Q&A with Wendy Walker

  

Photo by Bill Miles

 

Wendy Walker is the author of the new novel Blade. Her other books include All Is Not Forgotten. She lives in Connecticut. 

 

Q: In Blade’s Author’s Note, you write that you attended a competitive skating program in Colorado as a teenager--how much was the book based on your own experiences, and how did you create your character Ana?

 

A: Drawing from personal experience when writing fiction is always tricky. It’s great to have authenticity at your fingertips, but it can get complicated to move away from your own story and create a new one within the same world.

 

With Blade, that balance was especially difficult. The novel is set in the world of competitive figure skating, a world I know intimately and one that is both very small and deeply personal. Every skater experiences it differently.

 

My challenge was to create a world that felt real, and was authentic, without making it a factual representation of my own life. It took a few drafts to get there!

 

Creating Ana was, in some ways, easier. From the beginning, I knew I wanted her to have a traumatic past at The Palace that shaped who she is in the present. Blade is a thriller, but it’s also a story about how early experiences shape us long after we believe we’ve escaped them.

 

Making Ana a criminal defense attorney who advocates for children gave her the skills and credibility to return to The Palace to help a young skater accused of murder, and it also tracked for her own psychological profile.

 

Q: Did you need to do any additional research to write the novel, and if so, did you find anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: Well, I skated many more years ago than my character, Ana Robbins! To create the world of figure skating both now and 14 years ago, I had to find sources who have been involved in the sport during both timeframes and could give me the nuts and bolts of competitions and scoring.

 

What was fascinating to me had to do with the progression of the jumps – the triples and now quads everyone who follows the sport has heard about.

 

When I was skating in the 1980s, most men could do triples – just one had landed a quad. For the women, having one or two triples could get you on the podium. Now, at the Olympic level, the men all have some quads and the women can land most – if not all - all of the triples, including the axel. The bottom line, though, is that jumps still rule the day!

 

Q: The writer May Cobb called the book “a timely and timeless portrait of a female subculture complete with power dynamics, toxic friendships, buried secrets that seethe under the surface, and nerve-shredding suspense.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I love it! May is the best – and she knows about toxic subcultures from her novel, and Netflix series, The Hunting Wives.

 

At first glance, it may seem that the center of the story is the murdered assistant coach, Emile Dressiér. He is definitely a catalyst for many of the obstacles that face Ana and her friends training at The Palace.

 

But the real villains are their female coach, Dawn Sumner, some of the mothers who sit in the bleachers watching their kids skate, and their own peers.

 

I didn’t want this story to be about male-female “grooming” or exploitation. We’ve seen that scenario play out in real life and many fictional settings, and as common as it still is – unfortunately – I wanted to expose the dangers that can come from women as well.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamics among the four “Orphans”?

 

A: The “Orphans” – Jolene, Kayla, Indy and Ana - are the four girls who live at the dormitory year round with parents who are far away. When I was training in Colorado, it was this aspect of my experience that played the biggest role in my life and what I wanted to explore in the novel.

 

Like me, the Orphans had no adult to turn to for guidance and support. No adult to stand up for them against other adults who mistreated them. And no adult to provide the kind of parental attachment that all children need while their brains are developing.

 

This makes them particularly vulnerable to Dawn Sumner’s emotional and psychological abuse, and to the same dangers that face almost all teenage girls, wherever they come of age.

 

In an effort to protect themselves, the Orphans create a family system among themselves. Jolene becomes maternal, giving advice and comfort. Kayla tries to be the protector, until she becomes the one in need of protecting. Indy is the defiant “older” child, and Ana is the youngest – the baby.

 

Falling into these roles is a typical psychological reaction when children grow up without adult caregivers, and this is what I thought would make the most sense for the Orphans. And, as with any family unit, when one member is harmed, the wound seeps into each one of them.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I just finished the first draft of my next novel, The Fold, a thriller about forbidden love and murder in wealthy suburbia. The story follows two teenagers from different backgrounds whose brief love story ends abruptly when a local woman is murdered in her home.

 

Like Blade, I use split time frames to create a forward story where we follow the two lovers in their 20s – one leaving prison and one about to get married - and back in time when they first met. I think it will have great Romeo and Juliet vibes!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Yes, in fact! I also write and executive produce novels designed specifically for audio, available at Audible. These pieces are so much fun – stories told with a blend of narration, scene work, sound effects and music.

 

Last year, The Room Next Door was a #1 bestselling audiobook and continues to be one of Audible’s most popular listens. I’ll be writing another piece for them in 2026.

 

With the audio edition of Blade, we had a 12-person cast, including superstar narrator Julia Whelan, and brought some of these audio-first techniques into the production. If anyone out there enjoys audiobooks, Blade offers something to listeners that you can’t get on the page – hearing all of the characters come to life!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Wendy Walker.