Leah Rowan’s Brilliant Twist on an Iconic Classic

Marion by Leah Rowan

Her name is Marion. Actually, it isn’t, but never mind. You know the type: young, blonde and pretty enough. The first girl to die in the slasher films. But not this time.

Alarmed by her sister’s abusive, controlling husband, Marion has decided to steal money from her oblivious employer, and race to save her, but along the way, she stops at a remote motel run by a slightly odd young man named Norm. Exhausted, Marion steps into the shower, turns up the water, the shower rings suddenly screech loudly, and…

“You think you know how this story ends.

“You don’t.”

We’ve all seen Psycho. Leah Rowan’s Marion turns it on its head, in a bloody tale of female rage and empowerment that is one of the most astonishing, exhilarating novels you’re likely to read this year. Getting the drop on Norm, she kills him instead, and…”Had I always been a deeply fucked-up person just waiting for my moment? Was I somehow enjoying this?”

The answer is yes, but she can’t stop to think about it. There are still so many obstacles in front of her. There’s a body to dispose of, of course. There’s that abusive husband of her sister’s. There’s the boss, who isn’t anywhere near as oblivious – or as nice – as he’s pretended to be. And there seems to be someone following Marion.

That someone is Hannah Pierce, a fledgling law firm investigator on her first real assignment, to find a missing blonde girl. Hannah has a whole lot to prove – to her law firm, to her disapproving parents and most of all to herself – and, just like Marion, she’s about to discover a side of herself she never knew existed.

But again: You think you know where this novel is going.

You don’t.

As twist follows twist, and revelation follows revelation, Marion constantly keeps us on our toes, reinventing itself as it goes along, subverting every thriller stereotype about heroes and villains and victims we thought we knew. You’ll finish it, and then start to wonder: What are you capable of?

Inside Leah Rowan’s Twisted Inspiration

“I promise I am not making this up,” says Leah Rowan. “The idea for the novel actually came to me in the shower. That famous scene has been stuck in my head since I first watched it with my mom in the fourth grade, one of those things that still lives rent-free in my brain. There I was, washing my hair, and my mind just started turning. What would actually happen if someone came up on you in a compromising situation like that? What would you do? What if Marion responded differently, too quickly for Norm to get her? What if she kneed him in the crotch and grabbed the knife from him? Once I started asking these questions, I knew I had to answer them, and the entire story evolved from that point.”

So did her relationship with her characters: “What I love about Marion is that she has this rage that she’s pushed down for so long, until the circumstances in the book bring it to light. I think all women can relate to, for example, experiencing workplace sexism and not really having any power to stop it. Or having a friend or loved one in a bad relationship and not knowing how to possibly help. Her reactions are outsized, violent, and of course not something I would ever do myself, but I can relate to the desperation in wanting to change an unfair situation and not being able to – and at least the desire to take back some of the power that’s been taken from you.

“Hannah, too. I love her dearly. She wants to right the world’s wrongs and is trying to find her own place in the world in which to do it. She is idealistic and outspoken and maybe a little impulsive, but I love all those things about her.”

The timelines for these two women are very different, however, and only gradually converge, amidst a slew of complications that you won’t see coming. How difficult was it for the author to keep everything clear in her mind?

“I absolutely could not have done it without my powerhouse copyeditors and proofreaders, who helped me keep track. But as far as keeping it all straight while writing, I don’t, not really. My first draft is really about getting everything down and not checking to make sure it’s all working just yet. I write it as best I can, resisting  any urge to go back and edit as I go, and I catch most of the mistakes in revision. I’m a big fan of writing freely for a first draft (though I do use a loose outline) and then doing the most detailed work (timelines, maps, more detailed research, etc.) in the successive versions.

“That goes for themes, too. In later drafts, I read for the ones that are already coming up and work to push them further, but the most important thing is that it feels like a natural evolution, rather than something I’m going back and adding at the end – that the themes come from actions, thoughts, and dialogue that’re true for the characters.”

Horror Tropes Rewritten

True for the sources, as well: “I couldn’t have written this book without a deep and abiding love of Hitchcock’s many films, most of which I’ve seen. Marion is of course heavily inspired by Psycho, but truly all of his movies have taught me something about tension, drama, and the power of slow-burn suspense. But this story in particular is a nod to all the ‘first girls to die’ in movies, starting with Marion Crane, of course, but echoing over the decades with Annie Brackett in Halloween and Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) in Scream. Hitchcock basically created this trope with his spectacular twist in Psycho, and it’s one that has held on through the ages. I had so much fun turning it on its head and letting one of these beautiful women take charge.”

And there is one other woman she wants to acknowledge, as well. Leah Rowan has written other novels under the name Leah Konen, “but for this book, which dips a toe in the horror genre, something I’ve always deeply respected and loved, and is the story of a woman with more agency than any character I’ve written before, I was so excited to use a name I’ve loved since I was a little girl – Rowan is my maternal grandmother’s maiden name. She was a teacher back in the 1940s, before I was born, and I never got to know her. I love being able to honor her in this way, by writing henceforth as Leah Rowan.”

The next Rowan novel is “a story of mistaken identity and high-profile crime, and it’s helmed by yet another very complicated woman on the run. I can’t wait to share more when it’s ready.”

Once you’ve read Marion, you won’t want to wait, either.