The Story Behind The Story
The first seed of an idea for A Family To Belong To came when my husband applied for a job on the Isle of Wight. As a family we know the island well and love it. But live on it? Permanently? I wasn't so sure.
Queen Victoria loved it, but she didn't live there full-time. It's a tiny place. Twenty-three miles by thirteen, and as a city girl I thought I might struggle with the constraints of getting on and off the island. Not to mention the summer traffic that snarls up the road network.
We took a weekend away to visit the island again and think about whether it would suit a lively family of seven. In the end, the opportunity wasn't ours to take and we remain settled fifty miles north of London. But, I began to wonder what it would be like to have grown up on the island and how hard it would be to leave ....
 The United Kingdom is peppered with old churches (right), usually set slightly outside of villages due to the Plague.
I love reading the headstones in old graveyards. There's such a feeling of continuity about so many family members being laid to rest in the same peaceful place. And I started to wonder how that would feel if I were a woman without family ... like Kate.
 Gideon's house (below right) is the kind of place I imagine Kate would dream of living in. Solid, permanent with a sense of history about it.
His Aga cooker is mine (below). Its steady warmth is the heartbeat of any home, particularly in a damp climate like ours. We're in the process of having our kitchen refitted and my editor said, 'I bet you've got a pewter Aga' - and I have! Apparently I almost always slip one in.
January 2006 in North America - isbn: 0373038380 NOW
AVAILABLE!
September 2005 in AUS/NA - isbn: C071403 now AVAILABLE!
August
2005 in the UK - isbn: 0263842517 now AVAILABLE!
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