Evie Hudson is a woman with amnesia, who forgets the last 13 years. Piecing her life back together, she navigates the harsh realities of coercive control.

Evie is the leading character in local author Emma Grey’s second novel Pictures of You.

Her debut book, The Last Love Note, sold more than 100,000 books worldwide within a few months of being published last year. 

“I think that using amnesia really helped [show the effects of coercive control] because she had that sense of being completely lost in her own life,” Emma says of her new work of fiction. 

“It was heightened, which isn’t unlike how people find themselves in a life they never imagined.” 

Inspired by her daughter’s doctoral work in gendered violence and various conversations she’d had with friends regarding controlling behaviour in partners, Emma brings a hauntingly beautiful approach to finding love and the hopelessness that can swallow a person when in an abusive or coercive relationship. 

“It’s lovely to be working closely with my adult daughter in the area of interest that she’s dedicated her career to,” Emma says. 

“I feel like I’m honouring her work, and trying to take some of the academic work that she’s doing and put it into a fictional story that is hopefully accessible to a lot of people.” 

Emma’s lifelong dream of becoming a writer was inspired after watching the mini series of Anne of Green Gables, falling instantly in love with Gilbert Blythe and Anne.

“I loved the fact that [Anne] had this dream and it didn’t go smoothly,” she says. 

“So I raced to the local news agency, got a notebook and pen and started writing a novel at 14.”

“At the time, my sister looked at me and said ‘why are you wasting your school holidays on homework?’ and I realised that that was what being a writer was.

“It’s about having a story that won’t leave your mind. 

“An imaginary world that you’re carrying around that you want to get on the page.” 

Emma, 51, who already has three Young Adult novels and two musicals under her belt, initially took a deep dive into adult fiction with her first novel, tackling topics of grief and loss following the death of her husband.

Pictures of You again delves into prominent issues facing the world. 

According to her research with the National Women’s Safety Alliance, violence against women affects more than one third of women globally. 

In the 2021-22 ABS Personal Safety Survey, more than one in four women aged 18 years and above were recorded to have experienced violence, emotional abuse or economic abuse by a partner. 

One statistic that shocked Emma during her research was that in 98 per cent of intimate-partner homicides, coercive control already existed in the relationship.

“Physical violence is the last thing that happens after a long period of manipulation and control,” says Emma.

“I wanted to be very responsible in how I wrote about this topic.

“I didn’t want to romanticise the toxic relationship and I think that’s the real danger because many of these controlling relationships begin with love bombing, which may feel at the time like it’s a glorious descent into love and you’re the central character in this person’s life.”

According to Emma, Evie’s story – set in Sydney, Newcastle and surrounds – hopes to emphasise the importance of standing up against what is wrong. 

“Walking past that behaviour is as bad as doing it,” says Emma. 

“This is my attempt in not walking past it.”

Despite this, she can’t help but ensure her characters get their own happily ever afters. 

“I do like to inject some hope into every book that I write,” she says.

“I’m a romantic and I wish for people to have that second chance of a healthy, lovely relationship after they’ve lost someone or been through a divorce or abusive relationship.”