Emma Rous is the USA Today bestselling author of The Au Pair and The Perfect Guests. She grew up in England, Indonesia, Kuwait, Portugal and Fiji, and from a young age she had two ambitions: to write stories, and to look after animals. She studied veterinary medicine and zoology at the University of Cambridge, then worked as a small animal veterinary surgeon for eighteen years before switching to full time writing in 2016. Emma lives in Cambridgeshire with her husband and three sons.
Please summarise your career journey…
After graduating in 1997, I took a vet job at a small animal practice in Cambridgeshire and stayed there for over eighteen years — working full time initially, then part time after having children. In 2016, I took a career break in order to try my hand at writing fiction. In 2017, I signed with a literary agent, and I’ve had two novels published so far. Both have been translated into multiple languages, and the first has been optioned for TV.
Going from a vet in practice to a bestselling author with a TV option from a leading studio sounds like something, ahem, out of a novel. How did this come about?
It does a bit! I’d always been drawn to the idea of writing fiction, but I never managed to squeeze it in alongside my vet job and looking after my children. The desire bubbled under the surface for years until, eventually, I reached a “now or never” moment. I handed in my notice (a pretty emotional act after nearly two decades at the same practice) and sat down at my desk with no knowledge of the publishing industry whatsoever, but a determination to write something that a publisher might be interested in buying.
It was a steep learning curve, but fifteen months later, a literary agent named Rebecca Ritchie read the manuscript of my novel and offered me representation. She negotiated with publishers on my behalf, securing a “pre-empt” offer for world rights to my book, and she also found me a film agent. My first novel sold in eighteen territories, including to Penguin Random House in the US, and it has been optioned for a global TV series by a major studio (although screen projects can take years and there are never any guarantees). My second novel came out during the pandemic, which made the process a whole lot tougher, but it is still selling reasonably well in multiple countries.
It sounds like you took a very objective view about your writing from the outset, with clear aims in mind. Do you think this has been important to the success of your writing?
Yes, I think so. From day one, I treated it as a full time (albeit unpaid) job. There’s a lot of excellent writing advice on the internet, and I learnt as much from that as I could. I was drawn to writing so-called literary fiction at first, but I soon realised that commercial fiction had a better chance of earning me an income (which sounds obvious written down, but I hadn’t appreciated the key differences between the two until then — I enjoyed reading both). I began by writing a children’s book and submitting it to a dozen or so literary agents, and I was excited to receive some encouraging feedback in amongst the standard rejections. But I decided to treat that as a practice, because by then I felt I could write something bigger and better. That’s when I threw myself into writing my first novel.
The process of submitting a manuscript to literary agents is surprisingly complex and time consuming, but it’s also compulsively enjoyable. When I sent out my novel, I still faced a number of rejections before three agents expressed an interest. As a writer, you can’t afford to take rejection personally, and you have to accept that there’s a great deal of luck involved.
What might a typical day look like for you?
It depends on which stage of the process I’m at. I do most of my planning sitting on the sofa with my iPad, my dog, and endless cups of tea. When I’m in the thick of writing, you’ll find me hunched over my PC in the attic at any hour, seven days a week. During the editing phase, I tend to stick to office hours and try to catch up on life admin and laundry in my breaks. And when the focus is on marketing and publicity, I might be writing articles for literary websites, doing radio interviews, or chatting to book bloggers on social media. No two days are the same: I have periods when I work ridiculously hard, and periods when I’m gleefully lazy.
Was it difficult to make the decision to leave practice? What factors were involved in the decision?
Yes, it was a difficult decision, and it was several years in the making. We had reached the stage as a family where it was financially possible for me to drop to zero income for a while, and I initially framed it to myself as a two-year career break. On an emotional level, it helped enormously to have the full support of my husband, and to have a boss who said they’d be open to having me back if I changed my mind. My practice had already been fantastic at letting me work hours that suited me, but I did carry worries from work home with me quite often, and childcare could be difficult in school holidays or when my boys were ill. Although I didn’t leave practice in order to improve my work/life balance, I did instantly feel the benefit of being free to adapt my working hours whenever my children needed me.
It must have been a big change after eighteen years in practice. How did you find the transition?
I absolutely loved it. I have so many friends who say they’d hate to work at home by themselves, and I understand that, but after eighteen years in a busy teamwork environment, I was more than ready to spend some time “in my own head”. Until I immersed myself in writing, I had no idea that I would love it this much — the creative flow is addictive, and whole days pass by in a flash.
Have any skills or qualities you developed as a vet been helpful in your new career?
Towards the end of my years in practice, I worked shorter shifts at multiple branch surgeries, which meant I spent hardly any time operating and was mostly consulting. I think that having that opportunity to really listen to clients’ life stories (when we weren’t too busy) and get a glimpse into their thoughts was immensely valuable for when I started writing. I’ve also been told by more than one publishing person that I’m noticeably good at meeting deadlines, which I suspect relates to the need to ring clients promptly with blood results!
Does being a writer differ from your initial expectations?
Yes. There’s so much about the publishing process I had no idea about — from how many different cover designs each of my novels would have (with all the foreign translations, my first novel has fourteen), to the emotional intensity of publication week and how generous other authors are in offering their support. I’ve learnt a huge amount.
Do you miss veterinary practice?
No. I have countless happy memories from the eighteen years I spent in practice, but the time was right to move on, and I love what I do now. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to enjoy two such completely different and fulfilling careers.
I do miss my lovely former colleagues, of course, but we keep in touch — in fact, I’m meeting one for lunch tomorrow.
What has been your greatest satisfaction or top success along the way?
Seeing my book in People magazine was a big one. And receiving offers from film and TV companies. But there’s a whole collection of moments — celebrating on the Hachette rooftop terrace overlooking the Thames with my editor and agent, seeing my name beneath the iconic Penguin symbol, signing my books in Waterstones… I know I’m not answering the question properly, but I can’t single one out!
What advice could you share with others considering switching to non-clinical work or otherwise contemplating a major career change?
We’re lucky, as veterinary professionals, that there is always a route back into clinical work if we want it, which gives us the freedom to explore other options. If you’re hesitant about trying something different, it might help to think of it as a two-year experiment or a sabbatical. The Vets: Stay, Go or Diversify private Facebook group offers a wealth of support for vets and vet nurses looking to adjust their career paths. Don’t be inhibited by other people’s opinions; do what you want to do.
I know that equal opportunities, diversity and inclusivity are subjects close to your heart. How do you think vet schools and the profession can encourage these?
We all have a responsibility to demystify the profession and make it clear that it’s open to everyone: you don’t need to have come from a particular type of school or background, and while you do need good grades, they don’t have to be “perfect”. The BVA’s new myth-busting guide to vet school entry does an excellent job at emphasising this.
My youngest son’s school recently benefitted from a talk by former RCVS President, Mandisa Greene, who went through her entire time at vet school in the UK without ever meeting another black vet student. That’s pretty shocking. There’s a degree of truth in the saying, “you can’t be what you can’t see”, which is why this sort of outreach to schoolchildren is so powerful. I know that Janika Patel, a member of your editorial board here at Veterinary Woman, is another vet who’s pro-active in inspiring people of colour to consider joining the veterinary profession. We all need to grab opportunities to boost that message. Every young person who is interested in science and animals deserves access to clear, honest, up-to-date advice about veterinary careers.
What books have you read recently?
I’m currently reading How To Own the Room by Viv Groskop, not because I have any public speaking in mind but because I suspected it would be interesting and entertaining — and it is. My recent fiction binges have included books by some of my favourite psychological suspense authors: Finders Keepers by Sabine Durant and The Heights by Louise Candlish.
Your books contain a lot of secrets. Have you got any skeletons in your closet?
Does creating fake appointments for colleagues under the name of Ben Dover count? If not, then I couldn’t possibly say.
So, what’s next for Emma Rous? Can we look forward to more mysteries, secrets and intrigue?
I’m currently in the middle of plotting out my third novel. It’s been incubating for a long time (I didn’t feel very creative during the height of the pandemic) but I’m enjoying it enormously and I hope it will be my best yet. I deliberately avoided writing about the veterinary world in my first two books, but with this one I might relax that self-imposed rule a little!
The Au Pair and The Perfect Guests are widely available in all formats (print, ebook, audiobook and large print) and can be ordered from all good bookshops. Country-specific shopping links are available under the books’ titles on Emma’s website: http://emmarous.com
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