When I was trying to figure out whether or not I wanted to do a PhD, I went traveling in the USA one summer. I fell in love with Vermont – its landscape, its people, their way of life. I finished writing Chloe in summer 1996, Sally was due to be published that November – which gave me ample time to return to New England and to the love people I’d met 6 years previously. But I wasn’t returning as a tourist – I had my writer’s cap on this time. With the American links in this novel, it was fitting to have the launch party at Joe Allen in London. Burgers and fries all round. But by then, with the third book done, dusted and riding high in the charts, my thoughts turned from America to Europe – specifically France, the setting for my fourth novel, Cat.

See what happened next to Polly

Read a brief synopsis of Polly

Tags | Cat, Chloe, Polly, research, Titles