Number 47 is a thriller written by Hannah R Palmer, an author from South East England.
It is told, initially, through the eyes of Sarah, a young woman who has a deep, obsessive crush on a man named Liam. The story begins with a strong sense of ambiguity around Liam’s feelings for her, as he seems distant and extremely quiet. One day, Sarah sees Liam with another woman, and Sarah’s mind enters a downward spiral. As the back cover states, she’d rather die than not have him, and oh boy, doesn’t she make that clear.
And I had the immense pleasure of interviewing Hannah about her book! And let me just quickly mention, Hannah is a great and hilarious individual and a very talented author.
1. This is your debut novel. At what point did you realise you wanted to not only write a book, but publish it as well?
I don’t know that I ever truly set out to write a book, let alone publish one. I think people that create things, whether that’s writing, art, music, whatever, create things because they feel compelled to. I had the idea for Number 47 and then it didn’t seem to matter what I wanted from that point onwards, I just knew I needed to get the words down on paper and get it written. Once I’d finished the second draft and let beta readers see it was when I realised I wanted to publish. I think I needed that validation - I think everyone needs that in a way - and getting it was the boost of confidence that I needed.
2. Where did the idea for Number 47 come from?
So there’s a cafe that I go to all the time in my hometown called Brew. I was in there one afternoon and spotted this lady come in. She was doing all the stereotypical things that you see in the opening scenes of a psychological thriller - lining up her plate and book and coffee cup perfectly on the table, looking over her shoulder as if she was expecting someone to arrive but they never did. I basically imagined I was her, what she’d do, what she might be like, and then started writing. I’m sure she’s lovely, by the way!
3. Sarah is a colourful character. What influenced her creation?
Ah bugger - what I said up there!
4. You take some risks with this book, such as playing with spacing between words. Did you ever have any reservations about them or were you confident they’d do what you intended?
Hmm, interesting question. I did have some reservations but I wanted to play around and have fun with the prose. I figured as long as my beta readers got what I was going for, they could stay in there, and luckily they did!
5. Number 47 is relatively short, which isn’t a bad thing. I love a quick read. Was it a conscious decision from the moment you started drafting to make it that length?
I love the idea that every word and every decision made when writing a novel is deliberate. It’s art, you know? Everything must mean something and you’re always taught that at school. But in all honesty, the length of the novel was dictated by the characters. It just happened to end that length and I couldn’t see any sense in stretching it out. I’ve always been a succinct writer, so word targets only ever scare me.
6. Did you have the ending in your mind the whole time you were writing, or did it come about spontaneously?
I had 3 potential endings the whole time I was writing, but I did have a hunch I knew how it would end. I wanted to keep it feeling quite spontaneous for the reader and figured the only way I could do that was to keep the ending from myself too. I’m honestly not sure how much that worked!
7. How did you settle on the title?
Oh god, the title took ages to come up with! Normally I start with a title and use it as a spring-board or a sort of stimulus, but with Number 47 it was a real slog. So I think I kind of cheated and just made up Sarah’s door number. I liked the imagery that it conjured up and thought there were lots of places the front cover could go with that title, so that’s what I settled on.
8. How did you settle on the cover?
So the cover idea came before the title and then the title fed off the cover. I had a really clear vision of what kind of place Sarah’s home was going to be, so I knew that I wanted the cover to essentially be the door into her lifestyle. I sent a brief to an amazing designer I found online and then she pretty much nailed it straight off the bat.
9. What can we expect from you in the future?
More writing, for sure. I’m in the process of writing a new horror novel, One Road In, which is all about trying to protect your family and failing, and how you live with that. It draws from a lot of personal experience so it’s something really close to my heart. I’m also giving this whole Youtube thing a proper go with a great Australian author called Danny - I’m not sure if you’ve heard of him? (Yes I have. He's a legend!)
10. And lastly, where can we find Number 47?
Number 47 is available on Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. I know it’s harder to get hold of in Australia for some reason, so if you want one and you’re in that region, let me know and I can post one out to you!
So there you have it, some excellent and interesting answers from Hannah. If you'd like to know what I though of Number 47, be sure to check out my review under the REVIEWS tab.