Behind the Scenes –
The Fairlight Series
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One of the advantages of living close to the coast in North Devon is having such an abundance of spectacular scenery right on my doorstep. If ever I find myself struggling to summon details for one of my scenes, I might only have to travel a mile or two to find inspiration.
Having set my previous trilogy, The Sisters' War, in and around Exeter, I wanted The Fairlight Series to be based closer to home – not just because I know the area so well, but because I also knew the role this part of Devon played in the run up to Operation Overlord – or the Normandy Landings, as most people subsequently came to know them. The influx of thousands of foreign troops, and the impact upon the lives of local residents, threw up all manner of possibilities for the storyline of the final book in the trilogy, which starts in 1943.
As usual, with the exception of anchoring the wider location of the books by referencing actual North Devon places – such as Barnstaple and Ilfracombe – the settings for The Fairlight Series are fictional, but undeniably inspired by real stretches of coastline.
Before I even drafted the synopsis for the three books of this series, I had a clear picture of Julia's guest house, the 'Fairlight' of the series' title: it comprised an Edwardian gentleman's villa, on a cliff top above a sweeping sandy bay around which nestled the village – the fictional Slipscombe Sands. As well as the dark craggy rocks of the cliffs, I saw grassy headlands, and a steep zigzag path leading down the hillside from Fairlight to the village. The setting would be wild and dramatic in winter but glorious in summer.
My requirement for the wider setting was that the area could reasonably have been used by British and US Forces as they trained and experimented with new equipment in preparation for the Normandy Landings in June 1944 – just as they actually began to do in September 1943.
Despite having now set nine of my twelve novels in North Devon, I never tire of the area, either as a writer or as a curious human being. I truly am fortunate to live here; it's a glorious place to call 'home'.
Saunton Sands, a prized surfing location to the west of Barnstaple and the north of the combined estuary of the rivers Taw and Torridge, was a key inspiration for the dune-backed sandy bay in the books.
Croyde Beach, another surfing hotspot and popular holiday destination, helped me to picture the setting for the both the beach and the village of Slipscombe Sands.
One murky day in late September, wandering the beach at Croyde, my face being sandblasted by the gales, I found my eye caught by Downend House (above, left), on the southern edge of the bay. It wasn't the best of fits for Fairlight – for a start, it wasn't on a cliff top, and the architecture wasn't right – but it was eeerily close. In fact, perch Downend House on the hillside at the other end of the bay (above, right), and it comes closer still.
For the headlands around Fairlight, Morte Point (above, left and right), provided boundless inspiration. In fact, from regular walks there, the wild and windswept nature of the scenery had long been in my head as a brilliant setting for a book – I just didn't recognise the fact until I came to start plotting Julia's War. In the second book of the series, Isabel's War, these headlands are where the lead character spends a number of occasions reflecting upon the situation in which she unexpectedly finds herself.
Morte Point (above, left), was the headland I pictured when writing the scene in Isabel's War where the lead character accompanies the local police inspector on a walk – one which enables her to view a recent experience in a different light. In the book, the headland, known as Lively Point, is visible from Isabel's bedroom window, from where it appears to be a 'spine-like ridge'.
At the base of Morte Point (above, right) the churning seas crash over rocks known in the books as 'The Furies'.
And, finally, two more captivating views, so typical of this stretch of coastline.
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