Out & About July 2017

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Not feeling pressured or rushed is essential. I
like to have a calm desk and to be able to see
outside.
Despite that preference, many years of
squeezing writing into any available moment
means that I can now write pretty much
anywhere.
When I travel by train I just get the notebook
out and pop back to the 18th century.
Walking and generally being at one with nature
also helps me to get my head into the right
place for writing. I’m fortunate that where I live
is perfect for that, as I really am surrounded by
nature.
I have a peaceful den at home where I can
slip away to write. My desk looks out over my
garden and the countryside beyond so, if I’m
ever lacking inspiration, I can just gaze out of
the window.
As a girl, I was captivated by CS Lewis’
Chronicles of Narnia and spent half my life
looking for this magical land in wardrobes and
woodland. I feel as though I’ve finally found it.
Do you remember getting that all-important
publishing contract?
Definitely, that’s something I won’t ever forget. I
remember feeling the swell of excitement when
I first got the email.
I’d uploaded my work on a peer critique
website. My (then) agent saw my work, signed
me up and found me a publisher.
It only really felt real when I shared the news
with my writing group, Word Watchers. We’re a
close group and they were all very excited for
me. We celebrated with a big bottle (or two) of
bubbly.
It took me 11 years to find a publisher. These
days though, I know more about the industry
and, looking back, would have done things
differently.
If I had got out and networked and attended
publishing industry events and conferences I
think I would have found an agent much faster.
Your work has been described as
“outstanding in historical content fact and
fiction”. What was it that made you decide
to write historical fiction?
I wrote a novel about the Second World War.
It was set during my parents’ time, therefore
I didn’t really regard it as historical, but I
had to research to fill in the gaps in my own
knowledge. I enjoyed the research side so
much that I decided to try my hand at historical
fiction.
I considered writing in the Regency or
Georgian eras, but so many writers were
already doing this, I decided against it –
although I have now written books set in these
times. I studied Henry VIII to death at school so
the Tudors were out too.
Then, one day, my father gave me a copy of
Pepys’ Diaries. I was so entranced with the
level of detail that I fell in love with the era and
decided that this would be a good starting point
for my next novel The Apothecary’s Daughter .
What books do you like to lose yourself in
when you are not writing?
My all-time favourite is Daphne Du Maurier’s
Rebecca.
I’m virtually never not writing, but when I do
read it is usually something that in some way
contributes to the research for my next book.
However, I do like to get my teeth into a good
mystery or a psychological thriller. I also read
historical novels to see what other authors are
doing.
Right now I’m reading Amitav Ghosh’s, The
Glass Palace as research for the novel I’m
working on, The Palace of Lost Dreams. The
story is set in Hyderabad, India, just after the
fall of the Mughal Empire and at the creation
of the Raj.
It’s a really fascinating time because there was
a lot of upheaval. 
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