Author of Theatre of Dreams, Rosie Travers, knocked at the Handbag Gallery door with news of a new novel. The local landscape of Hampshire inspired Rosie Travers to write Your Secret’s Safe With Me. During walks along the riverside, her imagination became caught up in possible stories and intrigue. It is always a pleasure when a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association contacts me to help celebrate a new release, so I invited Rosie to tell me more. She posted a wonderful letter from her golden postbox.
My new novel Your Secret’s Safe With Me explores the intricacies of family relationships and the consequences of keeping secrets. Pearl and Becca are a mother and daughter who have a successful professional working partnership. The family dynamic changes when romantic novelist Pearl announces her surprise engagement to Jack, a man she has only just met, and uproots Becca and her brother Freddy from their busy lives in London to her new fiancé’s home on the south coast.
It makes perfect sense to set my stories in familiar locations. I currently live in Hampshire, close to the River Hamble, a renowned sailing centre. The River Hamble is a busy, bustling place, but a little further along the coast at Beaulieu in the New Forest is another river, quieter and more isolated. Both rivers have historic boat-building pasts but are now bordered by luxury homes and frequented by leisure seekers, on and off the water, with picturesque riverside walks.
My fictional village of Kerridge encompasses a tight-knit rural riverside community, a little light nautical industry – fiancé Jack’s family-owned marina business, and a salt-marshy wilderness and nature reserve. It is an amalgamation of these two locations together with others nearby, and although the story centres on the changing relationship between mother and daughter, I obviously needed sub-plots and additional situations to test my characters’ resolve. This is where the natural habitat came into play.
Smuggling isn’t confined to Poldark country, and sadly modern day smugglers trade in far more dangerous goods than illicit contraband and kegs of rum. As I observed sleek shiny white motor cruisers and yachts gliding upstream on my regular riverside walks, my writer’s enquiring mind kicked in. I began to speculate who or what might be onboard and wondered how easy it would be, with a few more isolated creeks and remote hiding places, for some unscrupulous ‘sailors’ to conduct some illegal activities. My over-fertile imagination quickly envisaged a situation where unsuspecting newcomers to the local community could unwittingly become caught up in some treacherous intrigue. Throw in a former lover and past heartache for Becca, a wedding and a baby, and the story started telling itself.
The overriding tone of the novel is light-hearted, but the river winding through Pearl and Becca’s new surroundings became symbolic of their evolving relationship. Everything seems calm at first, but as the river reveals its hidden dangers, family secrets submerged for many years threaten to bubble to the surface.
As a writer, I am always interested in how authors seek inspiration. I like the sound of this novel and the hidden secrets. I wonder if all will end well. More about Rosie Travers:
Rosie grew up on the south coast of England and after initially training as a secretary she juggled a career in local government with raising her family. She moved to Southern California with her husband in 2009 and began a blog about life as an ex-pat wife which re-kindled a teenage desire to become a writer. On her return to the UK she took a part-time course in creative writing and following some success in short story competitions she joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme. Her debut novel, The Theatre of Dreams, was accepted for publication by Crooked Cat Books and officially launched on in August 2018. Her second book, Your Secret’s Safe With Me, is published on 18 February 2019.
Contact details:
Website: https://www.rosietravers.com
Twitter @RosieTravers
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosietraversauthor
Instagram: rosietraversauthor
RNA Profile: https://romanticnovelistsassociation.org/rna_author/rosie-travers/
Please see all my guest’s posts at Mail from the Creative Community and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.
I have always loved reading and cannot deny the influence of certain authors: Leslie Pearse for her loveable characters and unforgettable stories; Martina Cole who opened my eyes to a world of psychopathic gangsters. But most poignant of all was Ken Follet’s ‘Pillars of the Earth’ a saga which explored the conflict of Medieval times and the impact wielded by men in power.
Tuscan Roots
I stopped at the mill ‘hidden in the folds of the Alps of the Moon, where the sun sets from the jewel red skies behind misted blue peaks.’ Anna’s mother once lived in a mill, and she explains ‘…the old building in ruins, crumbling into nothing seems to mirror what I am leaning of Mamma’s past.’ The Mill is ‘fragile’ and is a symbol of lost history and lost dreams that could be rekindled by the new generation. Sitting on the steps to read the letters and diaries, I sensed the ‘breeze that dances on the river’. Listening to the ‘sound of the river and distant sheep bells’, I could feel the loneliness of Ines. I am sure I heard the voices of the German soldiers who would have bathed there, and the whispers of the POWs and partisans hidden in the mountains.
I was completely spellbound by the characters and the clever structure of this novel. ‘
This novel evokes the senses and leaves the reader firmly fixed in Tuscany. Not the tourist’s Italy, but rural, down to earth Italy – ‘this landscape feels lived in’, and the author breathes life into ‘the ghosts from the past’. The story of the POW and partisans provide another dimension to this story, and I was impressed with how this was skilfully woven into the story.
On top of the shift Alex wears stays. Okay, so they’re not as bad as those sported by Scarlett O’Hara but once they’re laced they have a somewhat inhibiting effect on her movements. Stockings in scratchy wool are rolled up the legs to thigh-level and gartered into place. Petticoats help keep Alex somewhat warm, ending just above the ankle. A bum roll, heavy woollen skirts, a bodice and an apron complete the outfit. Let me tell you, this weighs a lot. It is difficult to run in full skirts. Or climb a tree (which is a bad idea anyway, as women shouldn’t do something as indecorous as climb a tree).
Lottie Phillips 
