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Belonging was inspired by Harriet herself. She showed up like a force of nature as a secondary character in Snowed In and just wouldn’t leave my head. I wanted to find out about her, why did drink so much? Why was she so aggressive in her pursuit of Vinnie? I spent some time thinking about her and realised that she was grieving and trying not to think about it. While I was making notes one day, Niamh popped up and things evolved from there.
The Trewton Royd stories came about because I wrote a short story called Pat’s Pantry and, for some reason, I found that the voices in it were all from West Yorkshire. When I was a teenager, I lived in village in between Halifax and Huddersfield. It was far less rural than Trewton Royd, but probably as picturesque. For the first few weeks after I moved there, I couldn’t understand a word anyone said, although they understood me perfectly. Once I ‘got me ear in’, I loved the Yorkshire accent.
I love Trewton Royd and these novellas are just my excuse for hanging out in the village.
Thanks: First of all, as always, thank you Jen Hicks, who sees all my stories before anyone else does and is an inspiration. Thank you to the fantastic ladies of the Naughty Kitchen for moral support, cake, advice, cake and making me laugh when I really need it. A special thanks to Kate Johnson who proofread the book for me and calmed my paranoia. Thank you Jane Eastgate, editor extraordinaire, for all of the notes.
As always, thank you to my husband and kids for putting up with my disappearing into my head from time to time. Special thanks to my daughter for feedback on covers.
Lastly, thank you to you, for buying this book so that I can afford to keep writing more.