Starting at the Beginning

If only it were that simple...

Finding the right place to start your novel is important. After all, it could make all the difference to whether your story gets published or not. Whether or not it holds the reader’s attention.

The choice of beginning can be especially difficult with a dual timeline story with two main characters, as is the case in WHERE THE SEA LAVENDER GROWS, to be published on 1st May 2026. Elise’s story takes place in 2006, Lilias’s during WWII. They have equal billing - or at least, I hope they do, because that’s one of the things I worked hard to achieve during my many rewrites!

Elise or Lilias?

I tried both. I had Lilias arriving late to the village hall where a raggle taggle line of evacuee children were waiting to be ‘picked.’ I had Elise and her conflicted feelings as she discovers her job application to restore historic art works at Marsh House has been successful. Neither felt quite right.

The novel is actually told from four points of view - Elise, Lilias, Ruth (Lilias’s sister) and Nadine (the mother of the evacuee Lilias takes care of) - although Elise and Lilias’s viewpoints are in the majority. So, in the end, I chose to start with Ruth, since she appears in both the 2006 chapters and the WWII chapters. And finally, everything felt right. Phew! What a relief. Here’s that first chapter to give you a little taste.

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There was music. A Chopin Nocturne. Ruth kept her eyes closed, her thoughts drifting to her aunt’s Paris apartment. Aunt Sophie, bent over the piano keys, her blonde head bobbing, her face twitching like a rabbit’s as she emphasised the notes. Lilias seated so close to Ruth on the chic white sofa Ruth could feel her body shaking with suppressed laughter. Their mother in the armchair opposite, frowning slightly, well aware of their torment.

‘Morning, Ruth.’ A cheerful voice suddenly interrupted the memory, dissolving Sophie and her rabbit-twitching features, bringing Ruth back to the here and now.

‘You look cheerful today.’ Heather, one of the care workers at the care home. Ruth’s favourite.

‘The music made me think of when we went to visit my aunt in Paris before the first war.’

‘Nice, isn’t it?’ said Heather. ‘Though some people would prefer a bit of singing, I think. Vera Lynn, The White Cliffs of Dover; that sort of thing.’

Ruth frowned. Why anyone would want to hear music from the awful, awful years of the Second World War was quite beyond her.

Heather noticed her expression. ‘Your hip hurting again, is it, lovely? Here, let’s give you your meds, and then we can see about getting you a bit of breakfast.’

Breakfast made Ruth think of the turquoise kitchen of Marsh House. The smell of baking that permeated every room after Lilias had baked bread. But Marsh House was gone now. As was dear Lilias.

Heather had pulled the curtains open, but now she returned to Ruth’s bedside, frowning at her sudden tears.

‘Hey, what’s all this?’ she asked, taking Ruth’s gnarled hand in hers.

Ruth blinked, the tears dripping down her cheek, and as Heather reached out to wipe them away, Ruth saw the sparkle of a diamond ring on the care worker’s finger.

‘You didn’t have that yesterday,’ she said. ‘Did you?’

Heather grinned. ‘I didn’t. Well spotted.’

‘Who’s the lucky man or woman?’

Heather laughed. ‘That’s one of the many things I like about you, Ruth, your enlightenment. Not many people would think I might have got engaged to a woman.’

‘Not all of us ancient clingers-on are narrow minded bigots. There’s a lot I don’t like about these times, but this new civil partnership thing they’ve brought in is a good thing. Though it doesn’t go far enough of course.’

Heather smiled at her. ‘It’s a man actually. Karl. We’ve been seeing each other for two years now. My daughter really likes him.’

‘That’s good.’

‘It is. None of this would be happening if she didn’t. My girl will always come first for me. I made sure Karl knew that straight away. Anyway, what can I get you to eat?’

But Ruth didn’t hear her. She was thinking about another child. A child lost forever.

‘Ruth?’ Heather prompted her. ‘What’s the matter? You’re crying again.’

Ruth reached out to clutch Heather’s hand hard, the diamond ring biting into her bony fingers. ‘Keep hold of your little girl, d’you hear?’ she said. ‘Don’t ever let anything happen to her.’

Heather reached out to smooth down Ruth’s hair. ‘I don’t intend to; don’t you worry about that. Now, how about joining the others in the dining room for that breakfast?’

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WHERE THE SEA LAVENDER GROWS is available to pre-order now!

And, just for a bonus, here’s a picture of me looking indecisive. It’s not a look I try to nurture. Ha ha!