On History: You work as a guide and historian in a seventeenth century house. What is it like to have a job like that?
Inspiring! Simply standing in the entrance hall and feeling the layers of history wrap around me gives me a shiver down the spine. I love my work at Ashdown House and it provides endless excitement in terms of research opportunities and story ideas. I also love the fact that the people who come to visit are so knowledgeable and interested and I learn as much from them as I hope they do from my tours. – How important is research in your writing? Very important. Luckily I find research fascinating – I’m always learning new things and reading snippets that give me plot ideas.That’s how I discovered the Regency lottery and cult of celebrity. I was reading up on something completely different and saw a reference to lottery tickets being sold in bookshops and after that I had to find out more. I frequently get sidetracked when I’m researching and spend hours reading when I should be writing. I believe it’s really important to get all the historical details of the story right. There are a lot
