Last Voyage of the Valentina went down well in America. I wanted to continue writing about Europe but didn’t want to repeat what I had just done. So, I thought about other places I have been to and chose Bordeaux where I spent a few summers as a child. I love the French and adore France. There is something delightfully languid about the little country villages as if they are stuck in another, more charming age.
I had such fun writing the mystery of Last Voyage of The Valentina that I decided to write another, this time in the voice of a man. Writing from a man’s point of view wasn’t something I planned. It just happened. I put on some music and began to write in the first person, something I hadn’t done before, and suddenly I found myself in a man’s head and that was that. I haven’t done it again, not for lack of desire – The Gypsy Madonna was the easiest book to write because it was written in the first person, but because I just couldn’t hear the voice. I tried to write in the first person in the next book but couldn’t pull it off, so changed back into the third. If the voice isn’t there, there’s no pointing forcing it. It just isn’t there!
I think this books stands out from the rest. It’s just a little different. I adored writing it. I had to plot it very carefully and worked hard to make my hero, Coyote, mysterious. I think it works because he is only ever seen through the eyes of a boy and later a man. As the narrator I never have to go into his head (which I why I originally chose to write in the first person.) If I went into his thoughts I feared I’d ruin the mystery.
It’s funny how things fall into place as if there’s someone above pushing me to write certain things that make no sense at the time, but later complete the picture to perfection. I chose ‘Streets of Laredo’ for the song Coyote sings to the guitar. I liked it and my husband would often sing it to the children. It wasn’t until the end of the book that I realised how appropriate a song it was for Coyote. This type of coincidence happens all the time. I feel compelled to write something, go with my gut, and only discover why later on when the threads all meet at the end as if I had planned it that way all along. I hadn’t. A lot of the time I surprise myself.
After writing this book I received lots of emails from people telling me their own life stories and how after many, many years they had found their childhood sweethearts.
