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literature<br />
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Sara Marshall-Ball<br />
A quiet side project<br />
Sara Marshall-Ball is an insurance claims assessor. In her<br />
spare time, she writes. Look for her on the internet and<br />
you will find little evidence of her double life as an accomplished<br />
author. Yet her first novel, Hush – a suspenseful<br />
look at how childhood trauma affects two sisters – was<br />
shortlisted for Myriad’s Writer’s Retreat Competition in<br />
2012 and is published this month.<br />
You once worked as a proofreader of tombstones…<br />
I actually organized memorial services<br />
and advised clients on the right wording for the<br />
tombstones, then proofread the copy. A fun job, I<br />
know, but someone had to do it.<br />
Now you assess insurance claims. You must get<br />
intriguing glimpses into the lives of others! I<br />
mostly work on accident protection, so I definitely<br />
get an interesting perspective on the variety of ways<br />
that people can injure themselves! But I also see<br />
people at their lowest: recently bereaved, embroiled<br />
in family disputes over money, and so on. While it’s<br />
nice to be able to help them, it gives an unpleasant<br />
insight into the way people deal with grief. In<br />
that sense it’s very similar to working at a funeral<br />
director’s.<br />
You seem happy to keep yourself to yourself<br />
while working at your novels. How do you feel<br />
about your upcoming book launch? I am excited,<br />
but also scared. I don’t have any experience in public<br />
speaking. I know it comes with the job. But I just<br />
wish I didn’t have to start in front of all my friends<br />
and family.<br />
One of the main characters in the book suffers<br />
from selective mutism. Where did the idea come<br />
from? In the first 50,000 words I submitted, Lily,<br />
the youngest sister, never spoke. It was my editor<br />
who came up with the idea. After researching the<br />
condition, I realized Lily doesn’t strictly fit the<br />
profile of someone with selective mutism, because<br />
she doesn’t speak at all, and most people with SM<br />
will only be silent in certain situations. But to me,<br />
the most important detail is that her condition is<br />
anxiety-based, rather than just an obstinate refusal<br />
to speak, which definitely fits in with everything I<br />
found out about SM.<br />
Hush describes the relationship between the<br />
two sisters beautifully. Do you have a sister<br />
yourself? No, only two brothers. I based the sisters’<br />
relationship on close friendships I’ve had for years.<br />
I always wanted to have a sister. I used to feel like<br />
I missed out, but I like my brothers – now they’ve<br />
stopped beating me up!<br />
Hundreds of <strong>Brighton</strong>ians will be cycling from<br />
London to <strong>Brighton</strong> this month. Will you be one<br />
of them? No. I did it two years ago. I tried to conquer<br />
hills in preparation but never quite managed it.<br />
I was surprised by how easy it was, though. I seem to<br />
remember a lot of people stopping for a whole hour<br />
for lunch! It’s definitely not a race. Black Mustard<br />
Sara Marshall-Ball’s Hush launches at Waterstones,<br />
<strong>Brighton</strong> on 9th <strong>June</strong> at 7:30.<br />
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