“The reason I thought the cleaner had taken my brush wasn’t because of value. It was to get back at me, you see.”

What started as the innocuous tale of a missing hairbrush, potentially stolen by a hotel cleaner, quickly turned into an exciting novel about kleptomania and control. 

It may have been just a small and fairly innocuous moment in Senta Rich’s life, but she morphed it into something spectacular - her debut novel Hotel 21. In the book we follow hotel cleaner Noelle, a seemingly model employee who can’t help taking little ‘souvenirs’ from the rooms. In this episode we delve into the life of a kleptomaniac, and what might drive someone to steal an abundance of meaningless treasures.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why you should remain inquisitive and curious at all times.
• The questions you should be conscious about when you begin putting pen to paper.
• Why you should tap up the experts in your life for information.

Find out more about Senta here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production, and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up to the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here. 

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine

Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk