Sometimes, a topic grabs me and won’t let go until I’ve written it out of my system. This book marked a subtle but distinct shift for me. It was edgier. It had undeniably darker themes. It was also the first time that I had to choreograph two main characters and not just one. I was fascinated by the sex industry - specifically who the punters actually are. I was appalled/captivated by the fact that it’s frequented not by the Dirty Mac brigade - but by normal blokes. For my research, I went into phoneboxes and took the calling-cards of the girls - and simply phoned and said “Er - hullo, can I have a quick chat…” Again, this book was very humbling for me. But quite tiring to write. Especially because I had to be true to my characters - which meant they simply had to go their own separate ways at the end. Many of my readers didn’t like this - they understood, they agreed with me - but they didn’t like it at all. I was immensely flattered by this response - that the book, the characters could be that compelling. On a lighter note, how lovely to see Sally and Richard all those years later…!
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Ah, Pip the clown. I had to persuade a lot of people that she wouldn’t be a scary clown - I couldn’t believe how many people actually have an aversion to traditional clowns! The Clown Doctors were fascinating to research and shadow - very humbling too, not least because I was pregnant (with my second child) whilst writing this book. The Clown’s Gallery in Dalston, east London, was a fascinating place - not least for their extensive collection of painted eggs, on which clowns can ‘copyright’ their make up. This was to be the last book in the McCabe series - not written as a trilogy, but interlinked nonetheless. By the time I finished this novel, I knew, though, that I’d revisit the sisters. But I needed some space from them first. And a posse of brand new characters needed my attention in the meantime. So Love Rules was next.
Read the first chapter of Pip
Read a brief synopsis of Pip
See what happened next to Pip
Back in 1991, trying to figure out how my new computer worked, I found myself writing the opening of the sort of novel I wanted to read. The thrill of being able to write what I wanted - and then hiding it - was utterly liberating….hence the utter raunchiness of the opening paragraph! Of course, I couldn’t afford research trips so the locations features in Sally are those well known to me - London and also Mull, on the Scotland’s west coast.
I was working in a coffee and tea shop at the time - and my colleagues were all ears to hear how this novel was progressing. The meal that Richard prepares Sally was suggested by Michele - an Italian with whom I worked at that time.
This novel took four years to write. It was finally published in November 1996. I’ll never forget the shock and sublime thrill of seeing it on the shelf of a bookshop. I feel very fondly towards the characters - hence involving them in minor roles in Love Rules - just so I could see what they’d been up to in the intervening years!
Read what happened next to Sally
Read a brief synopsis of Sally
[1991] - Freya gave up a PhD scholarship to write her first novel, Sally. For 4 years she turned deaf ears to parents and pals who pleaded with her to “get a proper job”. She went on the dole and did a succession of freelance and temping jobs to support “writing days” every now and then. During this time, she was rejected by many publishers and agents whose comments ranged from “you can’t start a book like that” (referring to Sally’s rather raunchy opening scene) to “I like your idea but can’t stand your style”. Undeterred, she started Chloë as soon as she finished Sally. In 1996 she approached one of the UK’s top literary agents, Jonathan Lloyd at Curtis Brown Ltd. Throwing caution to the wind, Freya sent him 3 chapters and a page of completely fabricated reviews, which she wrote on behalf of the Sunday Times, Jilly Cooper and Germaine Greer. Lloyd took her on and put her work up for auction.
[1996] - 5 publishers enter a bidding war for Freya’s books. A three-book deal for a six figure sum is the result. Sally is published to great acclaim and Freya is heralded a fresh voice in fiction.
[1997] - Chloë doubles Sally’s release figures and is a Sunday Times bestseller.
[1998] - Polly spends 14 weeks in the original Fiction Top 10. The film rights are sold and the paperback goes straight onto the Sunday Times Top 10 at no.5.
[1999] - Freya’s 4th novel Cat is published in November. Set around the Tour de France, Freya’s research took her deep down to the secrets behind the Lycra.
Freya’s books are translated into five languages. In Holland, she is called the Literary Spice Girl and her books are hailed “better than viagra”. Her fan base is wide, ranging from teenage girls to elderly gentlemen worldwide.
[2000] - in June, Cat is released in mass market paperback. Fen is being written. Pip is being researched. Freya is involved with the Daphne Du Maurier Festival and the Edinburgh International Literary Festival as well as many other book festivals from Bodmin to Bracknell.
[2001] - Freya’s 5th novel, Fen, is published in October. Her son, Felix, was born on Easter Sunday, 15th April 2001.
[2002] - Freya spends the summer writing Pip. Fen is published in paperback in late September and goes straight into the charts, peaking at no.4. Freya is now safely into her second pregnancy with the baby due in early February. Pip is completed late November and Freya and her family move house a couple of weeks later.
[2003] - Georgia Jeannette born on 4th February 2003 at 10.45 pm, weighing 7 lbs 14 0z. Pip is published in August. Freya starts her 7th novel, Love Rules, featuring the adventures of two best friends - new characters, plus the reappearance of Sally.
[2004] - Pip is published to great success in paperback. Freya completes Love Rules and follows her editor to HarperCollins. Freya is now hard at work on no8 – which reunites Cat, Fen and Pip McCabe.
[2005] - Love Rules is published around Valentine’s Day and then in paperback later in the year. The novel is a Top10 bestseller, breaking all Freya’s previous sales records. Home Truths, Freya’s 8th novel is written and the author’s thoughts turn to her 9th…
[2006] - Home Truths is published in March and stays in the Original Fiction Top10 for over 3 months. The book becomes a paperback bestseller in the autumn, making the national Top 10 and riding high over the Christmas period. Pillow Talk, Freya’s 9th novel is written and the author’s thoughts turn to her 10th…
[2007] - Pillow Talk is published in August to great acclaim, going straight into the Original Fiction Top Ten. The tenth novel is underway - and waiting for a title.
[2008] - on 4th February, Pillow Talk is published in paperback and wins the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Georgia turns 5 years old on the same day. It’s a career highlight for Freya, with lots of TV and press to do but soon enough she’s back in the library, completing the 10th novel, Secrets.
[2009] - Secrets will be published as an exclusive airport edition in February, and in paperback in May. Freya thought she needed a rest…but now she’s planning her 11th novel - and a couple of top secret projects too… watch this space!
A story of first love and second chances from the bestselling author of Love Rules The sleepwalker. By day, Petra Flint is a talented jeweller working in a lively London studio. By night, she sleepwalks. She has 40 carats of the world’s rarest gemstone under her mattress but it’s the skeletons in her closet that make it difficult for her to rest. The insomniac. At one time a promising song-writer, Arlo Savidge now teaches music at a boys’ boarding school in North Yorkshire. He assumes he’s happy with his isolated lifestyle. But, like Petra, ghosts from his past disturb his sleep. Putting the past to bed. Petra and Arlo loved each other from afar during their schooldays. Now, seventeen years later, in a tiny sweetshop one rainy day, they stand before each other once more. Could this be their second chance?
Well, I hope you like the sneak preview of the Pillow Talk jacket on my Home Page…what doesn’t come across is the wonderful vivid blue – just wait until you see it. I wanted a colour as close as possible to tanzanite – the precious gem stone that is a key theme in the book. Before I was a published writer, to help make ends meet, I worked as a picture researcher for a number of publishing companies, using my background in art to help source images and designs for book jackets – and what a fusspot it made me! I’m a perfectionist (though I’m sure the art dept would call me a pain in the proverbial…). For example, we tried out almost twenty different shades of cream before I gave the nod for the background colour of Love Rules, Home Truths and Pillow Talk. We use an artist from New York to do the illustrations – but then the designer and I spend hours tweaking the length of eyelashes, the redness of lips, the creases in clothing… So you can imagine how many blues I squinted over in search of The One. Think I’ve found it, though…
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It’s blowing a gale outside – a tree was uprooted right outside our house this lunchtime so Georgia and I went to ogle the twelve lovely firemen from three fire engines which hared down our street in two seconds flat. The tree had fallen right across the road, smashing a couple of cars in its wake. No one hurt. There’s something so sad about a fallen tree – all those decades, perhaps centuries, of standing so lofty and proud, ending with such an undignified disposal via chainsaw and council wood-chipper. Freya says: Go hug a tree!
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This time of year is usually Launch Party time – but this year, I just didn’t feel like having one. I’m ever so proud of Home Truths but it was written at a time when shitty things were happening and it felt inappropriate to have an unabashed knees-up. 2005 had it’s ups and downs for me. I lost two people very special to me, to cancer. My father-in-law, David Sutcliffe, died in May and my beautiful friend Liz Berney died on Christmas Eve. They both loved coming to my launch parties – Liz in particular had a very entertaining knack of upstaging me on my big night. I just don’t feel like partying at the mo’.
Liz was perhaps the most sociable – and widely loved – person I’ve ever met. She made friends with such ease and people gravitated to her because she was such fun, so energetic and daffy and sensitive and kind. She was a member of a reading group – though she was usually far too busy and scatty to ever actually read the book in discussion! One time, she picked my 5th book, Fen, as her choice for the group. Sure enough, an hour or so before the group was due to gather, Liz phoned me for the low-down on the plot, the characters…and the ending! (more…)
When it comes to love, should you listen to your head, your heart or your best friend?
Thea Luckmore, a composed and dedicated massage therapist believes in love, the magic spark of true, old-fashioned love. She has to fall head over heels, or rather, heart over head.
However, her best friend Alice Heggarty, a spirited and successful magazine publisher, has always been a slave to lust though invariably it ends in tears. Turning 30, as yet another disastrous relationship ends, Alice makes a decision. It’s time to marry and she knows just the man who would make an excellent husband.
For Thea, a chance encounter on Primrose Hill ignites that elusive spark she’s preoccupied with… Saul Mundy promises to be the perfect fit and Thea finds herself falling deeply in love and loving it.
But though newly-wed Alice encourages Thea to settle down, Alice herself finds that she’s not as keen as she thought on playing by the rules. She starts to break them left, right and centre… At the same time, Thea’s world is shaken to core.
Love. Sex. Fidelity. Friendship. What’s it all about?
