Helena Fairfax
has written: Palace of Deception, The Scottish Diamond (standalone romantic mysteries featuring the same characters with a bonus story A Question by at Hogmanay if you buy the anthology); A Way from Heart to Heart; The Antique Love (voted Most Romantic
Love Scene Ever by readers of Love, Romances and More); The Silk Romance and a short story with recipes Come Date Me in Paris.
Her latest novel Felicity at the Cross Hotel is published today, 7 July, as an e-book and
in paperback. Isn't the cover gorgeous?
A quaint hotel in the
Lake District. The Cross Hotel is the perfect getaway. Or is it?
Felicity Everdene
needs a break from the family business. Driving through the Lake District to
the Cross Hotel, past the shining lake and the mountains, everything seems
perfect. But Felicity soon discovers all is not well at the Cross Hotel …
Patrick Cross left the
village of Emmside years ago never intending to return, but his father has left
him the family’s hotel in his will, and now he's forced to come back. With a
missing barmaid, a grumpy chef, and the hotel losing money, the arrival of
Felicity Everdene from the notorious Everdene family only adds to Patrick’s
troubles.
With so much to
overcome, can Felicity and Patrick bring happiness to the Cross Hotel … and
find happiness for themselves?
I was delighted
to receive an advance copy and after I read it I had some questions for Helena:
Helena, welcome to Kate Writes and Reads. I really enjoyed Felicity at the Cross
Hotel and one reason is that I think a
hotel is such a brilliant setting for a novel because it’s a natural way for
all sorts of people to come together. I wondered if you’d ever worked in a
hotel yourself?
Thanks so
much for having me, Kate! I'd been keen on the idea of the hotel setting for a
while before I got down to writing Felicity
at the Cross Hotel, and for exactly the reason you say. It's the perfect
setting for people of all backgrounds to come together, and they could be at
the hotel for all sorts of interesting reasons.
And yes, I have
worked in a hotel myself. Just like my heroine, Felicity, I worked behind the
bar one summer. The hotel I worked in was a family-run hotel in the Bavarian
Alps. With my own hotel – halfway up the side of a mountain in a remote
location – there were lots of similarities with my fictional Cross Hotel in the
Lake District. There was the same sense of a family community, a mix of lots of
different people, including a grumpy chef (I wonder if all chefs are grumpy!), and
the same way that gossip spread like wildfire round the village.
You cleverly manage to get two sorts
of hotels into the story. The Cross Hotel is a one-off family-run hotel while
Felicity’s family is in the chain hotel business. Which would be your
preference for a holiday?
When I go on
holiday I really don't mind what the hotel is like, as I usually like to be out
for most of the day sight-seeing. The Cross Hotel would be perfect for a
relaxing break, though. I could imagine relaxing with my book on the terrace every
day, with its gorgeous views to the lake, drinking tea and eating the chef's delicious
cheesecake. (And it would be nice to get to know Patrick Cross, too!)
I see from your website that you live
in an old Victorian mill town ‘right next door to the windswept
Yorkshire moors’. The book is set in the Lake District so not
too far away from your home – is it an area you know well?
The Lakes aren't far at all from me and I used to visit
often, especially the area round Ambleside and Coniston Water. The landscape in
the Lakes is completely different from the rolling moors and hills round where
I live in Yorkshire, and I love the drama and romance of the mountains. Even
the sky appears different at times – more steely and dramatic. It's no wonder
Wordsworth called his home ‘The loveliest spot that man hath ever found’.
Apart from the
hotel, and the relationship between Felicity and Patrick, there are other
strands to the story. One of them is Patrick’s love of diving. I don’t want to
give any spoilers but we do read about Patrick recalling something that
happened while he was diving years earlier. I really felt I was there with him
in cold murky Lake Emmswater. What research did you do to evoke this so well?
I have been diving myself, but that was in the sea around
Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean. It was an amazing experience, and the waters I
dived were the favourite spot of Jacques Cousteau. I can understand why! The Caribbean
Sea is crystal clear, and the fish darting past are every shade of jewel-like
colours. It was also warm – unlike the water in the Lake District! Freshwater
diving in a cold lake is very different from diving in warm seas, and I knew I
would have to get some help with the research, to make sure I had every detail
correct. In the end I got in touch with the divers of Penrith Divers' Club and
asked if I could watch them kit up and enter the water – just to see how
putting on a dry-suit for cold water diving was different from wearing the
wet-suit suitable in the Caribbean. The divers were really interested in my
story and incredibly helpful. They gave me a CD they'd recorded underwater and
explained all the manoeuvres they'd undergo to deal with a situation such as
the one that Patrick Cross faces in my book. They had some fascinating stories
to tell, and having gone to meet them I made friends for life. Felicity at the Cross Hotel is dedicated
to them.
Another strand is Felicity’s
relationship with her parents and her younger sister. Her father is an unpleasant
and ruthless businessman but also a loving family man. Have you ever met anyone
like that in real life?
I have met
someone like that in a place I once worked – a man who was quite cold and hard,
and a bit of a bully in business, and yet with his own family he was always
kind and generous. His children were open and friendly, and completely
different to him. I thought it would be interesting to explore that
father/child relationship between Felicity and her dad, because it must be very
difficult for the children of such a father. Patrick Cross's father, too, ‘wasn't
a very nice guy’, and yet Patrick has grown up to be unselfish, caring and
thoughtful.
I was once part of a discussion in
which several women including myself ‘admitted’ that they give their cars (and
other inanimate objects) names. The men in the room were baffled by such
behaviour … In the book, Felicity’s ancient car, Agnetha, is almost as much a
character as the people. Does your car have a name?
It doesn't
have a name – but I'm very attached to it! My car is also an old banger, but I
feel it's like a trusty old horse. I know it sounds ridiculous, but getting rid
of it would be like putting it out to pasture. I'd be really sad! On the other
hand, I have had cars I couldn't get on with at all. Cars that were cumbersome
and awkward to drive, and one that was a total drama queen and would break down
if asked to drive over a puddle. I swear all cars have a personality!
What was the inspiration for the book?
Having coming up with the hotel in its lovely setting do you think you’ll set
other stories there?
This might
sound crazy – and very far from my Lake District setting – but my heroine was
actually inspired by the heroine of a Bollywood film called Jab We Met – a girl with a cheerful,
lively personality who transforms everyone around her. I'm also a big fan of
the TV series The Hotel Inspector,
and I liked the idea of Felicity thinking up ways to rejuvenate the Cross
Hotel. I have ideas for more stories in the same setting. At the moment, they
are just ideas scribbled in my notebook, but one day I hope to see them fully
fledged!
Thank you for
answering my questions, Helena. All the best with the book and your writing.
Thanks so much for having me here, Kate,
and for your thoughtful questions!
Find out more
about/contact Helena:
@HelenaFairfax
Lake pictures by Pixaby
