Phoebe Morgan on The Trip and writing about what you know.

When I was first starting out as a writer, I went by the old saying ‘write what you know.’ My first three novels, The Doll House, The Girl Next Door, and The Babysitter, were all set in places that were familiar to me – London, Suffolk, Essex, and a holiday house in France. But then, March 2020 happened, and I began to look a bit further afield for inspiration, driven mad by the lockdowns and with a desperate need to escape, even if only via fiction.

My fourth book, The Wild Girls, was set in Botswana, and with my fifth, The Trip, I’ve taken my characters to Thailand (the clue is in the name I suppose – it’s about four friends who go on the holiday of a lifetime to Bangkok, only for one of them to be confronted by a stranger from her past with a terrifying ulterior motive). I hadn’t actually been to Thailand at the time of writing, but I did a lot of research, watching videos of what arrival into the airport is really like, reading guidebooks and visitor blogs of their time there, and trying to immerse myself in the sights, sounds and smells of Bangkok as best I could. I finished writing the novel last year, but when the chance to go to Thailand came up in February of this year, I jumped at it. Part of me was a bit nervous – what if when I arrived, I realised I’d made tons of mistakes, and it was nothing like I’d depicted it?!

But when I stepped off the plane in Bangkok, relief washed over me (along with the wonderful heat) – the airport was as I’d seen it online, and as we explored the city over the coming days, I found it really odd to actually be in the place I’d spent so long imagining. I visited Koh Samet, a beautiful small island off the coast of Bangkok where my characters go towards the end of the novel (and where the denouement takes place) and sat on the beach with a Chang beer, reminiscing about writing this during the pandemic and feeling incredibly lucky to have the world back. Imagination can only take you so far, after all, and being immersed in the culture of Thailand was an amazing experience. I could picture my four protagonists – Saskia, Theo, Holly and Lucas – setting out on their journey, excited for what was to come – and then confronted by the darkness waiting for them (you’ll have to read it to find out more…!) Thankfully, my own trip was far less eventful and I returned home in one piece in order to be celebrating publication this week and writing this piece – but I’ll never again take for granted how lucky we are to be able to travel, to see the world, to take inspiration from it and, if that opportunity fades, to know that we can create these portals into the world via the words on the page. Reading has always been my escape route and I hope my book can provide that option for you as readers, too.

The Trip by Phoebe Morgan (Out Now) Harper Collins Publishers

The perfect holiday. The perfect crime. Four friends on the holiday of a lifetime. Until a vicious murder shatters their paradise. Four friends who'd do anything for each other, until now. Only one of them committed a crime. But all four know how to keep a secret. And they're all guilty of something

You can find more iformation about Phoebe Morgan on her blog. She can also be found on “X” @Phoebe_A_Morgan and on FaceBook.