What was your inspiration behind One Moment? There were a couple of ways into the idea for me. The first one is quite sad – a few years ago, I lost a close friend of mine. Sophie was only 28, and she died very suddenly of a brain aneurism. I was volunteering in Mozambique at...
Thank you so much for the early proof, we have loved all your books, but this one is particularly evocative and gripping, and we love the cover, it’s absolutely beautiful! The Secret Shore is such a powerful and moving novel, what inspired you to focus on wartime mapmakers? I’d known about the SOE (Special Operations...
I have a background in fashion and have always been particularly interested in the stories behind vintage clothes - all the memories associated with a special dress, for example. That was the starting point for this book which focuses on one very yellow vintage dress and the three women whose lives are brought together and altered forever by its history.
Thank you. It was a mixture of things really: a story I heard (a friend of a friend) who didn’t know who had fathered her child until many years later. Also, I have four grown up children and I’m watching them go out into the world with their own aspirations, knowing that like all humans, they will make bad choices and good ones. I’ve always been fascinated by the actions we take in our twenties, how they have a knockdown effect throughout our lives, and sometimes our children’s lives as well.
I’d been brainstorming wintery book ideas and thought it would be fun to put somebody who is super un-festive in somewhere super festive. I did a little research and found that you can apply to do seasonal work in Lapland, one of the most Christmassy places on earth. From there, I just had to figure out how I’d convince my leading lady, Myla, to make the trip...
I adore writing about the simple pleasures in life, so my books tend to revolve around love, friendship and community, set in beautiful places, as well as dealing with some of the more complex issues – a little grit in the oyster, if you like… (oops, get me, talking about food again!). I do like a plot device that contains a story within a short, specific time span and that’s something that works well for the eternally popular Christmas novel.
I've always loved the idea of quilting and how it brings people together and so when I decided to write a Christmas book set in the village of Butterbury, it seemed a lovely way to tell the story and the tangled web of relationships within one family.
We absolutely love Celebrations at the Chateau, what was your inspiration behind the book?
I fell in love with the Channel 4 programme Escape to the Chateau with Dick and Angel, followed by Chateau DIY with other British people buying chateaux and making them their homes and businesses. I just loved the bravery involved, the 'give it a go' attitude and when the going got tough, their 'dig deep' attitude. I would love to do this, I just know I'd never get any books written if I did! So I decided to write about it instead!
We loved Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone, what was the inspiration behind the story? I’m so pleased you enjoyed it. When I was little, I was a little obsessed with looking at gemstones in jewellery catalogues. My birthstone is peridot, for August, and I was jealous that other months had well-known glamorous stones, such as garnets,...
What was the inspiration behind A Home in the Sun?
A Home in the Sun was originally written in 2004/5. I was on a family holiday in Malta, where I was brought up for several years, and watched a tour bus pull up outside some apartments. A female guide left the bus and shouted up to a second-floor balcony, ‘Allo, Giorgio!’