Bestselling author Ann Cleeves, 67, (pictured) shares key items from her castle in rural Northumberland
1. REAL LIFE!
This picture of Brenda Blethyn as my Vera character is that of my daughter Sarah’s partner, Jason. I think Vera would feel at home here.
It happened while I was writing a funeral scene and I got stuck. So I thought I’d open a door to see who came in, and Vera walked in, who looked more like a dealer than a detective.
I am writing as a reader and I do not know what will happen. It wouldn’t be fun if I knew how a book was going to end, and I wrote it decades before it was commercially successful, so it had to be fun.
Brenda is amazing – we were both just as nervous as each other when we first met.
2. SOULS
My late husband Tim used this telescope for bird watching. I met him on Fair Isle in Shetland, where I worked as an assistant cook at the Bird Observatory, even though I don’t know how to cook and I love birds.
I had dropped out of university, got a job in London, and then realized I didn’t live in the city. Tim is a bird watcher and when he got to Fair Isle I saw a bottle of whiskey in his backpack and thought it was worth meeting.
3. A PLACE TO RESET
This painting is by North Tyneside artist Peter Burns. I find it very comforting. It belongs to the 14th century Bede’s chair, located in the monastery of St Paul in Jarrow.
For me it represents the Northeast where Tim and I moved to in 1987. We fell in love immediately: our neighbor gave us tea and biscuits on our first day. I got this blaster after Tim’s death in 2017 and I’m writing this here.
It’s close to Kielder Forest and I like to think that the wood for the chair may have come from here.
4. CRAFTSMANSHIP BY CROFT
This beautiful Fair Isle chair was made for me on the island by a friend of mine, Ingrid’s daughter, Eve Eunson. I like small places and only 50 people lived on the island when I was there.
I used to visit an old man named Willie who told me the best stories. This is practically a replica of a chair on your farm.
It’s sturdy enough for grandchildren to climb on and surprisingly comfortable: The curved backrest blocks air from blowing towards you and keeps it comfortable.
This vase reminds Ann she grew up in North Devon. She says her school days were magical with “lots of music and beach parties.”
5. PINK SPOT glassware
The daughter of a school friend from North Devon is a glassblower and this vase reminds me of my childhood there. My school days were magical with lots of music and beach parties.
I have always read and written but never dreamed of being a ‘writer’. I had a job, a probation officer when Tim worked as RSPB director at Hilbre, a tidal nature reserve on the Wirral mainland.
I left home in sacks of oil and put on my court robes to a waterfront town hall, then took the train to work in Liverpool.
6. CRIMINAL PROPERTY
I really love the delightful yet beautiful Iceland and this is the Icepick Award for crime fiction I received there. Iceland has some wonderful mystery writers and celebrates writing in all its forms.
In the UK, detective fiction is now more respected than before, as it is so popular. It took me 20 years to win my first prize, the Golden Dagger, in 2006.
Still, I’m glad: if my first novel had sold well, the pressure would have been enormous.
Ann’s Heron’s Scream is now available in paperback, £8.99, at Pan Macmillan. Vera’s new novel, The Rising Tide, comes out September 1.
Source: Daily Mail
