Interiors: Novellist Lesley Pearse finds her 250-year-old cottage the perfect place to write

WHEN Lesley Pearse was approaching her 50th birthday, she was living in a bedsit with her 13-year-old daughter, worrying about how she was going to pay her next bill.

Having had a limited amount of success with her first book, like many writers she was living on the breadline. Then she was nominated for the Romantic Fiction Award Writer of the year and, although she didn’t win, it confirmed that she was on the right track.

Now 66, Lesley has written her 20th book. Her titles have sold more than seven million copies and are translated around the world. These days home is a beautiful cottage near Bath.

Lesley has lived an eventful life and her fortunes have clearly changed for the better. Having spent time in care homes as a young child after her mother died when Lesley was just three, she then lived with her father and stepmother and their newly-adopted children, plus a stream of foster children. She worked as a bunny girl in her twenties in London, a fashion designer, was married to a trumpet player in a rock band and also ran her own gift business. Her story confirms that plans can work out and dreams do come true.

“I didn’t do anything serious with my life until I was 40. I was quite happy being a mum. I had three ambitions then: to pass my driving test, set up a business and get something published. Three months after turning 40 I set up a gift shop and my first short story was published in My Weekly.

“Storytelling was in my blood, but it was very much telling stories as opposed to writing. I had always had a vivid imagination – walking to school as a child I used to imagine myself rushing into burning houses to rescue people or finding treasure in attics. I thought everyone else did too.

“I was running my shop during the day and writing at night. I wrote three books before finding a publisher and I was 48 when my first book was accepted. My third marriage failed when I was 50 as did my business in the 1990s recession. I managed to write my way out of trouble. It was an exhausting time, but I was always committed. As soon as I got my children to sleep, I would write into the night. Often until four or five in the morning,” she says.

Exuding warmth and enthusiasm, Lesley is passionate about and committed to her writing. She is also passionate about her home, a 250-year-old cottage that she has improved and redecorated. She bought the property back in 2002 and had the adjoining cottage built two years later.

There are three bedrooms, plus a home office with a bespoke desk and shelving, which were handcrafted by a local joiner. “It was one of the most expensive things I had done to the house, it cost about £5,000. I hired a local craftsman to build me an L-shaped desk in oak with cupboards going around the wall. It has been stained pale blue and has the grain showing through so it is lovely.

“The office and my bedroom are my favourite rooms as you can see into the garden from all the windows. I also had my bed, dressing table and wardrobe specially made by a company called Leporella in Surrey.”

There are unique pieces dotted throughout the cottage such as a vintage rocking horse resting on the sitting room floor. “It was given to me by an artist friend when it was very battered, 40 years ago. My uncle restored it and all of my children have loved it,” she says.

A sign inscribed with “Laugh” sits above the cooker. “I found that sign in a shop in Cirencester. It was white and I sprayed it gold. One must always laugh. Life is too short, especially if you have a lot of cooking to do,” she jokes.

When it comes to working from home, Lesley has a disciplined approach. “I spend about seven to eight hours a day in my office writing, and I usually write about 5,000 words a day,” she explains.

“Of what I do, I would say that it is 99% persistence. Many people tell me they have written a book once and then they left it in the drawer. You have to get it out of the drawer and get it out there,” she says.

Lesley is adamant that you make your own fun in life. “I believe there are people in life that I call ‘shiners’, which are the people who consistently glow and shine. Many of my friends are like that. I often like to do something different and unexpected. Last summer, I invited two of my friends to a picnic at night. They were a bit surprised at first, but it was such a hot day. I picked them up and we went to the river and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

“I feel the same about my home, I adore it and know I will never move anywhere else now. When I saw it I knew I wanted it straight away, I think I paid slightly over the odds, but I am so happy here,” she says.

“Having just had all the family over for Christmas, I keep saying to my daughters they must start up their own traditions, as I can’t keep them going all the time.”

Although it looks likely the fun is set to continue for a while yet. k

The Promise by Lesley Pearse is published by Penguin on 19 January, £18.99 (www.lesleypearse.com)