I’ve been hard at work on two novels this year: City of Diamonds, set in Antwerp and due out in 2027, and my current work-in-progress, set in Berlin, which is planned for 2028. People often ask how I keep the settings of each book alive in my mind while writing. When I visit the cities where my novels are set, I take lots of photographs and display them around my desk. I also change my computer screensaver and background, so I’m constantly immersed in the world I’m creating

One of the most exciting things about writing a novel is undertaking research. For each novel, I spend a lot of time researching the setting, the history and the themes. For The Perfumer's Secret that meant visiting Paris and Venice, reading extensively about Europe and World War Two in 1939 and 1940, and delving into the world of perfume-making. When I began writing The Perfumer’s Secret, I knew that perfume would be much more than a backdrop to the story. It would connect t

On 1 December 2026, the US edition of The Perfumer’s Secret will be published by HarperCollins US - and I still find it amazing to write those words! I vividly remember receiving a text from my agent, Rebecca Ritchie, asking me to call her because she had some exciting news. My phone was almost out of battery, so I had to wait until I got home and could charge it before I called. The news was that The Perfumer’s Secret had been acquired by Sara Nelson at HarperCollins US.

In 2023, I finished writing my first novel, The Paris Affair, about a Special Operations Executive agent in occupied Paris. As I wrote it, I knew that I wanted to continue exploring the extraordinary bravery of women during the Second World War through the fictional lives of strong female characters. The Perfumer’s Secret grew out of that desire. Iris Penhallam is an amalgamation of my research into SOE heroes and resistance workers. In 1939, Iris is determined to pursue he

I technically have two writing desks. One is an old bureau that fits neatly into a nook in my bedroom. For years, it was my only space for writing, amongst the piles of clothes that needed ironing! After I secured a book deal with Penguin Michael Joseph, I set up a study with a view of the garden. That's where I am now, writing this blog, and here are the five objects that inspire me: Pen I'm a haphazard user of whatever pen I can find. Purple and pink are my favourite ink

“A woman's perfume tells more about her than her handwriting.” Christian Dior In my next book, The Perfumer’s Secret, Iris Penhallam and her fellow apprentice, Alessandro Mori are tasked with creating five new scents just as war breaks out in Europe. Decades later, Iris’s great-niece, Stella Penhallam, retraces the past through the perfumes and learns that they can tell her far more about Iris than she ever expected. I thought it would be interesting to look back on my li

This giveaway has now closed. Would you like to win this copy of The Paris Affair? I'll even sign it, too, and dedicate it to the person of your choice, or to you. All you need to do is sign up to my newsletter here: Newsletter Sign Up You'll not only get the chance to win this copy of The Paris Affair but you'll also receive regular(ish) newsletters from me, too. If you're already a newsletter subscriber, you'll automatically be entered. It's open to everyone, and I can post

The Paris Affair comes out on the 4th of July 2024. I've been looking back over the long route it took to get here. Three books preceded it. None of which got published in the way that I'd hoped. I feel that these three books (Broken Sky, Secret Music, and The Forbidden Stars) deserve a special mention at this point. Each one was a stepping stone on the way to writing The Paris Affair. Here's what they taught me... 1. How to finish a book and the value of having a mentor

In five months, my debut novel, The Paris Affair, will be published in the UK. To celebrate, I've written a blog about the five reasons why I love to write. Why do I need to remind myself of this? And what use is it to anyone else? We all have our own reasons for writing, but it's sometimes easy to lose sight of what sparked the joy in the first place. The journey towards publication has been incredible. I count myself very lucky to be experiencing it. But it's brought

I don't think I've heard of anyone yet who can write the perfect novel in one go. Drafts - legions of them in my case - are where the magic happens. Of course, nothing compares to that heady first draft. The blank page exhilarates and terrifies in equal measure and it's best just to keep going and not look back until you've reached the end. I'm at that stage now with my new WIP and it's lovely to be writing a first draft again with the story blossoming and the characters sh

Little did I think when I found a tattered old recipe book and began writing The Paris Affair that I would one day have a 2-book deal. Amazingly, against all the odds, that's what has happened. Last week it was announced in The Bookseller that The Paris Affair and one other book, as yet unwritten, had been acquired by Penguin Michael Joseph. You can read the full article here. Miraculously, I now have an incredible editor to work with, Hannah Smith, who is backed up by an ama

My book, The Girl from Amsterdam, is going to be published in Germany in 2021 in German. The manuscript has been checked and double-checked. I've sent it off to the editor and translator. But there is one thing I’ve been putting off until now – the acknowledgements. Of course, like a would-be actor dreaming of their Oscar’s acceptance speech, I have wondered in idle moments who I would thank if my book ever got published...and who I would omit. But it seemed like asking