People Who Knew Me

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Macon Blair and Rosamund Pike in the Netflix film I Care a Lot. Photograph: Seacia Pavao/AP; Netflix Emily's character bothers me. She blames her mother-in-laws failing health for the issues with her husband. She is not brave enough to tell her husband what she wants, what she needs from him.I can't fault her for it. I have no clue how I would feel if I were going through it, and it makes for an amazing story. There was none of the usual traffic leading to the Holland Tunnel. We drove right in. I closed my eyes, like I used to as a kid, making wishes in the darkness. As I said good-bye to New York, my only wish was for everyone I left behind to forget me. She must decide how to explain her lies, her secrets, her selfish decisions - and ultimately, her ‘widowed’ husband. Everything she thought she had fled from when she pretended to die in New York.

Emily Morris married her college sweetheart but the demands of adulthood soon became such an albatross on their marriage that Emily soon sought comfort in the arms of another. Emily found herself pregnant and caught up between two men when Sept. 11 happened. Emily used the event as a catalyst for a rebirth. She ran from New York City and reinvented herself in California as Connie Prynne.

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Resolved to tell her husband of the affair and to leave him for the father of her child, Emily’s plans are thwarted when the world is suddenly split open on 9/11. It’s amid terrible tragedy that she finds her freedom, as she leaves New York City to start a new life. It’s not easy, but Emily---now Connie Prynne —forges a new happily-ever-after in California. But when a life-threatening diagnosis upends her life, she is forced to rethink her life for the good of her thirteen-year-old daughter. I possibly would have liked to know a little more about the fourteen years Connie spent in California before we rejoin her. Claire’s delightful so she’s done a great job with her, but shut herself off from everyone else.

Daniella Isaacs (Writer, Director and actor) says: “I was excited by the challenge of bringing new listeners, people that might usually reach for a tv show or a non-fiction podcast, to an audio drama. I wanted to adapt the book into something that played into the inherent confessional quality of the audio medium. There’s something thrilling about being privy to a character’s innermost secrets, their confessions and their selfish desires. I loved making this with such a brilliant team - all of us set on reimagining the traditional radio play… And I hope your ears enjoy it too.” Kyle Soller at the launch event for Andor at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Jesse Grant/Getty Images for DisneyThen it's September 11 2001, and when fate plays a part in her absence from work in the World Trade Centre, Emily sees it as an opportunity to start her life fresh in California as Connie. Oh, and she's pregnant. I 'dig' this Southern California author. ( if she is coming to the Bay Area in June - hint hint- for the Bay Area Book Festival .. I'd love to hear her speak on this book) Episode 1 of People Who Knew Me will be available on first BBC Sounds on 23 May, with episode 2 dropping on the 25 May. New episodes will drop twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the entire series will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from Monday 26 June. The author did a great job setting up the characters. I also liked the shift in POV going from past to present as the protagonist reflected on the choices that brought her to the current quandary.

Many readers won't like Emily (Connie) because they will feel that she is selfish, but I found her to be refreshingly honest. And yet? I didn’t find it riveting. The main character is unsympathetic to a degree that I just couldn’t ever dig deep and care for her. And I couldn’t get past the idea of running away from your life, I’ve just never had that fantasy, and especially taking something as horrifically painful as the events of 9/11 and using them to disappear. The blurb asks what would you do? I believe I would face the music and deal with the choices that led me there.It’s not too shabby at the moment. There have always been great films with fierce, full-on, female characters who were “too much”. Think about Bette Davis’s roles or John Cassavetes’s A Woman Under the Influence. I played journalist Marie Colvin in A Private War, who was an amazingly complicated figure to put on screen. Now television has also embraced outspoken women who don’t conform to traditional expectations of femininity – and with those characters come interesting opportunities for actresses. The title of the book, PEOPLE WHO KNEW ME, references the life Connie left behind in New York. How do those people “follow” Connie to California?

You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side.But this novel’s obviously about more than that. We’re forced to ponder whether running is always the best option. Is it better to stay and confront our problems? And the fact that Hooper sets this all up around a national tragedy that is still so raw in people's memories is a brave choice. Her retelling of that day hit me hard. Connie's character makes me sad. Connie has spent the last 14 years raising and protecting Claire from her past, only inviting few people into her life so that she does not make connections she may have to break again one day, and doesn't want to disappoint more people. Connie just wants to be the best mother possible; give Claire everything she never had and more.