People often ask me ‘Did you always want to be a writer?’ Yes! I was a consummate bookworm as a child, and dreamed of being Jo March in Little Women. I began writing endless stories, usually starting ‘Mary Lou marched out of the classroom, her head held high in indignation’.
A Home From Home
I found proof of my ambition when I was sorting through my childhood books a couple of years ago. My favourite book was Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken. Inside my copy of the Puffin classic, I had scratched out Joan’s name and written by Veronica Henry. The ultimate visualisation technique!
Of course, when it came to leaving university, I had to get a ‘proper’ job. You can’t apply to become a writer. You have to live a little first. But fate nudged me in the right direction and somehow I landed myself a job as a secretary on ‘The Archers’. It was there I realised that everyone needs storytelling in their lives. A chance to escape and be taken somewhere else, even if only for a few minutes each day.
I went on to write television drama scripts for shows like Heartbeat and Holby City, but my true love was still books. Eventually I took the plunge – and I’m now about to publish my twentieth novel, A Home from Home. From beach huts to bookshops, I’ve tried to take my readers on a journey somewhere they would like to spend time, somewhere they can imagine themselves. And to create characters my readers would like to be friends with, or in love with, or married to.
It’s the best job in the world, but it is hard work, finding new stories and settings and keeping things fresh at the same time as familiar, because you have to be consistent if you want to satisfy your readers. The research is always fun –I’ve driven round a race track in a Bugatti when I was seven months’ pregnant, tried not to be seasick on a lobster-fishing boat and dressed for dinner on the Orient Express. For A Home from Home, which is set on a family farm in Somerset, I had to drink an awful lot of cider. Tough work but someone’s got to do it! I'm so excited for everyone to read it, and I hope they'll fall in love with Dragonfly Farm like I did.
Twenty books. Over two million words. I think 8-year-old bookworm me would be impressed.
A Home From Home by Veronica Henry is published by Orion and out now.
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