Beyond the Page: Emma Shevah
This week we are excited to feature Emma Shevah, author of Lexie’s Little Lie (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, April 2019). Get to know her through fun questions below.
What kind of cheese would you be and why?
Well, I would have said labneh, which is soft, squishy, nutritious, delicious, feisty, tangy, sharp and has …an interesting shape. But Lexie’s Little Lie is a novel mainly about halloumi (with a few minor characters doing some other trifling things) so I’m going to have to say halloumi. I do love it: it’s crispy and salty, but the best thing about it is that it squeaks against your teeth when you eat it.
What did you want to be growing up?
I was a tomboy so I wanted to be the first female football manager of an English Premier League team (I still want to do it: it hasn’t been done yet. MY JOB IS STILL WAITING FOR ME), a rally driver (still want to), a surfer (not much surfing going on in London) and an author. At least I can tick one of those off my list…
If you could live in any other country, which one would you choose and why?
I’d live in Thailand so I could learn Thai fluently (mine is rubbish), get to know my Thai family better, eat endless bowls of coconut curry and sticky rice and mango, travel to every corner of the country, then explore Laos, Vietnam and Burma. And I’m going to do it one day soon. It’s part of the game plan.
Tell us one fun insider-fact about Lexie’s Little Lie.
Lexie was originally called Electra but my Greek Cypriot friends told me Electra wasn’t a common Greek Cypriot name. She grapples with the truth and God and what’s right and wrong because I did as a child: I used to ask so many questions (no, but about everything) that it drove my mother up the wall. And like me, Lexie’s still trying to work it out.
Emma Shevah
Emma Shevah is half-Irish and half-Thai and was born and raised in London. She has lived in Australia, Japan, India (her first child was born in the Himalayas), and Jerusalem before moving back to the UK. Emma has worked as a fire-juggler, a restaurant manager, a copywriter, an English teacher, and is now a blogger and author. Visit Emma at emmashevah.com.
