How a tweet inspired a novel
Brooklyn BookBeat
Acclaimed author Lauren Beukes has recently published “The Shining Girls”, which has been compared to “The Silence of the Lambs”, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”, and “The Time Traveler’s Wife” for its imaginative yet convincing qualities. Beukes, who resides in South Africa, will be appearing at BookCourt in Cobble Hill next week to promote her new novel, which has already received widespread praise from writers and critics.
Beukes tells the story of Harper Curtis who, during the Depression-era in Chicago, uncovers a mysterious key that transcends the limitations of time. But there’s a catch: when time traveling, Curtis must kill the shining girls – bright young women who populate various eras. He stalks the girls until one of them, in a surprising twist, reverses the hunt.
In anticipation of Beukes’s Brooklyn appearance, Brooklyn Eagle spoke to the author about her motivations for this story. She reveals that her book came from “a throwaway tweet” and shares with us which app helps keep her focused on writing.