Rumor has it (On Anguilla) that all the characters in my first book Endless Turquoise, are based on real life people who live on the island. Well, rumour has it wrong.

As my second novel Deepest Aqua is now available on Amazon I thought I should set the record straight.

The characters that readers met in Endless Turquoise, and will get to know better over my next books, as well as all the new characters they will meet in Deepest Aqua are works of fiction – apart from a few notable exceptions!

My friends Alan and Sue did run a restaurant on Prickly Pear. Anguilla has AARF – an animal rescue/vet’s practice where all my fur family hail from, also Shell Cay and the Island’s Harbour are homages to Scilly Cay and Island Harbour.

These special places have had a profound influence on me and are at the heart of my decision to move to and live in Anguilla.

You will also find that there is a small village in Wiltshire, called Poulshot, with a village green, and where a family called the Nixons and their friends will always live – it bears more than a passing resemblance to Puddlington.

The rest of the characters and locations in the Caribbean – bars, beaches, boats and government offices – are entirely products of my imagination, as are the stories that develop around them.

My own experiences and interactions in the islands I have been lucky to visit and spend time in – during my twenty plus years in this authentic, beautiful, diverse, occasionally challenging, but always life-enhancing region – may have added true colour.

If you are a reader that identifies with Tracy’s Caribbean adventure or Charlotte’s desire to move from the city to the countryside, my books are both for you and about you.

And if the beaches, bars or beauty spots mentioned in my books feel familiar, then you may well have experienced aspects of them in all the islands you visit – like I have.

To help you picture my fictional island better I have added a beautiful map, and more illustrations by a very talented illustrator – my cover artist Esme Mackenzie.

I hope the readers who loved Endless Turquoise love Deepest Aqua even more and get great pleasure out of diving deeper into life on Anguilla/Sint Maarten/St Martin/Nevis/St Lucia/St Kitts/Dominica … I mean Zephyr.