heja makes a copy so she can break into Kathy’s house at any time. More than having just a deranged, jealous mind, Heja possesses an internal logic for stalking Kathy. She appears calm and calculating, using split-second timing to cause havoc in Kathy’s life and career. Heja is determined to destroy Kathy and take everything that is hers.
A Publishers Weekly contributor observed that Lythell provides a “well-written and creepy, though familiar, psychological thriller.” Although the plot offers few surprises, the contributor added that Lythell keeps up the suspense as Heja circles her prey. Booklist reviewer Christine Tran praised “Lythell’s spare, powerful language and her ability to map dimension into the desperately insane mind.” According to Jenny Barlow, writing online at Express: “Lythell has a flair for leading the reader into making assumptions then pulling away the foundations. Just when you think you understand this cleverly-constructed tale, the landscape changes completely.”
After the Storm
Lythell next wrote After the Storm, which she describes as “marine noir.” In this dark and disturbing story, an English couple, Rob and Anna, meet Americans Owen and Kim in Belize City, Belize (formerly British Honduras), in Central America. The two couples decide to join a cruise for a ten-day trip to the tropical island of Roatán in the Caribbean for some snorkeling and lazy afternoons. But the trip is not as idyllic as expected. First there are engine troubles with the boat; then there is a violent storm; and finally some of the vacationers begin exhibiting bizarre behavior. The trip among strangers becomes a nightmare filled with tension and deadly secrets.
In an interview with Martin Doyle on the Irish Times Web site, Lythell explained that writing the book “needed a lot of research because it is set in Belize City and the island of Roatán in the Caribbean Sea. I have been to both places but I wanted to get the details right about sailing boats, about fishing, and about the food of the region.” Writing in Publishers Weekly, a reviewer commented: “Despite a few disruptive narrator shifts, Lythell immerses readers in a taut, atmospheric thrill ride.”
Woman of the Hour
Lythell’s 2016 Woman of the Hour is another story of workplace abuse and intrigue. Liz Lyon produces the highly popular morning television show StoryWorld. She turns real-life stories into exciting television drama. Yet despite her career success, she is stressed out and feels guilty as a single working mother to her daughter Flo. In addition, the television set is plagued with scandals and backbiting among the crew.
Liz is caught up in the games of one-upmanship, office politics, bruised egos, and power struggles, along with sexism and blackmail. Lythell draws on her fifteen years as a producer in the glamorous yet pressure-filled world of live television to offer authenticity to the setting and television jobs.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, June 1, 2015, Christine Tran, review of The Lie of You: I Will Have What Is Mine, p. 55.
Publishers Weekly, April 27, 2015, review of The Lie of You, p. 54; June 6, 2016, review of After the Storm, p. 65.
ONLINE
Barbara Copperthwaite, Crime Author, https://www.barbaracopperthwaite.com/ (April 12, 2017), author interview.
Express Web site, http://www.express.co.uk/ (January 17, 2015), Jenny Barlow, review of The Lie of You.
Irish Times, http://www.irishtimes.com/ (January 27, 2015), Martin Doyle, author interview.
My first novel THE LIE OF YOU has the intriguing tagline of: One woman's fear is another woman's weapon. It is a psychological thriller.
My second novel AFTER THE STORM has been described as Marine Noir. This is rather apt as it is about a couple who get on a small boat with two strangers who have offered to sail them to a paradise island. Their dream holiday turns into something much darker.
I started to write full time in May 2011 after years of working in film and television, including at the British Film Institute and at BAFTA. Film addict I may be but books have always come first for me since I read my way through the fiction shelves at the small library in Sheringham, my home town in Norfolk, UK.
I love to hear from readers and you can find me here:
Twitter: @janelythell
Facebook: Jane Lythell Author
I am a member of The Prime Writers group: http://theprimewriters.com/
Crime authors spill their guts about writing...
This week: Jane Lythell
Tell us about yourself.
How do you pick character names? Do any have special meaning for you?
I’m actually picky about names. I decide how old a character is. I then look at the 100 most popular baby names the year my character was ‘born’. I read through these lists again and again until the right name leaps out at me. Dickens said he could not write a character until he had the right name and he had a point.
Woman of the Hour, by Jane Lythell
How do you go about plotting your books?
Most novels have a central plot idea and then subplots which reinforce or comment on the main plot in some way. When I start I have the central plot idea and a rough idea of where that will take my characters but the detail emerges as I write. For example with THE LIE OF YOU I knew that one woman was trying to destroy another woman but didn’t know why and that was what I had to work out.
However with my third novel, WOMAN OF THE HOUR, I did more work planning the sub-plots as well as the main plot before I started writing and one of the sub plots became very important.
I also create a page for each of the main characters where I list key characteristics, back story, quirks, strengths and weaknesses etc. I find this is a useful thing to do.
Where do you most like to do your writing?
I live in Brighton and am lucky to have a dedicated room where I work which looks out over our garden. There’s a beautiful Silver Birch tree which I can admire through the window.
And I write standing up. I have rigged a tray on legs on top of my desk to get my laptop to the right level. It is a bit Heath Robinson but it works for me and writing standing up makes me more alert.
What's the best writing tip you've ever been given? How did it influence you?
The Lie of You, by Jane Lythell
The best writing tip I ever saw was on a blog called The Writing Prompt Boot Camp and came from James Scott Bell.
He said that people don’t want to read about Happy People in Happy Land and that readers engage with a plot via trouble, threat, change or challenge.
I just thought that was so neatly and memorably put and I try to keep that in my mind when writing. Novels need conflict to work.
Jane Lythell is interviewed by Barbara Copperthwaite
I live in Brighton, UK, and now write full-time.
I worked as a television producer for fifteen years, then became Deputy Director of the British Film Institute followed by seven years at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
My debut novel, THE LIE OF YOU, was published by Head of Zeus in January 2014, and my second AFTER THE STORM in January 2015. My third book WOMAN OF THE HOUR will be out in July 2016.
I love to hear from readers and you can find me on Twitter and Facebook (see links at the bottom of this page).
What book do you wish you had written?
I would have loved to have written The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.
It has everything I am drawn to in a novel: a magnificent sense of place – Newfoundland; a flawed hero who is an outsider despised by most people; a cast of authentic believable characters and a plot that allows the hero to find redemption. I do not like hopeless books. A bit of hope at the end is necessary for me.
If you could be a character in any book, including one of your own, who would you be, and why?
I am only half way through the second of the Neopolitan novels by Elena Ferrante but I am drawn to Lila and would chose to be her. I love her fearlessness and her intense way of experiencing life.
How much do your own life experiences appear in your writing?
Do you ever surprise yourself with what you've written?
Yes because sometimes a scene seems very important to invent. It’s as if it won’t be silenced and I don’t know why it is relevant. Only after it has taken shape and been written down do I realise that there was a fictional problem I was grappling with and that the scene has dramatized that problem, brought it to life.
Describe your current work in progress in five words...
Power struggle at TV station.
Jane Lythell: ‘Flawed people are interesting. It doesn’t matter if your readers dislike them’
Brought to Book Q&A: Former Bafta CEO on her favourite authors and writing her own novels
Tue, Jan 27, 2015, 16:00
Martin Doyle
Jane Lythell: ‘Reading has been such an important part of my life since I was a child and books have formed who I am.’
Jane Lythell: ‘Reading has been such an important part of my life since I was a child and books have formed who I am.’
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Jane Lythell lives in Brighton. She was a producer at TV-am and commissioning editor at Westcountry Television, before leaving to become deputy director of the British Film Institute and later chief executive of Bafta before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She now writes full time. Her second novel After the Storm has just been published by Head of Zeus, following the publication of her debut The Lie of You last year. She tweets @janelythell
What was the first book to make an impression on you?
It was probably the Ladybird book of The Three Billy Goats Gruff when I was very little. I was scared of the troll under the bridge but found the book thrilling and wanted to hear it again and again.
What was your favourite book as a child?
The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I loved the idea of the little people borrowing, not stealing, the things they needed and they had their own code of honour and were never wasteful.
And what is your favourite book or books now?
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
What is your favourite quotation?
On writing it is: “The first draft of anything is shit.” Ernest Hemingway
Who is your favourite fictional character?
Elizabeth Bennet and Augie March
Who is the most under-rated Irish author?
I don’t know but I do know that I love the work of J.G. Farrell, John Banville, both as JB and as Benjamin Black, and Colm Toibin.
Which do you prefer - ebooks or the traditional print version?
Traditional print version as objects but I do read e-books.
What is the most beautiful book you own?
A book called Coleridge among the Lakes and Mountains which has maps and illustrations and extracts from his notebooks, letters and poems.
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Where and how do you write?
I write standing up in my workroom in Brighton. I have rigged up a wooden tray on legs on top of my desk so that my laptop is at the right height. I find it makes me much more alert and it’s good for when I need to pace.
What book changed the way you think about fiction?
Great Expectations. I was reading it as an undergraduate and grasped how Dickens was not just telling the story of Pip’s coming of age he was also telling the story of his age and his society. I was enthralled by the way Dickens turns the class and moral order on its head so that it is Magwitch the convict who is the true gentleman and it is Miss Havisham the lady who is the crook. It is heady, radical, brilliant stuff.
What is the most research you have done for a book?
My second novel After the Storm needed a lot of research because it is set in Belize City and the island of Roatan in the Caribbean Sea. I have been to both places but I wanted to get the details right about sailing boats, about fishing and about the food of the region.
What book influenced you the most?
The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer which I read when I was 19.
What book would you give to a friend’s child on their 18th birthday?
I would give them a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. I gave this to my daughter around that age. Who can resist: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
What book do you wish you had read when you were young?
I only recently read Troubles by J.G. Farrell and thought it was magnificent. I wish I had read it earlier.
What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
I would say that it’s all about the characters you create. Don’t worry if your characters are flawed or have some nasty sides to them. Flawed people are interesting. It doesn’t matter if your readers dislike them or adore them. But it does matter if they don’t believe in them.
What weight do you give reviews?
I read them with interest and sometimes a theme may emerge. This can be revealing and helpful.
Where do you see the publishing industry going?
It will transform itself but it will keep going because people need stories.
What writing trends have struck you lately?
There seem to be a lot of crime series, often with a flawed character at their heart. As a former TV producer I can see the appeal of such series as readers, and later viewers if they are adapted, like to get to know a character in depth and to watch their development.
What lessons have you learned about life from reading?
Such a big question: for me reading has been such an important part of my life since I was a child and books have formed who I am. One thing I learned from reading is that life is full of possibilities.
What has being a writer taught you?
That I am finally doing something I wanted to do for years, that I have stories to tell and that it is always about the characters.
Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
I would invite Samuel Taylor Coleridge, George Orwell, John Banville, Sue Townsend, Tariq Ali, Stephen King and Germaine Greer. But with Coleridge present I don’t think any of us would get a word in edgeways.
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What is the funniest scene you’ve read?
There are so many superbly funny sequences in Sue Townsend’s brilliant Adrian Mole novels that I can’t name one. My favourite of those books is Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years. I think Sue Townsend was a comic genius.
What is your favourite word?
Elegiac
If you were to write a historical novel, which event or figure would be your subject?
My subject would be Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He fascinates me.
What sentence or passage or book are you proudest of?
I like this passage from The Lie Of You, my debut novel: “It was a dazzling day. I was lying on my stomach with my book in the long feathery grasses beyond the vegetable garden. It was so bright. The sunlight was bouncing off the pages and the black print crawled in front of my eyes like a procession of ants. I could smell the life in the earth and hear tiny scratchings and scurryings going on around me.”
What is the most moving book or passage you have read?
I would say the most moving novel I have read is Home by Marilynne Robinson
If you have a child, what book did you most enjoy reading to them?
I loved reading Pig in a Muddle to my daughter Amelia when she was little. It involves a pig who escapes from prison and has all kinds of adventures including being locked in a department store. It is told in satisfying rhyming couplets and the authors are Mira Lobe and Winfried Opgenoorth.
After the Storm
Publishers Weekly.
263.23 (June 6, 2016): p65.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
After the Storm
Jane Lythell. Head of Zeus (IPG, dist.), $13.95 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-781855-34-8
British author Lythell follows her first novel, 2014's The Lie of You, with a dark, disturbing tale of sin, secrets, lust, and haunted souls. Brits Rob
and Anna meet Americans Owen and Kim in a waterfront bar in Belize City, Belize. As they chat about vacationing, Owen invites the other
couple to charter his boat, El Tiempo Pasa, and sail with him and Kim to the Honduran island of Roatan. Despite Anna's reservations, she and
Rob accept the offer. Ann was right to worry, for what should have been an idyllic sail is marred by engine problems, the odd behavior of their
hosts, and sudden, violent storms. When the foursome finally arrive at Roatan, several days late, it's far from the tropical paradise they imagined.
By the time a body is found near the local fish-processing plant, the visitors are thrust into a nightmare, bereft of protection or trust. Despite a few
disruptive narrator shifts, Lythell immerses readers in a taut, atmospheric thrill ride from which no one emerges unscathed. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"After the Storm." Publishers Weekly, 6 June 2016, p. 65. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA454730988&it=r&asid=5c0a80c091f57609c4b6cc2a8ea8a86b. Accessed 6 Mar.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A454730988
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3/6/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1488862408478 2/3
The Lie of You
Publishers Weekly.
262.17 (Apr. 27, 2015): p54.
COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Lie of You
Jane Lythell. Head of Zeus (IPG, dist.), $12.95 trade paper (314p) ISBN 978-1-781855-30-0
Lythell (After the Storm) effectively interweaves the perspectives of two women in this well-written and creepy, though familiar, psychological
thriller. Kathy Hartman has just begun working as the editor at Britain's "most prestigious architectural magazine," and is struggling to balance
the heightened professional demands with motherhood. Unbeknownst to Kathy, things are only going to get more stressful. One of her staff, Heja
Vanheinen, is still obsessed with Kathy's husband, Markus, her former lover. Heja, who was a well-known television personality in Finland, has
insinuated herself into Kathy's life and begins a campaign to undermine her, both professionally and personally. When Kathy leaves her keys in
the office, Heja sneaks them out to make a copy. Able to enter Kathy and Markus's home whenever she likes, Heja derives a sense of power and
control from watching Kathy asleep and vulnerable. The arc of the plot offers few surprises, though Lythell is adept at maintaining suspense as
Heja's net tightens around her prey. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Lie of You." Publishers Weekly, 27 Apr. 2015, p. 54. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA412556005&it=r&asid=4aacb4635895ef66f1719c6f2591d2a5. Accessed 6 Mar.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A412556005
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3/6/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1488862408478 3/3
The Lie of You
Christine Tran
Booklist.
111.19-20 (June 1, 2015): p55.
COPYRIGHT 2015 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The Lie of You. By Jane Lythell.
June 2015. 314p. IPG/Head of Zeus, paper, $12.95 (9781781855300); ebook (9781781855270).
Returning from maternity leave to fill a new post at the helm of England's premier architectural magazine, Kathy Hartman finds that the
exhaustion of new motherhood and the increasing coldness between her and her husband, Markus, are draining her focus. Then, Heja, a writer on
Kathy's team, develops a hostile obsession with Kathy and begins stalking her. Lythell builds sympathy for warm, messy Kathy as she tries to
recapture her connection with Markus, while, at the same time, suggesting that Heja's fixation has greater depth than a lunatic's revenge. This
breathless, streamlined tale is built on contrasts, as Kathy and Heja's alternating narratives duel in terms of plot, mood, and pacing, moving
toward a climax that's equally terrifying and heartbreaking. Lythell's spare, powerful language and her ability to map dimension into the
desperately insane mind combine to forge a stellar psychological thriller that's a shade warmer, but no less haunting, than Karin Fossum's
haunting tales.--Christine Tran
Tran, Christine
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Tran, Christine. "The Lie of You." Booklist, 1 June 2015, p. 55. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA421080248&it=r&asid=79d3f49dbd444b6cd141e185029e9a35. Accessed 6 Mar.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A421080248
The Lie Of You - Jane Lythell
A CLEVER psychological thriller exploring rivalry, manipulation and deceit and a woman who wants everything her boss has
By JENNY BARLOW
PUBLISHED: 14:31, Fri, Jan 17, 2014
39
1
As in Single White Female Lythell 039 s thriller has one woman attempting to destroy another As in Single White Female, Lythell's thriller has one woman attempting to destroy another [COLUMBIA TRISTAR]
Imagine someone creeping into your life and tearing it to pieces: a cold, malicious force intent on destruction and having no idea you are their target.
This is the premise of Jane Lythell's The Lie Of You, a debut novel focusing on rivalry, manipulation and deceit.
Lythell's background as a TV producer is apparent as she creates the scene for the story of Kathy, a successful architectural magazine editor, and Heja, the employee who meddles in her existence at work and at home with architect husband Markus and baby Billy.
Kathy's walk to work across Regent's Park comes to life with the author's ability to draw a picture of the sights and sounds with words. Heja's perspective is alternated in chapters with Kathy's, adding an episodic feel to the action.
The two women are opposites. Kathy is spontaneous and passionate, her Portuguese heritage giving her a wild, exotic quality while Heja is a cool beauty from Finland who conducts herself with icy efficiency.
In an ideal world they would make two halves of a great team but Heja doesn't have Kathy's interests at heart. We learn she has turned her back on a TV presenting career in Finland and come to London to take a job writing for Kathy's magazine.
So the stage is set for this psychological thriller to unfurl and the reader is led through the twists and turns that bring Kathy and Heja into conflict.
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The audacity of the ice queen's plotting will astound anyone. Heja's glacial exterior hides a boiling mass of jealousy that is terrifying in its intensity. Kathy is like a fly caught in the web of a venomous spider.
But expectations are turned upside down. Heja appears to be the professional observer using her split-second timing and dispassionate calm to cuse havoc for Kathy yet she has no control over the one thing that matters the most
Kathy seems to be the woman hanging on to her career and family by the most fragile thread, made vulnerable by her love for Markus and Billy, yet she has the strength to challenge Markus and force him to face the consequences of his secrecy.
Lythell has a flair for leading the reader into making assumptions then pulling away the foundations. Just when you think you understand this cleverly-constructed tale the landscape changes completely.
VERDICT: 4/5