When I embarked on writing Finding Love at Roseford Blooms, I knew I wanted to focus on a character who’d played a supporting role for the first two Roseford novels. It was time for Simon Treloar to shine! As he is a firm fan favourite, I was looking forward to putting him centre stage and really getting to grips with his character. What didn’t anticipate was just how tricky that was going to be, and how many layers I’d uncover in the process. You think you ‘know’ a character, and then they reveal more.
What Simon revealed to me as I delved deeper into his life, was a past that he still felt the effects of, twenty years later. And the experiences he’d had were very similar to that of the other main character, Lizzie Warner. Lizzie and Simon both had a tricky time in school, but their connection runs deeper than that, and the way that connection grows is the very heart of this novel. They both have to face things they thought they’d left behind, and while Simon can put what happened to him in a box and try to forget, for Lizzie when she turns up in Roseford after a series of personal disasters, it’s not quite so easy.
Something else that fascinated me when I was writing the book was the question of what happens when you return to a place that most people view as beautiful and idyllic, but for you it holds memories and associations that are less pleasant. Lizzie makes a reluctant choice to return to Roseford, despite the bad memories, whereas most people I’ve written about actually want to be there. She has very good reasons for feeling apprehensive, but, as it turns out, there are also very good reasons for her to come back! Over a sun-drenched summer of weddings, fetes and other events, Lizzie, hopefully, will put the past to rest. In doing so, perhaps Simon can do the same.
And for those of you who’ve been following life in Roseford through the previous two novels in the series, I hope you’ll be pleased to see how some of the other characters have been getting on, especially Finn, Lucy, Montana and Serena. If anyone can make a bruised newcomer feel welcome in the village, it’s them! Not forgetting, of course, Lucy’s Aunt Bee, who invites her to come and recuperate in Roseford in the first place. I hope you enjoy this new novel, and spending time in Somerset’s prettiest village, and you’ll love reading it as much as I adored writing it.
Get your copy of Finding Love at Roseford Blooms: https://mybook.to/findinglovesocial
