Q&A: Jacqueline Bublitz
Before You Knew My Name is Jacqueline “Rock” Bublitz’s debut, bestselling novel. It’s an extraordinary, unputdownable debut novel exploring trauma, connection, and our cultural obsession with dead girls. Marian Keyes says it “deserves to win prizes.” Jacqueline answers some quick questions for GOOD BOOKS about what she’s been up to since the novel was released.
1. How are you and what have you been up to lately?
I’m doing well, all things considered. I feel incredibly fortunate to have become a working writer in my forties, when I wasn’t sure that would ever happen for me, and I never take any of this for granted. At the same time, we have that pandemic wreaking havoc with the world, and I share many of the same worries, fears, and hopes that other Kiwis do right now. I’d say bittersweet is a good word to sum up where I’m at these days.
In terms of what I’ve been up to, I have just finished a structural edit of my second book; I’m not sure if lockdown helped or hindered the creative process, but I managed to get the manuscript off on time, so now I get to wait (nervously) for the reaction from my publishers.
2. If you were working in a bookshop, how would you hand-sell your book to customers? What would you say to convince them to buy and read it?
The cover for Before You Knew My Name is so beautiful, it almost sells itself, right?! But if I had to convince someone, I’d say it melds a few genres together, so that along with a ripped from the headlines “whodunnit”, you get a character-driven story about love and friendship and hope. You also get New York City, and ghosts, and a cute dog, not to mention a little bit of fiery rhetoric about the state of gender relations. Who could resist that heady combination, ha!
For a little emotional manipulation, I’d probably also mention that the author poured her heart and soul into this book, and it still gives her the biggest kick to know people are reading and responding to the story.
3. What books (or other art/media) influenced you while writing this book, or generally in your life?
Honestly, I would say the biggest, overarching influence on my writing style is song lyrics. I love how the most complex emotions can be communicated in just a few lines. I call it economic beauty, because of the way poetry and precision meet half-way in a good lyric, and I strive for that kind of clarity in my own work.
In terms of Before You Knew My Name specifically, I read a lot of true crime stories, and listened to a lot of podcasts like “My Favorite Murder”. I also did a lot of research around trauma and the impacts of PTSD. A book I’m always recommending is The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk; my much-highlighted copy is locked up in storage in Melbourne and I missed it so much, I recently went and bought another copy just to have on my bookshelf here in New Plymouth.
In terms of fiction, when I was missing New York and couldn’t get back there, the novel Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler helped stir up my memories of the city. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold was a novel I returned to many times throughout the writing process.
4. What good books have you read lately?
I can finally get back to reading now that my edits are in, and I have a huge TBR list of what I hope will be great reads. Top of my current pile is The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, along with The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, My Mother and Other Secrets by Wendyl Nissen, and After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari. I honestly should not be allowed near a bookstore for the next few weeks, but no doubt I won’t be able to stop myself from adding to the pile. In between breaks to watch “New Amsterdam” and repeats of “The Good Wife”, and some tentative plotting of book three.
Buy Before You Knew My Name (Allen & Unwin), $33
