This story was initially inspired by the phrase “those girls” which I used in That Night. My editor and I agreed it would make a wonderful title. When we started talking about my fifth book, we liked the concept of my writing about sisters. Up until then my books had featured solitary character and I was intrigued by the idea of exploring the intricate bond of family. Like the sisters in my novel, I grew up with an alcoholic father. What if something had happened one night when my father came home drunk? What if my brother or I had done something to protect the other? The ideas flowed from there.
I love books like the Outsiders that have intensely loyal characters and I wanted to work with young women in a similar phase in their lives, on the brink of womanhood. I set it in summer because there is something about the dryness, the heat, and the concept of a lonely stretch of highway that I found haunting. I was camping with my own family, walking our dog down a remote backroad toward a lake, when a truck slowed down behind me. The lingering sensation of danger stayed with me for hours. I knew I had to have that moment in my book. Cash Creek is fictional, but there are many small towns across Canada and in the States that would fit a similar description, and might not be the best place for three young and vulnerable girls to end up. I created fictional names for the two main towns because I didn’t want to accidently insult a real community. This way I was free to write it however I wanted.
I worked in the boxing aspect because I knew the girls would need someone to help them after they escaped, so I created Patrick, who runs a gym in Vancouver. I used to love boxing, the feeling of strength it gave me-until I wrecked my shoulder. I wanted to give the girls something that could empower them.
It was important to me in this book to show how three sisters with different personalities and ages and dreams would cope with the same trauma. Not everyone deals with their emotions the same way and sometimes the people we think are the strongest are actually the most vulnerable.