Elle Percival

'The Girl Next Door' is a book I found myself accidentally writing whilst offloading in the notes on my phone and through my screenplays. After a brain haemorrhage in 2020, I found myself feeling so much underlying guilt for just simply speaking my mind and emotions, and as a wannabe screenwriter who felt insanely underrepresented within the media because I am differently-abled, I was incredibly tired of brain bleeds being a quick character killer tactic in both film and books and I wanted to write about someone who survived as I did. ive finally been able to forgive prior versions of me and display pride because I am still here to tell the story, whether it's with a wide smile or with a couple of tears sneaking out of my eyes, tears I no longer apologise for falling. Often people with medical trauma feel guilty for speaking up because we "should be grateful to be alive". I was finally allowed to create these characters who aren't afraid to love, fail or be angry, and be so unapologetically themselves and I hope that grants fellow Lottie Fowlers and Fleur Spencers the opportunity to finally be open about their story.