Heather Marshall: I Can’t Plan Too Much When I Write
In this interview, author Heather Marshall discusses wanting to shine a light on a little-known piece of women’s history in her new novel, Liberty Street.
Heather Marshall is the #1 bestselling author of Looking for Jane and The Secret History of Audrey James. She worked in politics and communications before turning her attention to her true passion: storytelling. Heather lives with her family near Toronto. Follow her on Instagram.
In this interview, Heather discusses wanting to shine a light on a little-known piece of women’s history in her new novel, Liberty Street, her advice for other writers, and more.
Name: Heather Marshall
Literary agent: Hayley Steed, Janklow & Nesbit U.K.
Book title: Liberty Street
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release date: June 16, 2026
Genre/category: Historical Fiction
Previous titles: Looking for Jane, The Secret History of Audrey James
Elevator pitch: A 1960s journalist goes undercover at a notorious women’s prison to break the story of the terrible conditions there, while a detective tries to identify a body in an unmarked grave in 1996.
What prompted you to write this book?
This one, as many of my ideas do, came from falling down an internet rabbit hole. I was on maternity leave with my first child, who loved to nap in my arms. So, I spent a lot of time reading and doing research with my thumbs on my phone. I don’t even recall exactly how, but I came across a reference to the Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women that was in Toronto’s Liberty Village until the late 60s, and it rang a bell. I realized I knew about it from a memoir I’d read in university, written by a woman who was incarcerated there. It felt like another piece of our history, and women’s history, that the average reader might not know about, and I love to shine a light on those little-known bits of our shared past. So, I decided to run with it.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
The idea solidified for me in the summer of 2021, before my debut Looking for Jane had even been published, and when I was just beginning work on my second novel, The Secret History of Audrey James. I made some notes at that point, but because I was working on my second book, Liberty Street was put on the back burner for a while. I still did bits of research here and there, and I knew I was excited to write it eventually. As for drafts, my writing process is a bit more fluid than some other authors, so I don’t often do a lot of drafts; I do the first one with a lot of intention and then edit from there. Once I was freed up to really start writing after I finished Audrey James, I wrote the first draft of Liberty Street in about a year. And no, for this one, the final book stayed true to my original idea. This was a very smooth and natural writing process for me, which was great. That doesn’t always happen!
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I’m not much of a planner when I write (and I’m envious of writers who are!), so the story often emerges for me as I write and get to know the characters better. So, the surprises usually come in the form of plot twists or new directions that I myself didn’t even see coming! I love when the characters start really speaking for themselves in my mind, and often they help me come up with an even better idea than my original. I can’t plan too much when I write, I need to leave room for those surprises, because planning too much, for me personally, doesn’t leave room for me to come up with that better idea.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
As with all my novels, my biggest hope is that my writing sparks meaningful conversations. The most gratification I get as a writer is when I hear from readers and book clubs that the themes, characters, or story got them talking, thinking, or seeing something from a new angle. So, I hope for the same from Liberty Street. I hope people start talking openly about the things we’re used to whispering about.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
My debut novel, Looking for Jane, wasn’t the first manuscript I wrote. Like many authors, I’ve got that book that’s in the drawer and will likely never see the light of day. But I learned a lot in writing it—both about my own voice and process as a writer, and about the industry—and it holds value just as a learning exercise. So, I would say, if you’re a writer aspiring to be published, keep writing. If you pitch a book to agents and they say no, come up with another idea, write a new book, and try again. Market trends are so variable, and what agents say no to in one year, they might be actively looking for a few years later. Sometimes the timing just isn’t right. But keep at it and persevere.
Also, be sure to write what you love. And I don’t even mean that philosophically, I mean it very pragmatically: After you’ve written a book, you’ll have to reread your own work about 23 times during the editing process, so you really do have to love the genre you’re writing in!
