Kirsty Applebaum introduces The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good

About Author

Kirsty Applebaum introduces her novel, The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good, and tells ReadingZone about the fables and fairytales that inspired it.

Kirsty is the award-winning author of books including The Middler, Troofriend and The Life and Time of Lonny Quicke (Nosy Crow Books). She was born in Essex and grew up in Hampshire. She has had a wide variety of jobs including bookselling, railway re-signalling, picking stones off conveyor belts, putting lids on perfume bottles and teaching Pilates. She now lives with her husband on top of a hill in Winchester.

Interview

September 2025

Kirsty Applebaum introduces The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good

In The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good, a fable-like story about a missing girl, a hidden garden and a strange fairytale, author Kirsty Applebaum explores the power of the storyteller and the nature of stories themselves, as well as exploring themes of friendship and acceptance.

In the story, Fran is dreading going to stay with her cousin, Imogen, as they don't really get on. But when she arrives at her aunt and uncle's house, Imogen is nowhere to be seen. What is more peculiar is that even her parents don't remember who she is. It is up to Fran to find out what has happened.

Find out more about The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good; Read a chapter

Q&A with Kirsty Applebaum: The power of storytelling, creating fables and writing techniques

"Stories can be passed down through time and still be affecting us hundreds of years later,
even though those who started them are long gone."

1. Hello Kirsty, and thank you for joining us on ReadingZone. Can you start by telling us what drew you first to writing for children and young people? What are your favourite kinds of stories?

I have always loved stories - not just in books but in films and on TV shows too. When we were young my sister and I would argue over what channel to watch on the television - I always wanted to watch a story, while she wanted to watch sport. I particularly dreaded Wimbledon fortnight as it was tennis, tennis, tennis on the TV all day long!

I used to enjoy writing stories when I was young but as I got older this trailed off temporarily, and I did lots of different things when I started work. For example, I worked as a computer programmer for a while, and as a Pilates teacher after that. It was only when I had my own children and started sharing stories with them that I realised I wanted to be a children's author. I spent several years improving my writing skills before getting my first publishing contract, which was for The Middler.

I enjoy all kinds of stories - I really am up for anything. That said, I particularly like stories that are set in the real world but also have a little bit of magic in them. I think this is because I love a bit of magic, and placing it in the real world makes me feel as though it really could be true! I also like stories that have several different parts which gradually come together in your mind as you read, to create the full picture. This is the effect I wanted to create with my latest book.

2. What is your new book, The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good, about?

The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good tells the story of a girl called Fran, who discovers her cousin Imogen is missing. Not only this, but Fran appears to be the only person who remembers Imogen at all - even Imogen's own parents have forgotten her.

Fran realises that it's down to her to find her Imogen, and she begins investigating. Her search leads to a mysterious hidden garden in the grounds of an old manor house called Stillness Hall. Could the terrifying tales the local people tell about the hidden garden hold the key to Imogen's disappearance?

3. What was the starting point for this story, and how did it develop? Did stories like Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince influence it?

In The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good, two stories run parallel to each other - the modern-day story of Fran searching for her cousin, and a tragic tale about the first owners of Stillness Hall. So there were actually two starting points for the book, one for each story.

The starting point for Fran's story was one of my favourite books - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. In Rebecca, the main character marries a man called Maxim and moves into his large manor house. She is surrounded by things that belonged to Maxim's first wife, Rebecca - things Rebecca chose, used and wore - but everyone avoids talking honestly to her about Rebecca. This inspired the idea of Fran's arriving at her aunt and uncle's house to find that no one will acknowledge Imogen's existence, despite them being surrounded by Imogen's belongings, including photographs and things with her name written on.

The starting point for the tragic tale about Lord and Lady Stillness was indeed a fairytale by Oscar Wilde - The Selfish Giant. In The Selfish Giant the giant has a beautiful garden, but he's angry when he finds children playing in it, so he builds a high wall around it to stop them getting in. I found this idea quite captivating, and decided to write a fairy tale that could explain why someone would be so angry at children playing in their garden that they would want to keep them away.

It is interesting that you mention Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince as well, because that fairy tale also inspired this story, but not in such a deliberate and conscious way. After I'd written the book, I was looking for illustrations of The Selfish Giant when I came upon an illustration of The Happy Prince - and the picture on the front, of a golden statue prince standing on a tall pillar, made me realise that this fairy tale, too, had inspired my story, without me realising it. (I won't say any more about that, to avoid spoilers.) The subconscious mind is always at work when we're writing, and it was delightful to set eyes on that picture and realise it so clearly.

4. The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good has a fable-like quality to it. How did you create this, and why do you make the storyteller so central to it?

I just love a story where folk tales, fairy tales and fables collide with a modern-day setting. That's what I've aimed to do in The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good and I think that's one of the key aspects that provides that fable-like quality. The story-teller's direct-to-audience voice adds to the fable feel (for example: "But as we already know, dear reader, magic has ideas of its own".) It's as if we're sitting around a fire with her, while she spins her stories.

There is also an unreal quality about much of the story, (for example: "One hundred clerks copied it onto one hundred parchment scrolls, and one hundred of the fastest horsemen took the scrolls to one hundred towns across the land".) This gives the impression that, while the tale may have started off as something true, it has been shaped and refined over the centuries. I hope that all this has given the story of Lord and Lady Stillness the feel of a real, aged folk tale.

I used the storytellers (both the one who features in the story and the one who tells it) to create this folk-tale effect but also to emphasize the power of storytelling; to show how stories can be passed down through time and still be affecting us hundreds of years later, even though those who started them are long gone. In the story, Lady Stillness is aware of this power when she makes her orders about the garden at Stillness Hall.

Perhaps we can even take this story-telling theme further, and question the stories we tell ourselves - are they really true, or have we spun ourselves a yarn, without realising it? For example, is the 'story' that Fran tells herself about Imogen's character at the beginning of the book really true, or has Fran taken a small amount of truth and shaped it herself over time? Should she question it, and find out what Imogen's true character really is? Perhaps some stories are good for us, and some are not.

5. Imogen Good's story is told from multiple perspectives, including past and present, third and first person, narrator and narrative. Why did you decide to do this, and has this made it a challenging novel to plot?

I wanted to achieve different effects with the different voices. With Fran I used first person and present tense because I wanted the reader to be right there inside her head, so they could feel close to her and directly experience everything she goes through.

With the old tale, The Twelve Statues of Stillness Hall, I wanted completely the opposite, in order to achieve the storyteller effect. I used a third person, past tense, omniscient voice, able to know the thoughts of all the characters, but also able to draw back and look at the whole picture - even into the future at times. It's able, too, to reach right out of the story to speak to the reader directly.

For the third character (I won't name them, to avoid spoilers) I used a third person, present tense voice, not as distanced as the storyteller's, but not as close as Fran's. I chose this so the reader feels slightly 'held at arm's length' from the character, so they fully experience the character's self-controlled, rational personality.

The book was very challenging to plot! It felt like it could have been written in a million different ways, but I wanted to find a way that would maximise tension and make the story truly compelling. At one point, when I had written an initial draft of both the old and modern-day stories, I printed everything out, chopped it all up into sections and spread it all over the floor. Then I rearranged everything and paperclipped it back together in various ways to find the best order to put it in.

6. Who are the three girls at the heart of the novel, and how do they develop through the story?

The three girls - Fran, Bex and Imogen - are my favourite thing about this book. They have very different personalities, and different strengths and weaknesses, and I love them all. I feel that the story gives a small snapshot in time of the three of them growing up, learning how to make the most of their own skills and strengths and - importantly - learning to recognise and appreciate different strengths in others around them. I love to imagine what jobs these girls might do when they grow up and I've thought of lots of options for them! (Fran, I think, will be an entrepreneur as she is never afraid to try things and make mistakes.)

7. Can you tell us about the setting for the novel, Stillness Hall. Is it based on or inspired by a real place? Do you set your stories in places you know?

Stillness Hall is not a direct representation of a particular place, but it is inspired by several English country homes. For example, it's partly inspired by Shrubland Hall in Suffolk. My great grandfather worked as a woodman at Shrubland Hall, and my grandmother and her brothers and sisters grew up in a cottage on the estate. Readers of The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good will know that there is a woodman in the story, and that the Stillness Estate has cottages which were built for the servants at Stillness Hall.

Another English country home that inspired the story is Uppark House, in West Sussex. It has servant's tunnels underground, which are said to have inspired the subterranean living of H.G. Wells' Morlocks in The Time Machine.

Similarly, my other books are also inspired by places I know, rather than specifically set in them. The Life and Time of Lonny Quicke is set in an ancient walled town inspired by my home city of Winchester. In TrooFriend, there is a man-made river, inspired by the Jubilee River (in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire) which I lived very close to as it was being constructed. The setting of The Middler is inspired by my childhood setting of Compton Down in Hampshire.

8. There are many themes explored through the novel, including storytelling, change, friendship and teamwork. What kinds of discussions do you hope The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good might raise?

I think some of the strongest themes in the book are about recognising and valuing differing strengths, in ourselves and in others. Perhaps it might also raise discussions about working alone versus working together; and also on the power of storytelling. For example, is story telling helpful or harmful? Perhaps it depends on the circumstances, and on the particular story.

The book could also raise discussion about writing techniques. For example: how to achieve different effects depending on who is telling the story; how tension might be built; how repeated images can be used; how a setting might contribute to the plot; how characters' personalities are conveyed; and what sort of ending do you like in a story?

9. For readers who enjoy The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good, which of your earlier novels would you suggest they could move on to?

If you like the way the old tale weaves together with the modern-day story to create tension, I would recommend The Life and Time of Lonny Quicke. If you like seeing the friendships between the girls grow and change throughout the story, I would recommend TrooFriend. If you like Fran's courageous nature and the adventure aspects of the story, I would recommend The Middler.

10. When you're not writing, what does a favourite day look like for you?

I volunteer for the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, looking after Hearing Dog puppies until they are old enough for their advanced sound training. At the moment we have a gorgeous cockapoo living with us, so my favourite thing to do is spend the day with her. I love taking her to the beach or the forest for a walk - and if there's somewhere I can get a cup of tea and a piece of cake, then even better! Afterwards, when we get back home and the puppy falls asleep, you'll find me reading a book.

School visits: Contact Kirsty to arrange a school event via Authors Aloud. Kirsty offers both virtual and in-person events for Years 5, 6 and 7, including assembly-style events and creative writing workshops, or virtual talks, as well as events for Year 2 focusing on her Princess Minna books.

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