The inspiration behind Summer on the Turquoise Coast

Old book cover and title, and new cover and title

Summer on the Turquoise Coast started with the title Elephant and Pinky Moon. And that original title came first, even before the characters or the plot. Maybe that's the wrong way round to write a novel, but let me explain.

A few years ago my husband and I had a holiday in Turkey. One of the excursions was to Ephesus and Pamukkale. When I told my hubby where we were going, he thought I'd said Elephant, and by the time he realised what it was really called, the name sort of stuck. And he never could pronounce Pamukkale (not really sure if I say it correctly myself, to be honest) but kept calling it “that Pinky Moon place”.

Ephesus and Pumakkale

No, Flossie isn’t based on him, not even remotely – the only connection between them is his malapropisms. Actually, there is another I could have put in the title, but thought I’d better not! You’re just going to have to read the book to find out what Flossie called Hierapolis…

The names stuck all the time we on holiday and beyond, and I may not have been aware I would write a novel about these places a couple of years in the future, but I do remember saying at the time that Elephant and Pinky Moon would make an unusual title for a book. And so the idea grew…

But that's where the similarities between my personal life and the book stop. Honest! I haven't got a grandmother who flashes her knickers whilst dancing on a bar, though my grannie did have an impressive set of false teeth and an unsettling propensity to say things how she saw them, no matter how much it made everyone else cringe! She was a bit of a teetotaller, unlike Flossie, except when it came to Christmas when she’d have a drop of port with lemonade – and I do mean a drop. You couldn’t drown a gnat it the measly amount of alcohol she had in her glass (not that I’m advocating drowning gnats, by the way).

Just to put the record straight, I'm nothing like Nina – she is pure imagination and so is Leo, but maybe I'll let my hubby keep thinking the sexy, gorgeous hunk in Elephant and Pinky Moon is based on him – bless him!

As for Ephesus and Pamukkale, they are both well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in that neck of the woods. Best not to go in the height of summer though, because the heat (at about 40C) is truly formidable!

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