December 5, 2014
In
Spy
By
tamraparni dasu
Finding a title for “Spy, Interrupted: The Waiting Wife” was quite a challenge.
At first it was called “A Hard-Won Happiness”. But that sounded like a self-help book, and
the hyphen didn’t help. Then I called it “The House on Castle Hill”, after the Victorian mansion where the hero, Stephen James, lives. That was misleading because the house didn’t play a central role…not in the first novel, at least. Besides, I wanted to allude to the two important characters.
After weeks of agonizing, we came up with the final title barely a day before we approved the proof. Interestingly, a man suggested the main title, and a woman suggested the subtitle. That’s how “Spy, Interrupted: The Waiting Wife” came to be.
I had a lot of fun playing with title ideas at the following link: