LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE MARCH-SEPTEMBER ISSUE | Page 54

The Good Liar is published on Thursday by Penguin Viking (£12.99).
Kit de Waal: ‘You don’t casually write about vulnerable people for
your own entertainment – or anyone else’s’

Kit De Waal drew on experience working in social services, foster care,
adoption panels and as a magistrate for her debut novel. Photograph:
Karen Robinson for the Observer
De Waal’s debut is told from the viewpoint of a boy in care and,
with her life and career experience, it didn’t require much research
“If I was 25, I might have thought, ‘I’ll see where this goes,’ but at 51,
you’re more like: ‘I haven’t got time to be pissing around, I want to get
published!’” Kit de Waal grins, remembering how ambitious she felt at
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