‘I NEVER FORGET HOW LUCKY I AM’

Ten years on from the release of The Dry, the bestselling author reflects on her success

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Can you give us the elevator pitch for Last One Out?

It centres around a woman called Ro Crowley, who returns to a tiny dying community each year to mark the anniversary of the day her adult son went missing. It's a story about grief and loss but also about hope and trying to find happiness in, you know, a different form than maybe you expected.

What was the jumping off point for this book?

I read an article about a group of people talking about how the town they lived in had become a shadow of itself. It had been so loved and such a vibrant place and then, for various reasons, had started to disintegrate and the shops were closed and people had started to move out. I was really struck by how passionate they were and sorry it was no longer like that. I wondered what it was that kept them there.

Do you immerse yourself in a setting when you are writing about that place?