Dolly's novel makeover ‘MY LIFE GETS MORE THRILLING'

Not content with hit records and movies, the singer’s after a bestseller too

Two years ago, thriller writer James Patterson flew to Nashville – the world’s epicentre of country music – to visit Dolly Parton.

The pair had never met before and James had a rather surprising request: would Dolly team up with him to write a novel?

“I thought, ‘What? Why do you want to write a book with me? You’re doing all right on your own and I’m doing okay,’” Dolly laughs as she recalls the tête-à-tête between the two titans of entertainment. “He said, ‘No, I think this would be a good thing.’ So I thought, ‘Well, why not? I’m doing everything else!’”

This month, the fruits of their rather unusual collaboration have finally come to fruition.

The pair’s novel Run, Rose, Run is now on sale and tells the story of a young woman who moves to Nashville to follow her music dreams. She has a stack of songs and no small amount of talent, but she’s also running from a brutal past that threatens to catch up with her and destroy everything she’s worked so hard for.

At the same time as the thriller hit the stands, Dolly released an album – her first collection of original music in five years – containing 12 songs inspired by her heroine’s story and she admits the tale has some parallels with her own life.