Helena: Thanks for
having me, Exquisite Quills!
I write contemporary
romances, and that’s the genre I love to read, too. I live in the north of
England, close to the Yorkshire moors, the home of the Brontë sisters. Every
day I walk the moors with my rescue dog, taking in the wildlife and the
changing seasons. It’s a wonderful location for finding romantic inspiration - and
for dreaming up my next hero!
EQ: Tell us a little bit about your most recent release.
Helena: My most
recent release is The Antique Love, which is set around London’s oldest park, in
Richmond-on-Thames. Here’s the blurb:
One rainy day in London, Wyoming man Kurt Bold
walks into an antique shop off the King’s Road and straight into the dreams of
its owner, Penny Rosas. Kurt certainly looks every inch the hero…but he soon
brings Penny’s dreams to earth with a thump. His job is in the City, in the
logical world of finance – and as far as Kurt is concerned, romance is just for
dreamers.
But when Kurt hires Penny to help refurbish his
Victorian house near Richmond Park, it’s not long before he starts to realise
it’s not just his home she’s breathing life into. The logical heart he has
guarded so carefully all these years is opening up to new emotions, in a most
disturbing way…
My next
novel is called A Way from Heart to Heart, and is due for release on 14th
December.
Photo One. Richmond Park in London is the setting for The Antique Love. There’s a great sense of
history behind this setting. It’s a Royal Park, and the oldest green
space in London. I chose this location because my heroine, Penny, is an antique
dealer. She loves to immerse herself in the past, and to picture how the
people and places must have been in those days.
My hero, Kurt, is from Wyoming,
and misses the space and the great outdoors. Richmond Park is the perfect place
for the two of them to get to know one another!
If you’d like to know more about
this wonderful park, and some more photos, I have some more about its history
here on my blog: http://helenafairfax.com/2013/08/16/richmond-park-incorporating-setting-in-the-theme-of-your-novel/
Photo Two. These are the Yorkshire moors, near where I live in the north
of England, and where I walk every day. You can see from the photo what a
beautiful place it can be. I took this photo in the summer. In the winter, the
moors are bleak and harsh, but I love the dramatic landscape, which features so
strongly in Wuthering Heights.
I’ve made the moors part of the
setting for my next novel, A Way from Heart to Heart, which
will be released in December. The heroine takes a group of disadvantaged
teenage girls from London on a trip there. It was fun to write the location
from their eyes, and it makes a dramatic backdrop to the hero and heroine’s
growing relationship.
Photo Three. If I didn’t live near the
moors, I’d love to live on the coast in England. I usually spend Christmas on
the south coast, and this photo is of my step-daughter, walking along the Cobb
in Lyme Regis, Dorset. The Cobb is a wall that protects the harbour, and it
features in the film The French
Lieutenant’s Woman, where Meryl Streep stares dramatically out to sea, and
also plays a big part in one of the scenes in Jane Austen’s Persuasion – one of my favourite books
of all time!
The seaside is the perfect
setting for a romance, and I have a few ideas for stories going around in my
mind that I’d really like to explore.
Photo Four. This is how I write, and
this is my rescue dog, Lex. My constant companion whilst I’m writing and
dreaming up stories, and my greatest fan :)
I hope you liked my photos. If you’re
interested in seeing more, or finding out more about me and my books, please
check out my blog at www.helenafairfax.com; or you
can like my Facebook page, where I post lots of pictures of the moors
throughout the seasons, https://www.facebook.com/HelenaFairfax; or else
follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/HelenaFairfax
I love to meet new people!
14 comments:
Great interview, Helena! I love your dog pic--my dog also likes to snuggle while I'm working.
Thanks for being such a great host, Michele!
Oh look at that purple. Is that heather? Great pictures, Helena.
Wonderful pictures. Makes me envious that I've never been to England. Maybe some day ;)
Yes, it's heather, Rose. It blooms in August, but in winter time it all dies back, making the moors very bleak. The landscape changes all the time here, and I never get bored of seeing it. Thanks for coming by!
Hope you can make it over some day, Andrea. I'd love to explore the US and Canada one day, too. So much to see! Thanks for coming by!
Wonderful photos, Helena, and I love your plots for both books you talked about. Thanks for being here today.
Beautiful photos, Helena. Your dog looks a lot like my Bear, who is also a rescue dog. Do either Kurt or Penny have dogs in the books?
Thanks, Jane! I've really enjoyed being here and sharing my photos :)
Hi Linda, Bear is a great name for a dog! Neither of the characters in The Antique Love has a dog, but there's a dog in my present WIP, who I've based her on Lexi, my own dog. She's starting to take over, though - as she does in real life! Thanks for coming by, and for your lovely comment
Great interview and photos Linda. Nice dog. Walking on the moors sounds so adventurous and romantic. Good luck with it all. The best of everything to you.
The moors are beautiful and I loved your photo of Richmond Park. Now, if you get to the USA, you'd better plan on visiting me!
:-)
So happy to have you at the EQ blog.
It's a really romantic landscape, JoAnne, and I miss it when I'm away. Thanks so much for your great comment, and for coming by!
I'd love to visit, E! And I'd absolutely love to do a trip across the US. There are so many places I'd like to see. One day! Thanks for having me on the EQ blog. It's been a lot of fun!
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