I first visited Venice as a young child. Then, as now, I was wide-eyed and enchanted by the beauty of the city. I distinctly remember standing in the main square, the Piazza St Marco, gazing up at the stunning architecture of Saint Mark’s Basilica, and feeling I had somehow entered another world – a fairytale world. Then I looked down, at the square itself, which was overrun by hordes of pigeons. There was nothing beautiful about those birds. They were quite spoiling the place. And it struck me then that Venice is a city of two faces: that which the tourists flock to admire, that makes the city the capital of romance, that breathes new life into the imagination and leaves a permanent, inspirational impression. And the other side, the darker side, that which is concealed in what Erica Jong called ‘the city of mirrors, the city of mirages’.

When I returned to the city as an adult, I became quite fascinated by the concept of Venice – what it means to be Venetian; what the city really is beneath the layers of history and grandeur and legend.  Frida Giannini wrote ‘Venice never quite seems real, but rather an ornate film set suspended on the water.’ I understand this quote – there is something fairytale about the place, and with that comes some reluctance, perhaps, to see the realism beyond.

Venice so captured my imagination that I knew some day I would write a romance novel set in this most elegant and fascinating of cities. But it had to be the right story to fit the place. For me, that meant a story that reflected the two faces of Venice – the mask she wears, and the true form beneath.

The story that eventually formed was more rooted in this concept of mirage than I could have imagined. I could not resist bringing together the protagonists, Venetia and Paolo, at a masked ball for their first meeting. From that point on, Paolo is the very embodiment of the Venetian contrast. He is at once handsome, accomplished gentleman, well at ease in the city, and a man with a past cast deep in shadows. He is, for Venetia, a mirage, not entirely tangible, not entirely trustworthy when it comes to committing the heart, and she senses this and struggles with it. But when the truth comes out – as of course it always must – are either of the characters strong enough, brave enough, to strip off their masks at last and be their truthful selves? You’ll have to read the book to find out the answer! (It publishes on 6 December.)