I love writing, just love it. I look forward to having nothing else to do at all – not pay the gas bill or cook dinner – except sit down and write.

I think I’m learning to write on the job. I’m not sure how I wrote my first novel, I had a lucky break and it just worked. And now I’m having to learn how to do it again. People think writers are born, they’re not. They practice and practice!

My husband says I’m a nightmare when I’m on a roll with a book, because I’m completely shut in my own world which no one can share. I’m sure he’s exaggerating.

What inspired you to write Tangled Lives?

I wrote Tangled Lives because I had a friend who gave up a baby aged eighteen, back in the sixties. She hadn't told her children, or anyone else except her husband and one friend – she only told me by mistake - and she went through life not knowing where he was or if she’d ever see him again, just waiting, waiting for her life with her other family to explode.

Her story haunted me. I thought it was heartbreaking to give up a baby, I couldn't imagine what agony it must have been. And I wanted to write about that, and, more generally, about what it means to be a mother.

If you could pick a song that encapsulated your book, what would it be and why?

‘Love Hurts’ by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. It’s actually about romantic love, but love is love, and the pain is extraordinary when the love object isn’t available. My heroine, Annie, suffers very much from the love she has for her lost son. Anyway, it’s a beautiful version and always makes me cry when I hear it.

What authors have inspired your work, or what authors would you recommend?

Anita Shreve. She writes so well, her books are honest and have heart, that moment that takes you to the point of real feeling. All her books are great, but Fortune’s Rocks, if you haven’t read it, is a treat.

And Ford Maddox Ford’s The Good Soldier, published almost exactly 100 years ago, but just a brilliant read about relationships and a failing marriage. Good stuff!

What do you want readers to walk away with after reading your book?

I want them to have believed 100% in my characters and gone with them on their emotional journey. I want them to laugh and cry, and I want them to be gripped by whatever dilemma the characters are facing and wonder what they themselves would do in similar circumstances.

Can you share any future writing plans with us?

I’m on Book 5 right now. Sort of half way through and hoping it’s going in the right direction. A Most Desirable Marriage,Book 4, is out this October in the UK, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the readers like it. I still can’t believe this is my day job!

Hilary Boyd is the best-selling author of Thursdays in the Park. She grew up in London. Educated at Roedean, an all-girls boarding school in Sussex, she went on to become a nurse and marriage counselor. In her 30s, she went back to school to earn a degree in English Literature from London University. A former health journalist, she has published six nonfiction books on health-related subjects, such as step-parenting, depression, and pregnancy. She has been writing novels in her spare time for 20 years.

Tangled Lives is her second novel. Boyd is working on her third novel, Straight To The Heart, about a middle-aged nurse who falls in love with a mountaineer. Boyd is married to film director and producer Don Boyd. She has three daughters and lives in London.