When asked which of my books is my favourite, I inevitably say Tongue in Cheek, the second of the Lodes Chronicles. I know it’s a lavishly OTT in places, flawed in others, and the ‘book within a book’ in the middle throws some readers, but my goodness it had me absolutely caught up from its first chapter. Inspired by a visit to an amazing garden of follies in Yorkshire – along with the deep dark woods all writers adore – I loved inventing Gunning Woods and all the goings-on there. Diana, Anke and Mo are three very contrasting, strong female characters whose lives become tangled by chance – and by horses – which rang familiar in my corner of the Cotswolds. This book was total escapism to write at a time when I was very unhappy in my personal life, my Forest of Arden where people fall back in love and old wounds are healed. It’s not a straightforward love story, yet it’s probably amongst the most romantic of my books. Even a horse finds the love of his life after all…

Trivial fact: I came up with the title out riding when my afraid-of-his-own-shadow gelding spooked at a deer and I bit my tongue so badly I had to ride back looking like a mugging victim. On the way, I met a neighbour who cheerfully asked after my books while I sucked and gurgled gorily, neither of us mentioning all the blood.