Q&A: New Zealand thriller writer Rose Carlyle on what inspires her

Rose Carlyle. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Q and A: Rose Carlyle, author of the Kiwi thriller of the year

The Girl in the Mirror has been optioned for a film. Who is your dream casting for the twins?

All I can say is that I'll know her when I see her. When I heard voice actress Holly Robinson's audition tape for the audiobook, I instantly knew she was the one. I begged my publishers to choose her. I could tell from the way she narrated that she understood my heroine, Iris. The screen actress will have a harder job — she'll also have to play Iris' identical twin, Summer, who has a very different personality. I know I'm biased but I think if I was an actress I'd love the challenge of this dual role. For me, the important thing is not who the actress is but whether she loves the characters.

Which would you choose: personal chef or chauffeur?

Definitely the chef. I wouldn't have much use for a chauffeur because, as an author, I work from home. When I do go out, I'm a big fan of public transport. When it comes to cooking, I've always struggled with the fact that raising a family requires you to serve up a healthy dinner every single night. Preparing food could be a nice hobby but having to do it so often tends to suck the joy out of it. I've found a few workarounds, such as assigning the kids regular cooking nights but a personal chef would still be very welcome.

Audiobook or podcast?

I vote for podcasts because I like to keep up-to-date with science and current events. You need to stay well-informed as a novelist because you're always drawing on the real world to enrich your fiction. For example, so many readers have been entranced by the fact that the twins in The Girl in the Mirror are mirror twins — a rare but real type of twin that I wouldn't have been able to incorporate into the story if I hadn't read about it in a scientific magazine.

Besides Summer and Iris, who are your favourite fictional twins?

Jacob Golyadkin and Jacob Golyadkin in Dostoevsky's The Double. It's not an easy read but I just love that story. I found it so confusing but also mesmerising. Twins with the same name? Are they really twins? Do they even look alike or is it all in the narrator's head? The scariest part of the novel is not the double himself but the fact that all the other characters refuse to believe there is anything sinister going on. They all act like they can't see the resemblance, treat it as a joke or even blame the narrator for having a double. It's a deeply unsettling book.

The Girl in the Mirror keeps the reader guessing until the end.

Your sister helped you develop the story idea for The Girl in the Mirror. What does she make of its incredible reception?

Maddie is not in the least surprised. In fact, I've lost count of the number of times she's said, "I told you so" - in the nicest possible way. There has been a lot of media coverage of her very honest critique of my manuscript — she famously wrote "boring" on it whenever she thought the story was flagging — but she only did that because she had faith that, as she put it, "This is going all the way to Hollywood." She said that to me the day we first talked about the story in 2017 and she has been proven right, the way big sisters always are.

Books on your nightstand right now?

One of the best things about being an author is being sent advance copies of other authors' works, so right now I am reading Joshilyn Jackson's latest, Mother May I, an absolutely gripping thriller, which weaves in some brilliant social commentary in classic Jackson style. I've just finished Caitlin Moran's More Than a Woman; and next up is Marilynne Robinson's Jack, the fourth novel in her Gilead series, then Catherine Chidgey's Remote Sympathy.

If you could time travel for one day, where and when would you go?

This is probably the most loaded moral question of all time. If I could alter human history, I would feel obliged to try, although it would be hard to decide where the most good could be achieved. On a purely selfish level, I would love to peek into the future. It would be hard to decide how far forward to go. Do I want to see what my descendants are getting up to and whether humanity has solved today's global challenges or should I go forward 1000 years and experience the mind-blowing space-age inventions that civilisation is hopefully enjoying in 3030? Maybe I'd just pick a date at random.

What has been the most useful thing you have done to develop your writing?

A few years ago I heard Joy Cowley state in an interview that writers must give their best time to writing. I am so grateful to her for sharing her wisdom which has been incredibly useful to me. Up until then, I had written whenever I had spare time but from then on, I woke early every morning and wrote when my brain was at its sharpest. After a couple of hours I was forced to move on to my day job, domestic duties, etc, which was painful but probably a blessing in disguise. I feel my writing improved a lot at that point.

Wine and cheese or beer and chips?

I choose wine and cheese and beer and chips. I love all the food. Give me coffee and chocolate as well. Give me all of the drinks and all of the snacks.