Arts
Anna Downes is the author of this Summer's most addictive crime thriller The Safe Place. It's her debut novel and the writing process was part therapy as she recovered from post natal anxiety after the birth of her second child. Anna grew up in Sheffield and started life as an actress having trained at RADA. She went on to do roles in EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City as well as a long running stage production of The Dresser in the West End. In 2009 she left the UK to go travelling around the world before settling in Australia. The safe place is partly inspired by working as a live-in housekeeper/caretaker on the French coast during her travels. In this episode of Show Me The Way we talk about how the story came to her, the writing process, how she got published and the pressure of a second novel. Anna's debut is out in the UK August 2020: The Safe Place Anna's recommendations for Emmeline's bookshelf: Big Magic and The Girls Synopsis: Emily Proudman has been offered the chance of a lifetime - leave her messy London life, move to a beautiful estate in France and help her boss's wife take care of their daughter. It seems like the perfect opportunity to start again. But once there, Emily soon starts to suspect that her charismatic new employers aren't telling her the whole truth. That there are even dangerous secrets hidden beneath the glamorous facade.