Reworking a Classic

Many directors and authors have used Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window as a frame for their own story line. The plot details the events of a person who is spying on their neighbor and witnesses a murder. A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window, talks about his book that follows a similar narrative, and how he used his personal experience to make it a story of his own.Despite sharing some of the same details with other books, Finn wanted his version to rely on the emotional aspects of the story because of his experience with mental illness. He explains, “ …I plugged into the narrative this character who had experienced much of what I’ve experienced, who had struggled much as I had struggled, whose grief felt to me comparable in intensity even though our circumstances were different, and if The Woman in the Window is notable for anything, and I hope it is, I would like it to be the emotional resonance.” Listen to Finn tell us more about the inspiration behind his debut novel, as well as his own story of mental illness.