Alex Dahl: Bestselling author launches novel in Wimbledon
Alex Dahl: Bestselling author launches novel in Wimbledon
Nordic noir author Alex Dahl chose the Waterstones in Wimbledon to launch her new book Girl Friends. By Ellie Holmes
Image: Alex Dahl, Nina Rangøy
Nordic noir author Alex Dahl used to live in Wimbledon and despite her busy schedule, she was keen to come back to SW19 as she used to live here. “I know the expat community well, and spent time in Wimbledon in 2015 and 2018,” Alex explains.
It was the Norwegian school that brought her to the area, where her children attended whilst she was living in in Wimbledon.
Her latest novel draws on parallels of Alex’s life and time spent in the expat community of London.
“Without giving too much away, this book is about a group of girlfriends and most specifically about two women who meet randomly and go on a girls’ trip to Ibiza, where let’s just say they are thrust into an extreme situation together.”
“Exploring the intensity of female friendship is something that appealed to me and I wanted to work with themes of obsession, stalking and revenge… and the idea of what happens when you are tied to someone after an incident.
“Can you get away with murder? Can you walk away? Are you always bound to each other with these dark secrets?”
The plot for Girl Friends sounds absolutely gripping and this follows on from other hugely successful novels.
Alex has just finished her role as Executive Producer on the set of Playdate, one of her novels which has just been made into a Disney+ series.
“It’s very exciting as Playdate should be out later this year or early next year and it’s been a fantastic experience to film.
“This novel is about a girl who goes on a sleepover with a new girl in her class, after they have an instant connection. But when her parents go to pick her up from the house, the child has completely vanished and it turns out the family that have been staying there have been renting the house and the kidnappers have vanished.”
Playdate stars Denise Gough, Holliday Grainger and Ambika Mod, who has recently appeared in One Day.
The psychological thriller isn’t the only one of her books to be made into a series.
Her first novel, The Boy At The Door is also being adapted for a French TV drama.
Alex has always wanted to be a writer and grew up in a very arts-oriented family.
Her grandmother was an author and Alex was raised in Norway with an American mother and Norwegian father.
“I was writing from a really young age and then did an MA in creative writing which really cemented things for me.”
Her writing has evolved through her own experiences and she is inspired by strong female themes.
“Motherhood and consciously using my role as a mother and author is something that inspires and fascinates me. You can work with the emotional intensity, and if I wasn’t a writer I would definitely be a psychotherapist!”
