Of ghosts, and love, and late-night pages!

When I was deep into writing Unquiet Love, most of the work happened late at night — after the animals were settled, the house was quiet, and the world felt just a bit thinner. That’s when the story’s characters – and the ghosts - would start whispering to me, and I’d follow their voices into the dark.

A red haired woman writing by candle light.

It reminded me of when my daughter was little, and I’d make up bedtime stories on the fly.  They tended to be half of magic, half of comfort, and always ending with hope. Those stories were my first lessons in storytelling: trust the moment, let the characters lead, and never be afraid of the shadows.

Writing Unquiet Love felt much the same. It’s a book about grief and connection, about love that refuses to fade, whether through time, distance, or death itself. And maybe that’s what draws me back to ghost stories again and again: so often, they’re really love stories in disguise.

Posted from Yorkshire, with a cup of tea and chocolate biscuit beside me, and two very sleepy collies at my feet.