In my new novel, Indiscretion, the heroine Alexandra is a young woman of dual heritage: she is half-English and half-Spanish. When her parents’ marriage ended, in her childhood, she went to live in England, and for many years she has been estranged from her Spanish side of the family. Until, at the start of the novel, she decides it is time to reconnect with her Spanish roots.

How daunting it is to travel to a new land, entrenched in customs that are alien. But more than that, in Andalucia, Alexandra is to take her place at the hacienda El Pavon as one of the de Falla family: close-knit, intense and traditional. This is the family to which Alexandra is expected to belong:

• The Duquesa, Doña Maria-Dolorès de Falla, Alexandra’s grandmother. Strong, fiercely traditional, and the supreme matriarch – but with a great deal of love for her family and well respected by the locals.
• Don Alonso de Falla, Alexandra’s father. Loving, but far too pliable when it comes to his domineering wife.
• Eugenia de Falla, Don Alonso’s wife. Manipulative and snobbish; most unwelcoming of Alexandra.
• Mercedes de Falla, Alexandra’s half-sister. Jealous and determined to win Salvador for herself.
• Ramón de Falla, Alexandra’s cousin – son of the Duquesa’s deceased son Armando and a trapeze artist. Friendly, but frustrated by the limitations of his family.

In addition, another line of the family lives at El Pavon, descended from the Duquesa’s brother, Count Rodriguez Cervantes de Rueda:

• Esmeralda Cervantes de Rueda, adopted daughter of Luis, cousin of Alonso. A woman of passion, trapped by the expectations imposed upon her.
• Salvador Cervantes de Rueda, adopted son of Luis and heir to the estate of El Pavon. Loyal, responsible, hard-working, strong and entirely dedicated to the Spanish belief in la honra (honour).

Needless to say, immersion in this family life is quite a shock to Alexandra, who has spent years living only with her aunt in England. There are so many family members to get to know and understand, and so much intrigue and emotion boils beneath the surface of the family that it is quite overwhelming. How can Alexandra be herself with her family? How can she come to feel that they are family, and not strangers?

Indiscretion is a love story, but not of a woman and a man unattached and free to fall in love as they please. This is a world where family is very important.

I always wanted to write a book in which a large and impassioned family featured prominently, because that is how I grew up. My childhood home in Egypt was not unlike El Pavon, in the sense that it was sprawling and home to several generations of my family. Like the Duquesa in Indiscretion, my grandmother was the glue that held us all together, and each day the whole family would come together for a meal over which she would preside from the head of the table.

We were very much a clan; very close. I recall that if a stranger came into our midst, we would immediately draw together as if threatened by the outsider. Of course, as I grew up I came to find the closeness of the family stifling at times, but I treasured and honoured the love, support and the sense of belonging that my family gave to me. My family were a gift, and it was one I wanted to bestow on my heroine, Alexandra.

But settling into a new land and new family is very difficult. I knew this well because as a young woman I came to live in England, and even though I had travelled extensively, I recall clearly the period of adjustment I had to go through. Writing Indiscretion brought back those days, especially the strange juxtaposition of past and present, here and there, and the exploration of identity.

For Alexandra, the struggle to know whom she is and where she belongs makes giving her heart to Salvador all the harder. Come the end of the book, will she choose England: the familiar, the known, the quiet life, the homeland of her mother? Or will she choose Spain – tradition, rules, family – and stand at Salvador’s side as mistress of El Pavon?