I was born in London, a city which has a unique atmosphere; a sense of time past that I connected with, even when I was young. When the other children on the school trip coach were throwing the contents of their lunch boxes at each other, I was staring out of the window at the ancient buildings, imagining men in wigs and heeled shoes coming out of coffee houses and climbing into sedan chairs on the cobbles outside St Paul's Cathedral.
Strangely it was walking through Paternoster Row with a dear friend, discussing books of course, when the idea for the story of Trencarrow Secret came to me. One requirement of modern writing, is you cannot simply write a story, it has to be categorised, put into a box so it is instantly recognised. My critique group, and my agent, say time and again that romances are the largest market in the fiction genre, and in an attempt to break into the world of traditionally published authors I decided to step outside the world of Restoration London and into the heads of characters of another era. I haven’t managed it yet, as Trencarrow Secret is Inde Published, but I still have some stories to tell which may make it.
Isabel Hart evolved, beginning as a Jacobean character, she turned into a Regency one, eventually finding her own time in late Victorian England. Her reserved character belonged in the rigid, uncompromising days of the British Empire, and I gave her strong reasons for seeing life as many of us do when we are young; in black and white, where right and wrong are clearly defined and there is no blurring of the two. Trencarrow Secret is a love story, and during one fateful summer, Isabel discovers that marriage is no fairytale, but an enigmatic and unique bonding of a couple which may appear unsatisfactory to outsiders, but each comes with its own chance of success.
In Trencarrow Secret, Isabel’s romantic illusions are dispelled and she comes to realise that people, even those closest to her, are not perfect. People are flawed and we make mistakes and yet we find the capacity to forgive and learn to move on – that we love them anyway because that’s what families do. Through her unique relationship with her brother, David, Isabel struggles through revelations, self doubt and danger before she finds her soulmate.
The Hart's summer home in Cornwall is a house I have visited often - also the village of Marazion and St Michael's Mount have not changed much since the late 19th Century, which made them easier to portray realistically. I tend to write about places I know so I can portray them with a level of credibility.
Writing historical fiction is complicated and challenging, but my spirit lives in the past and I cannot imagine myself writing anything else.
http://trencarrowsecret.blogspot.com/
http://thedisorganisedauthor.blogspot.com/
Strangely it was walking through Paternoster Row with a dear friend, discussing books of course, when the idea for the story of Trencarrow Secret came to me. One requirement of modern writing, is you cannot simply write a story, it has to be categorised, put into a box so it is instantly recognised. My critique group, and my agent, say time and again that romances are the largest market in the fiction genre, and in an attempt to break into the world of traditionally published authors I decided to step outside the world of Restoration London and into the heads of characters of another era. I haven’t managed it yet, as Trencarrow Secret is Inde Published, but I still have some stories to tell which may make it.
Isabel Hart evolved, beginning as a Jacobean character, she turned into a Regency one, eventually finding her own time in late Victorian England. Her reserved character belonged in the rigid, uncompromising days of the British Empire, and I gave her strong reasons for seeing life as many of us do when we are young; in black and white, where right and wrong are clearly defined and there is no blurring of the two. Trencarrow Secret is a love story, and during one fateful summer, Isabel discovers that marriage is no fairytale, but an enigmatic and unique bonding of a couple which may appear unsatisfactory to outsiders, but each comes with its own chance of success.
In Trencarrow Secret, Isabel’s romantic illusions are dispelled and she comes to realise that people, even those closest to her, are not perfect. People are flawed and we make mistakes and yet we find the capacity to forgive and learn to move on – that we love them anyway because that’s what families do. Through her unique relationship with her brother, David, Isabel struggles through revelations, self doubt and danger before she finds her soulmate.
The Hart's summer home in Cornwall is a house I have visited often - also the village of Marazion and St Michael's Mount have not changed much since the late 19th Century, which made them easier to portray realistically. I tend to write about places I know so I can portray them with a level of credibility.
Writing historical fiction is complicated and challenging, but my spirit lives in the past and I cannot imagine myself writing anything else.
http://trencarrowsecret.blogspot.com/
http://thedisorganisedauthor.blogspot.com/
2 comments:
Congrats, Anita. Looking forward to reading this.
Anita, congratulations on the release! The novel sounds wonderful, and I wish you great success.
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