What inspired you to write SPY, INTERRUPTED: THE WAITING WIFE?

I grew up reading literary espionage novels but there was something lacking. I wondered about the emotional lives and relationships of those involved in the espionage business. What does it take for them to earn their partner’s trust in their relationships? Is it possible for such a person to be normal? What’s it like to be married to someone whose job it is to lie and deceive on a daily basis? Is their spouse always second-guessing their actions and motives

After a major tragedy in the novel, Stephen asks Nina to sing. Nina sings a song in Urdu. Are you familiar with music in other languages?

I come from a very musical family filled with composers, poets, singers, musicians. Both my parents sang and listened to Indian classical music constantly, where the compositions were often in Sanskrit. I am fluent in Telugu and Hindi and music in those languages, I can understand some Urdu, and, thanks to my husband, I know many popular Tamil songs. I have no musical talent unfortunately.

Stephen, the protagonist, reveals his perspective on the ethics of torture in times of war. How did you negotiate this topic as you were writing the novel?

That’s a tough one. Personally, I believe that people will confess to anything under duress, and there is no proof that torture provides useful information. Having said that, I can see how those that have seen battle, and experienced first hand the brutality and senselessness of the enemy, could resort to extreme measures in the hope that it could lead to any information that could prevent future tragedies.

What challenges did you face as you were writing SPY, INTERRUPTED: THE WAITING WIFE?

In the beginning, it came in a rush, like a video playing in my head and all I had to do was put it down in words. However, the actual craft of polishing it took several years and as many as 40 re-writes. The manuscript went from 120,000 words to 72,000! But I enjoyed every minute of it. I learn so much with each word I write. I hope readers will stay with me!

About T. Dasu

T. Dasu’s impressionable years were spent on multiple continents, and it is these richly varied experiences that serve as inspiration for Dasu’s writing. In addition to being a published author of both fiction and nonfiction works, Dasu also translates regional Indian fiction into English. Dasu enjoys classic stories of love and longing like Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera, and literary espionage exemplified by Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana.

About the Book

Jane Austen meets John le Carre in the riveting international romantic thriller Spy, Interrupted: The Waiting Wife, which follows a newlywed couple on an emotionally wrought journey rife with love, intrigue, and suspense.

When Nina Sharma falls in love with and marries the reclusive, New England aristocrat Stephen Edward James, she expects life will change. But she could not anticipate how. After six months of seemingly serene wedded bliss, a trip to India begins to unravel the secrets of Stephen’s hidden life—and the truth will have the pair evading terrorists and narrowly escaping with their lives. As Nina grapples with the truth about the stranger she married, Stephen must do everything in his power to keep his wife alive and bring down the men he’s hunting—and who are hunting him.

Then, the photographs start arriving…photos from a mysterious sender. Photos of Stephen and Nina in increasingly intimate moments.

Can Nina and Stephen’s fledgling love survive? Can they survive?

Filled with intriguing characters and plot twists that span multiple continents, Spy, Interrupted: The Waiting Wife is a unique and thrilling, cross-cultural novel about the strength and endurance of love.

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