Researching a new novel can be done anywhere in the world (or at least, it could, pre-covid). Armed with a suitcase, laptop and my writing head firmly switched on, I set forth on a magical adventure to research my new book, The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon . But it was no luxury destination that I was heading to, it wasn’t even overseas. It was just two hours from home, to Scarborough, the British seaside town I used to holiday in as a child and a town that remains special in my heart. Why Scarborough? Well, our family had many happy holidays there when I was a child and it’s where I returned to be married, too. Just thinking about the place now, writing this makes me smile. Scarborough is old fashioned, unpretentious, northern, cold and often rainy seaside town. But on the days when the sun shines, oh, the days when the sun shines and the cliff tops along the coast twinkle and shine… well, it’s the most magical place in the world. And so I headed to...
