When I was growing up, one of my favourite pastimes was visiting the cinema.  My governess, Zula, bless her, was just as romantic as I, and would accompany me to see the latest love story on the big screen. When I was twelve, South Pacific was released, and I must have gone with Zula at least twenty times, such was my fascination. Indeed, I’ve never let go of my passion for that film in particular, and the setting, Bali, in some ways inspired my writing of Burning Embers.

Growing up in the golden era of Hollywood icons and the swinging sixties, I had my pick of beautiful women in the public eye to dream of emulating some day.

I was a fan, early on, of the Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer Ann-Margret, who starred in films like Viva Las Vegas and Tommy. Then there was the model Jean Shrimpton whose face was splashed across magazine covers in that decade.

But I think the most memorable female influence for me of the era – and for many other teenagers at this time – was Twiggy, the very first international supermodel.  She was beautiful, she exuded confidence, she was fascinating for boyish look (certainly less feminine than had previously been revered), and she had the haircut for which she became known: the Twiggy – a short crop. To top it all, she was, like me, a teenager, and was hugely successful and strong-willed – admirable qualities in a role model.

Whenever I write a book, characters come first. I need to know who my protagonists are – their strengths, their weaknesses, their hopes, their dreams, their habits, their history – before I can even think of writing their story. And appearance, of course, is key. The look of a character conveys so much about their personality.
So when it came to conjuring up a picture of Coral, the heroine of Burning Embers, in my mind, I found myself thinking about the mixture of youth but also independence and strength in Coral. And into my mind walked Twiggy of the sixties. So as I wrote Coral’s character, I found myself imaging a Twiggy-esque appearance – even down to the short hair. Eventually, when revising the book later on, I decided longer hair would be sexier for Rafe, so Coral lost her Twiggy crop, but in my mind when I picture her she’s very much the teenage dream.

Of course, Twiggy grew up; became more beautiful, to my mind, as she did so; and built an illustrious career that continues to this day. In fact, recently the term ‘the Twiggy effect’ has been coined to describe how women in their sixties and seventies are remaining stylish today (I do hope that applies to me!). And this is how I picture Coral developing after the action of this book. A strong, resilient, creative and talented woman, I have no doubt that after marrying Rafe Coral goes on to build an impressive career as a photographer alongside living out her days happily with her family.