Jennifer Bray

Because there's a picture of it from the trial and it literally, my face is wide open.

I mean, I remember waking up the next day after the surgery and it, that really, it really hit me.

And I felt, I felt so bad for the other people.

Like it was a ward that I was in and I was bawling my eyes out, like sobbing my heart out.

And my cousin was there and, and, and she had been stabbed in the arm.

Otherwise, you know, that's sorry.

I was going to say, otherwise she's okay.

Like she's obviously not okay.

um and she was amazing and she kind of just held my hand through that and then so I had a big bandage on my face yeah and I had to keep that in for I think a week and then I went to get the stitches out after a week and that was really hard as well and the whole experience I remember insisting that I go home on my own afterwards I don't know why yeah and I sat in my apartment sounds like

like it's almost like an assertion that you're fine yeah I think it's like I'm okay I don't need help yeah I'm fine I'm good like I just need some time and I remember sitting in the apartment of my own looking sitting on my bed and there's like a wardrobe mirror across me and just going my life is over like my life is over I'm destroyed like I'm never gonna 21 like yeah and I just thought I don't know how I'm gonna get through this yeah I don't know how like and I just it was very dark um but I don't know why as well I was like I'm gonna go back to work

it's fine like none of these things I properly dealt with and I think that's probably why I've been finding publicity like in my mind a big mountain um but actually it's been great thanks to people like you being so sound and being like really nice in interviews but um yeah so that's kind of that's what that's what happened and then in the years after I'm so lucky that I've good skin and I heal it's healed amazing yeah beautiful skin thank you um

And yeah, I think that I adopted a let's get on with life thing and I'm fine because look, I'm great.

And then like I'm grand.

And then, oh my God, like you think after 15 years that you've dealt with something and then you go to talk about it.

No, it's so,

crazy I was like in a trance writing this and you know and actually when I even was recounting to you there about seeing my reflection in the mirror yeah that happens to my character in the book it does so now that also wasn't deliberate you know but when I wrote it I was in a trance and I wasn't like it was actually really weird I'd write it and then go right time for dinner

like there was no like this is so hard yeah it was only afterwards when I started editing the book yeah and reading back I was like wait did I write that yeah and that was strange and that was a bit confronting um even then I was like okay

And then we started talking six, you start your publicity chat six months before publication.

And then we started, you know, what things might people ask?

And it was like, well, they're gonna ask.