I've a deep connection to the far north coast of New South Wales in Australia where my novel Over Byron Bay is set. My great grandparents owned a farm a little way out of Byron Bay and grandparents a farm at nearby Mullumbimby. I started writing Over Byron Bay in my last year at university in Lismore which is also located in the beautiful Northern Rivers area of New South Wales. For all the wannabe writers out there, let me report that it's never too late to tell your story. It took 30 years for me to get Over Byron Bay written and published and I'm thrilled with my heart wrenching story of loss and love.I've travelled extensively and lived in some lovely locations around the world including London, Paris and Nice. Nice, in the south of France was my home for over a decade so it's perhaps not surprising that the Cote d'Azur as it is more commonly known, takes centre stage in my second novel Substitute Child.My heroine Charlotte Wyatt, visits London, Paris, Antibes, Cannes, Îles de Lérins and Monte Carlo on her journey to collect a bottle with a message inside. Her parents had thrown the bottle into the ocean off Byron Bay 20 years previously. It's a thriller romance. It's the story of a student on a journey to discover who she is and what she wants from life. It has fairy tale elements and lots of fun.It's also a wonderful travel story. The south of France where a fair chunk of the story is set is beautiful. I love the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea, the craggy rocky outcrops along the coastline and the orange, yellow and pink painted houses.
