Many writers claim that they write entirely from their imagination as if autobiographical writing is less valuable. I disagree completely. While much of each of my books is fiction, in most of them I have used my own experiences from the strange and varied life that I have lived.

Distinctions of Class 1987 (Chatto & Windus)

This is the most autobiographical of my novels since the first third is based loosely on my life. It tells the story of Jane who is a working class, student nurse, who meets, falls in love and marries an English aristocrat, Alistair. It is not a ‘they lived happily ever after,’ story. It features the intolerance of both the upper and working classes - Alistair’s grandmother regards Jane as unsuitable; Jane’s father regards her as a class traitor.
While I say it is based on my life, there are differences. My husband was a mere Baron, so I made Alistair a Viscount. The fictional man drinks whisky and is violent when drunk, the real one was a sweetheart who liked gin but was never aggressive. My husband’s stately home had long gone, but in the book Jane becomes chatelaine of a great house - Respryn - which is based on Lanhydrock House in Cornwall, where the Respryn Bridge goes over the river Fowey.
The beginning and the end I dislike. They were not there in the original drafts. However, it was the 80s and feisty, powerful women, successful in business were all the rage in fiction and I was persuaded to change the start and the end. I’ve never liked it and constantly wonder if I should publish it as I first wrote it.
Incidentally, I rewrote the whole book, which is huge, seven times before it was accepted by Chatto and Windus. Only the last two drafts were on a computer since word-processors were almost unheard of!
It is an angry book. Until I wrote it I had no idea of how damaged I had been by the intolerance of certain people. Writing the book was a catharsis, I’ve hardly given them a thought since.
The launch was at the House of Lords, the first book launch ever to be held there.

Love the Bright Foreigner 1988 (Chatto & Windus)

As I have explained elsewhere this was the first book I wrote but it was published second. The explanation is that it is a much simpler novel than Distinctions of Class. It did the rounds of publishing houses and the rejections were like confetti, however each one said lovely things about it so I was almost there but being new to the business I did not realise how lucky I was.
It is the one true romance I have written - there is romance in many of my books since love and falling in love is part of life - but this one is purely the romance between Ann and Alex the enigmatic foreigner of the title.
It is set in Greece where I had lived and which I love.

The Daughters of a Granite Land Trilogy (Chatto & Windus)

The Azure Bowl 1989	The Golden Butterfly 1990	The Stone Mistress 1991

Having written two novels set in modern times I decided I would like to try writing an historical.
I was living in Cornwall (when we had to sell our house in the North of Scotland Land’s End seemed the logical place to go.) High on the cliffs we overlooked Gwenfer Beach, and so the house I imagined, based on Lanyhydrock House, became Gwenfer. It could not be as big so I cut off the east and west wings!
Lanhydrock, when I lived there, was a total Victorian time warp, so that writing about that period was a joy for me.
The oddest think was that I had originally intended it to be one novel based on the life of Juniper. There was a minor character, Alice, Juniper’s grandmother, and the only way I can describe it is that Alice kept getting in the way of my writing and insisting I tell her story. I stopped what I was doing and filled with curiosity began Alice’s story, The Azure Bowl, and one book became three, because that inner voice would not leave me alone.
We had a memorable book launch at the hotel at Lands End when several of my publishers nearly got blown off the cliffs in the gale.
In The Golden Butterfly, I also did something else that I had never done before. I used a relative’s experiences fleeing Paris as the Germans advanced. I vowed I would never do this again because I felt an obligation to put in everything that cousin Romi had done. Inevitably some had to be cut since it did not fit in the story. Romi was a great character, had been a great beauty and seemed, to me, to have been waiting for her novel. There is a touching scene at the port when the last Royal Navy ship, sent to rescue British subjects, is about to sail; everything that happens on the dock is what Romi experienced.
Do I base characters on real people? Juniper is, she is my charming, beautiful, rich, kind but selfish and infuriating mother in law.
The Stone Mistress owes its title to a great friend of mine: Caroll Macnamara owned a beautiful big house with horrendous upkeep costs. He told me his wife never had to worry about him taking a lover. “I’ve got one you see, this house, my Stone Mistress.” That was a title waiting for a novel.

Tales from Sarson Magna

Molly’s Flashings 1991 (Chatto & Windus)	Hector’s Hobbies 1994 (Macmillan)

Carmen Callil, the MD of the publishing house and a brilliant publisher asked me to write these small books about English village life. She wanted a series of at least eighteen, she said. I enjoyed them hugely but doubt I would have completed the 18. But I left Chatto so it was never an option, but I am frequently asked to write more.
Click here to read more about Molly's Flashings.
Click here to read more about Hector's Hobbies.

Advances 1992 (Macmillan)

I wanted to write a book about middle age and writing. Then my editor at Pan Books suggested I did not restrict it to authors but to write about publishing in general. It was such fun to write and there was a lot of guessing as to who was who. I never told who had inspired me . . .
So, Kate Howard, having a crafty cigarette in a lavatory at a large London party inadvertently meets two women - a publisher and an agent - and, accidentally becomes a writer.
Inevitably there is a lot of me in Kate.
The launch was fun with a competition to guess whose legs were used on the very sexy cover.

Overtures 1993 (Macmillan)

This is a book about sibling rivalry and ambition. Two daughters, Lana, favoured by her mother, spoilt, demanding destined for the stage and the world of pop music, Kitty, disliked by her mother and loved by her father, becomes a world famous opera star. Two opposites, two different lives.
Music is important to me and for a short time, in Cambridge, in the 60s, I worked for an agent who handled groups, so I met many rising stars - Pink Floyd, T-Rex, Marmalade and so on. At the same time I loved classical music but knew little about it and I confess that as far as opera was concerned I only liked the arias and not the bits in between. When the idea for this novel slid into my head I had to educate myself. It is one of the most enjoyable books I have written since I did it to a non-stop concert in my work room.
I still love Kitty.
Click here to read more about Overtures.

Avarice 1994 (Macmillan)

This novel came to life because of a bet. “Women cannot write men, never have and never will!” This was said to me in such a dogmatic manner that I immediately thought I would show him!
Avarice is the story of three men, all with pasts, all with problematic presents and all with unstable futures. They meet by chance in the Carlton Hotel, in Cannes, on a stormy night when travel is impossible. A fourth man Godfrey Everyman challenges them to a treasure hunt to find the elixir of life . . . but what is it? Who will find it? And what happens to them as they search?
I ignored my vow never to use a friend’s experiences in my writing. A German friend had a story from his childhood which I could not resist! I enjoyed writing it and concocting the hunt and the necessary clues. And I am proud of it too.

Lottery 1995 (Macmillan)

This is one of the few books when I can pin point the moment it became the idea for a novel. On the news one evening there was an interview with a woman who had won a small fortune on the football pools. Around her were clustered her family all of whom were singing her praises, kissing and hugging her; except, on the edge stood one man with such a cold, detached expression that I found myself wondering What now? I just knew he was going to cheat her.
The main problem facing me was how to make the pools interesting to a primarily female readership. And then the PM, John Major, announced that there was to be a National Lottery. Whilst this was fabulous news the problem was that it would take time to set up and my book would be due long before it. So I had to guess how the awards would be made, we weren’t that far out.
Click here to read more about Lottery.

Breeders 1996 (Orion)

One of the joys of being a writer is that if you are particularly involved with something you can always write about it.
I can’t imagine living without a dog or two in the house. So, one day, reading the Sunday Times, I was horrified by an article on puppy farming, the cruelty involved, and the request from the RSPCA to be suspicious of advertisements which had a long list of different breeds of puppies for sale - usually a sign of puppy farming and dealers. I was so angry but what could I do?
Of course, write a book which included it.
I was unwell at the time so it was my daughter, Rebecca, who did most of the research for me. The RSPCA could not have been more helpful, but this meant her sitting through hours of horrendous films of neglect of dogs, dog fights. She interviewed dog breeders - the good ones. And dog rescue kennels. I will always be grateful to her for saving me from it.
The book, while facing the issue of dog fighting is also about dogs and breeders and dog shows. It is also a happy book. Three couples all at different stages in life and love but all involved in the dog world.
We had the launch at Crufts, where else?
Click here to read more about Breeders.

The Cult 1997 (Orion)

My son went to the Krishnamurti International School near Winchester. Krishnamurti was a good man but I found myself wondering what if he had been wicked? Around this time I was thinking of writing a novel about three women facing life changes, it was called The Chameleons. Unfortunately my publishers did not like this title since several girls in the office did not know what a chameleon was! They changed it to The Cult, which I did not like nor did my readers and sales were not good.
I learnt a lesson though: stand up for the title you want through hell and high water.

On Call 1998 (Orion)

My publishers asked me to write a novel set in a large hospital.
There is a rule of writing which you are warned you ignore at your peril and that is, never start a novel with a descriptive passage. So I did! I felt that the hospital was as much a character of the book and an important one too.
I also made it have a thriller element and I was so pleased when my editor said she had not been aware that was coming.

The Family 1999 (Orion)

Once I had decided to write about a whole family great consternation spread through my own family. They were all convinced that I was going to write about them. I wasn’t, it was an imaginary one, but to this day not all of them are convinced.
The family as a subject gives one so much material to work on. There are sad things but happy too. The only thing from my past which is in this book is the manor house in Fenstanton where we lived when first married. I loved it and the memory of it remains with me. On the cover however, the publishers used a picture of the house we had to sell in the Highlands.

Clare’s War 2000 (Orion)

Again my publishers asked if I would write a novel set during the last war and involving the French Resistance. I was living in France at the time in the Auvergne where the Resistance movement had been very strong and where old enmities still festered.
The research I had to do at first appalled me but once I had started I was enthralled with the topic and read so many books and talked to many people. It was in danger of being a case of the book not getting written since the research was so interesting.
However, I did, I wrote about a young spoilt girl who inadvertently gets trapped in France as the Germans advance, it is what happens to her and how she changes because of her involvement with the Resistance.
Of all the books I’ve written this is my favourite.
Click here to read more about Clare's War.

Exiles 2001 (Orion)

For some time, Kate Howard, the heroine of Advances the book about publishing people, had been pushing into my conscience. So, I decided she should be living in France, as I was.
The exiles of the title refer to the ex-pats who are all running away from something or someone.
I am now working on a book which I have called Returns which concentrates on Kate’s return to England.

The House at Harcourt 2002 (Orion)

Another book suggested by my publishers. Again it is set in Victorian times, Lanhydrock is there and class rules.

The Visitor 2003 (Orion)

I had got into a trap since I really wanted to write more modern setting books, but the publishers were adamant that I write more historicals which led on to The Visitor and the next trilogy of books:
Click here to read more about The Visitor.

The Cresswell Inheritance (Orion)

The Broken Gate 2005	The Heart’s Citadel 2006	The Breached Wall 2007

Strange things happened over this trilogy. I had almost completed the first book - The Broken Gate in which, as always, there was a large house, but this one, unusually, was not Lanhydrock but a Jacobean house which was clear in my head. I had recently moved into the village, where I still live, and one Sunday we decided to go for a drink at the local country house hotel. I looked up at the building and stopped dead in my tracks. It was the house in my book. More was to come. In the bar, I picked up a brochure which gave a potted history of the house and the previous owners. I needed a stiff drink when I read that it had once belonged to the Cresswell family - the name I had given to the fictional family!
I had never been here before but more was to follow. Unbeknown to me my great-grand parents had lived in this village in the 1860s. It still makes me shiver when I think about it.