Location Scouting For The Godmothers

One of my (many) favourite parts of the writing process is the location research. For The Godmothers I travelled to Melbourne, Scotland, England and Ireland, finding settings and details that would help me write my story.

In London, I spent hours in the wonderful Tate Britain gallery, choosing a special painting for my characters Jeannie and Eliza. I knew the moment I saw it that the painting would be ‘Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose’ by the American artist John Singer Sargent, painted in 1885-1886.

As you’ll see from my photo, it’s not only enormous, but is filled with the most glorious, delicate floral detail, recreating a summer garden at twilight, two young girls lighting lanterns that truly seem to glow.

I left the Tate with many mementoes of this beautiful painting, and it now means as much to me as it does to Jeannie and Eliza in my novel. Some of you might have even noticed the small print of it that was pinned to the wall behind me during my many online events!