BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR MAGGIE LE PAGE

Maggie Le Page lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her partner and two children. Coming from a background in finance and education, writing wasn’t on her agenda until she made the fatal comment, “I could write something like that.” She is far less naïve about writing these days. Learn more about her and her books at her website.

In celebration of the release of The Trouble With Dying, Maggie is offering a  digital copy of the book to one lucky commenter. Tell us if you’ve ever had a near death or out-of-body experience, or a moment of clairvoyancy or premonition and what happened. But please leave your email address in your comment. Otherwise, we have no way of contacting you if you win.

I love this time of year.  The decorations, the preparations, the excitement in the air... For me, Christmas is synonymous with family—and a whole raft of traditions we’ve built up over the years.

But a couple of Christmases ago I looked around and wondered: what would it be like if I suddenly lost it all? What if I woke up and couldn’t remember my family, or our Christmas traditions, or even my own personality? It got me thinking. So, of course, I did what any self-respecting writer would do and forced a character into that situation, then waited to see what would happen.

What happened is The Trouble With Dying, which has just been released.

The Trouble With Dying starts when Faith Carson wakes up to find herself in a coma. Obviously I use the term ‘wakes up’ loosely. She doesn’t remember her past, doesn’t know her name, and she has way more problematic issues than getting ready for Christmas.

Issues like...how to wake up. How to remember what happened. How to make sure she doesn’t wind up dead. (Sorry, can’t give too much away. Oh, okay. I’ll give you a hint in the blurb below...)

While writing Faith’s story I spoke to a range of people who’d had near death and out-of-body experiences. And the one thing that stood out for me was that most of these people were able to tell me things they’d heard and seen while unconscious (even flatlining); things that were later confirmed as correct by medical staff. They were things that could not be explained away as guesswork or imagination.

Which was great news for me! It added credence to The Trouble With Dying’s premise.

My second piece of great news was learning that comas don’t necessarily follow a set pattern or timeframe to recovery. Comas are specific to each person’s circumstances. From a storytelling perspective, this was pure gold. The Trouble With Dying was on its way.

All it needed was a few of my favourite angles—love, conflict, clairvoyance, skulduggery, and the age-old life after death question—and I had a novel even my partner wanted to read! Possibly a bit heavier on suspense than your standard chick lit read, but sometimes the characters tell the writer how it needs to be written rather than the other way round. (Shrugs.) I’m okay with that.

And now The Trouble With Dying is out! It’s been released just in time for another Christmas, one where, thankfully, I remember everything that’s special to me and am grateful for it all.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope your mid-winter festivities (or mid-summer if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere like me) be relaxing and full of unforgettable memories.

The Trouble With Dying

When Faith Carson wakes up on a hospital ceiling looking down on her body in a coma, it’s a bad start to the week. A very bad start. She has no idea who she is or how she got there or why, and the biggest mystery of all is why she married the schmuck who wants her ventilator switched off.

As if that’s not enough, Faith has a dead gran haunting her, a young daughter missing her, and one devilishly delicious man making her wish she could have a second chance at life. And maybe she can, if she finds a way back into her body and wakes up by Friday. But if she doesn’t, this will be her last bad week—ever.

Nate Sutherland decided long ago he’d settle for friendship if he couldn’t have Faith’s heart. But now, as she nears death, he’s going to have to listen to his feelings in a whole new way—and act. Because if he doesn’t, this week will be the worst damn week of his life. He’ll lose everything he’s ever loved.

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