Until I Find You
Rea Frey
St. Martins’s Press
August 11th, 2020
Until I Find You by Rea Frey is another story that has made her the domestic drama queen. It delves into the bond between a mother and her child.
Rebecca Grey has lost a lot. Her husband died in a car accident, her mother died while helping her with the baby, and she is losing her sight from a degenerative eye disease. Rebecca decides to move to the suburbs even though she knows nobody and is raising a new-born child. Able makes friends with a few moms, she still suffers from fear and anxiety over the safety of her child. Suffering from exhaustion Rebecca takes a few sleeping pills. But after she wakes up her worst fears become a reality.
She hears her son crying in the crib, goes to pick him up, and realizes he is not her son. Mother’s know their baby’s smell, touch, and breath. Horrified, Rebecca knows this is not her son. But no one believes her because she is almost blind and cannot see if it is her own child. No one except her past love, a police detective. Together they begin the desperate search to find the child.
This is a story of grief, confusion, fear, and frustration. It delves into a mother’s instinct and love for her child. But because of the twists and turns readers also realize it is also a story of forgiveness and kindness.
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Rea Frey: I kept having a recurring nightmare. I heard my baby cry out and went to pick him up. I realized he was not my child. After talking to my editor, we decided to have a vision impaired mother. I really challenged myself with this story.
EC: What research did you do regarding the blind?
RF: I live five minutes away from the Tennessee School For The Blind and also reached out to people on Facebook. I called the director of the school who sat with me for hours talking about daily tasks. The community was so supportive and helpful.
EC: Did you act out being blind?
RF: I did. I went to the neighborhood where the story takes place. My husband blindfolded me and took me around. I wanted to literally put myself in Rebecca’s shoes.
EC: How would you describe Rebecca?
RF: Capable and likes to do things on her own. She doesn’t ask for help which is a detriment to her. Overall, she is resilient, yet also stubborn.
EC: Why the kidnapping?
RF: I went through that fear personally. I had written my first book, Not Her Daughter, which had a kidnapping scene. I thought it was karma after I got this call from my daughter’s school saying she was not present. My husband had dropped her off. Needless to say, we were frantic. It ended up being a mistake by the school, but that few minutes was my worst fear.
EC: What did the role of blindness play?
RF: I think if Rebecca had her sight, her friends would not have questioned her, and the police would have been more diligent. It is a story about a mother knowing her own child. I think the betrayal she felt is very powerful. It seems to make its way into all of my books.
EC: Rebecca was a concert celloist until her blindness. Do you play the cello?
RF: I do not. But I play the violin a little and have played the saxophone forever.
EC: Can you give a head up about your next book?
RF: Secrets Of Black House, delves into what happens when a family is torn apart by secrets. Desi Waters is trying to hang onto the last summer before her daughter leaves for college. No matter that her twenty-year marriage is on the brink of divorce. No matter that her daughter falls madly in love and decides she doesn’t want to go to college after all. No matter that a decades-long secret Desi’s been keeping threatens to come out and ruin everything. After a sudden plane crash threatens their livelihood, Desi must decide what secrets are worth keeping and what she will do to save her family–and ultimately, herself.
THANK YOU!!
