Reinventing Reese Star's first novel

adds author to impressive list of roles

- Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent

Reese Witherspoon and co-author Harlan Coben have been touring to promote their book, Gone Before Goodbye

For more than three decades, Reese Witherspoon has been many things to many people: the Oscarwinning star of Walk the Line; the pink-clad Elle Woods of Legally Blonde; the Hollywood producer who brought Gone Girl and Big Little Lies to the screen. Now, she is adding another title to her CV: novelist.

This month, she releases her first work of fiction, Gone Before Goodbye, co-written with the bestselling thriller author Harlan Coben.

Already tipped to hit the bestseller lists on publication, the book follows Maggie McCabe, a former army combat surgeon who takes a discreet medical job for an anonymous client - only for a patient to vanish under her care, setting off an international conspiracy. "I've never had an idea for a novel before," Witherspoon, 49, said. "I'm always the actor who shows up and executes someone else's vision. I thought, maybe it's time to take the big leap and build the world myself."

Witherspoon and Coben are on a book tour and will appear at the Royal Festival Hall next week as part of the London literature festival. But for Witherspoon, the move is less a pivot than a continuation - the latest chapter in a career defined by reinvention and an unerring sense of what audiences want.