Raw emotional drama comes with writing novels about mothers, stories about sisters, talking about love and loss, secrets and choices, and everything in between. I do often find myself close to tears as I write but it is a cathartic kind of crying. You can allow yourself to feel very deeply but remain within the ‘safe’ structure of your story and because you’re writing it, there’s a sense of control. The research, on the other hand, was much, much harder for me. Reading about forced adoptions, women’s homes, the stern family environment, the absolutely crippling social stigmata these women faced and the horrendous emotional fallout from the separation – all that was harrowing.

I was a guest at Anne Bonny Books Blog to talk about all kinds of things: what first prompted me to think about forced adoption and mother and baby homes, what location Hartland is based on and what I think about mothers, daughters and sisters.