You’ll remember the Hens. Jen, Tess, Della, Pam and Rose. They went to Paris in Five French Hens for Jen’s hen do several years ago, when Jen was engaged to Eddie.

Of course, it all ended unexpectedly for Jen. And Tess discovered what a rat her husband Alan was. Wel,l not a rat – some people find them lovely pets. Della came home to her beloved husband Sylvester. Pam returned to Elvis her dog. And Rose stayed in Paris to work in a drag bar under the name of Rose on Wye. If you haven’t read it, now’s time.

Because the follow-up is about their trip to Skye, and it’s published in December, just in time for Christmas. It’s called The Silver-Haired Sisterhood, and it unites the five friends again.

Three years after the French holiday, Tess is feeling a bit low. Her friends are going to interesting places. Pam is off to Greece, Della back to Paris, Jen to Iceland. And she’s worried she might be spending the festive period alone. So she decides to take off to the inspirational Isle of Skye because she wants to see the northern lights.

Of course, you’ll have to read the book to see what happens and why all the Hens end up on Skye together.

I went to the Isle of Skye to research the book. There’s a story attached to my journey. I damaged my index finger on a kitchen grater and I couldn’t type. The wonderful Mr McKerlie emailed me with, ‘There’s a bed made up for you here in Skye.’ I bought a ticket and I was off.

I stayed in a beautiful cottage in Staffin with great people, log fires and sheep in the garden. Through the window I could see mountains. I was so lucky to be able to research the incredible places in the book – Portree, Dunvegan, Sleat, The Old Man of Storr. At times my novel will read like a travel guide – Tess has so much fun there.

When I arrived the locals – particularly this delightful lady called Donna who deserves a mention for her inspirational stories – told me it didn’t snow much on Skye. The next day, I was snowbound. Three days, tramping across thick drifts that crunched underfoot, no cars moving anywhere on the island. It was silent, beautiful and very humbling.

It really helped me to place my characters, as Tess and her friends experience the power of the weather too. And then there are parties. And Christmas. And a bit of unexpected romance. And a twist at the ending. And one at the beginning.

I hope that’s whetted your appetite for the book. And for Skye. It’s such a beautiful, inspirational place to be.

And if you can’t go there yet, you can always travel by book.

One of the big things historical fiction readers look for (beyond exciting stories) is a degree of historical accuracy. We often want to learn about the real history behind the fiction to some degree, enough to really interest us in the period events, locations and people.

So how can we, as authors, be true enough to reality that our readers get a good sense of the time and location, enrich their reading experience and perhaps spark a new interest in the era? That is something I really focus on, and a lot of work goes into it.

I believe the setting of Historical fiction matters as much as the characters and plot. What is a story set in Rome or Constantinople without conveying the majesty of those cities? And if you want to describe the majesty of those cities in a way that makes sense, you really need to be familiar with them. Not only will that allow you to paint a more immersive, consistent image of the scene, but it will give you ideas for specific places that can fit into the narrative of your story.

My case study is Constantinople (modern Istanbul), the centrepiece location for 3 books in my ‘Last Viking’ series. I really wanted to know the city before I wrote much about it. The first thing you can do, of course, is study maps and artist impressions of the ancient city. I wanted to know where everything was in relation to each other. What do you have to pass through to get from the imperial palace to the Hagia Sofia? (The ceremonial Chalke gate). What did it look like? (massive bronze doors in a triumphal archway with statues and columns). How can that be described to the reader and used in the story?

Google maps/earth is surprisingly useful for orienting yourself with surviving landmarks but nothing, however, beats walking those streets yourself. I went to Istanbul and stood in that square under the Hagia Sofia. I walked down the slope past the long-gone Chalke gate to the palace district, and found that it was far steeper and narrower than I expected. I realised the palace really lived in the shadow of the hippodrome, something you cannot see from a map, and that the whole complex of the palace existed on a series of interleaving terraces and pathways that makes it far more interesting than just being a big courtyard.

Overall, I hope that readers will get a better sense of being there, of knowing what it is to stand between the Hippodrome and the Hagia Sofia, two wonders of the age, and the feeling of passing through the Chalke gate to the hidden inner sanctum of the palace – the sense of privilege and awe that would inspire in a citizen of the empire. Because if you can convey that, maybe the reader enjoys the immersion in the story more. Perhaps that person also goes away with another level of interest in the history behind your fiction, and you have done more than just entertain them for a few precious hours.

I’ve always been a people watcher. I am that person who sits around a pool, in the corner of a coffee shop, a pub or an office, just watching all the people around her. I’m constantly fascinated by the way people interact in social situations, and unbelievably dismayed by the way that mankind treats each other. The news channels are constantly full of atrocities, wars, and cruelty that’s simply beyond my own personal comprehension. And every night there’s another murder, an act of domestic violence or a dramatic, escalating scene that which in my younger life would have been a shock. Whereas now, I must admit, it isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, all of these act’s disgust and sadden me, but they don’t shock me. Not anymore.

My overthinking of the ‘world’ and the people in it made me begin to think about those who live closest to us. And like every author I know, I began to question the situation. Could I honestly say that I knew everything about my parents, my siblings, my relations or even my friends?

We all have family members, people we live with, work with and people that we think we know – yet somehow it can turn out that we didn’t really know any of these people at all. Which is ironic, because I then began to wonder about how much those people really knew about me.

And after much thought, I concluded that we all keep secrets. We all keep certain parts of our lives to ourselves. They’re the parts that we don’t want to talk about or to admit to and it all depends on how big that secret is – as to whether it’s something we’d eventually choose to reveal, or whether we’d hold that secret right to the end.

Which was what gave me the inspiration behind The Family Home.

A Literary Map of Paris by Rebecca Raisin

All of these places are mentioned in Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel 🥐 🇫🇷

Jardin du Luxembourg

There are busts of many a writer and poet, like Verlaine here. There’s a statue of Gustave Flaubert, who wrote Madame Bovary. Walk in the footsteps of all those writers who came before. Joyce, Faulkner, Stein, Hemingway and Wilde were all known to wander these very same gravel paths. There are so many things to do and see inside this garden, so plan ahead!

📍Rue de Médicis & Rue Vaugirard 75006 Paris

Bibliothèque Mazarine

France’s oldest public library! It houses the Gutenberg Bible circa 1450 which is hidden in the vault but they do have a replica on display. They’re also keeper of a range of rare medieval manuscripts that were seized from noble families after the French revolution. It’s worth a visit just to see the stunning antique library card catalogues, and the aroma of old books. You can also find the most beautiful parfumerie close by called Officine Universelle Buly 1803. While not literary, it looks like an old apothecary and is well worth a visit. 

📍 23 Quai de Conti, 75006 Paris

Shakespeare and Co Bookshop

This is actually the second iteration of the bookshop and was once owned by George Whitman – now his daughter Slyvia runs it. He named it in honour of Sylvia Beach’s Bookshop, of the same name. It’s a charming English bookshop and also has a café. Find the typewriter alcove and the piano room!

📍 37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris

San Francisco Book Co.

A cute-as-a button English bookshop near the Left Bank in the Odean area. It’s full of lots of hidden gems. They stock second-hand and new books. Look for the red façade on the princely-named street!

📍 17 Rue Monsieur le Prince, 75006 Paris

Abbey Bookshop

A beautiful English bookshop crammed with over 40,000 books. It’s a bookish wonderland with its stone walls, leaving down a staircase to lower level. There’s usually an urn of hot tea out the front for one and all to pour a cup and warm their hands. Inside is jam packed with so many books it’s hard to decide what to leave behind.  This place makes a great spot for literary photos, so buy some books and get snapping!

📍 29 Rue de la Parcheminerie, 75005 Paris

The Red Wheelbarrow Bookshop

A gorgeous English bookshop in a fabulous location near Jardin du Luxembourg. They often hold author events and launches. They also have a children’s bookshop called The Red Balloon.   

📍 11 Rue de Médicis, 75006 Paris

The Wall of the Drunken Boat on Rue Ferou

A poem written along a section of wall by famous poet known as l’enfant terrible, Arthur Rimbaud. Arthur’s life story is fascinating so I would recommend reading about him before you go so you can appreciate the poem, and his work.

📍 Along the wall on Rue Ferou, near Place Saint-Sulpice

A plaque at the original site of the first Shakespeare and Co. – Owned by American Slyvia Beach

This was the original site of the English Bookshop and lending library, frequented by all the literary greats, including Hemingway, James Joyce, Fitzgerald, Pound, Anaïs Nin – the distinguished list goes on. Even though the bookshop is long gone, you can close your eyes and imagine what the bookshop would have been, and all those conversations they must have had surrounded by books. Sylvia Beach was a champion of many authors and made a huge mark on the literary world.

📍 12 Rue de l’Odéan, 75005 Paris

A plaque at the original site of Adrienne Monnier’s French bookshop La Masion des Amis des Livres

This is opposite her friend and companion Slyvia Beach’s bookshop. The bookshop is sadly also long gone. Adreinne was one of the first women to open a bookshop in France. She advised her friend Slyvia Beach about opening an English bookshop and she was responsible for encouraging many other women to become booksellers in an era where you didn’t see that sort of thing. I love thinking about the two women, bookworms and companions working across the road from each other, in the business of selling books and supporting writers.

📍 7 Rue de l’Odéan, 75005 Paris

La Closerie des Lilas

A famous restaurant where it’s rumoured that Hemingway wrote parts of his novel: The Sun Also Rises. Where F Scott Fitzgerald shared with Hemingway his manuscript of The Great Gatsby. Hemingway wrote about this restaurant in A Moveable Feast.  They also have plaques attached to the tables and the bar of these literary greats. E Hemingway at the bar. S DE Beauvoir on a table and many others.

📍  171 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 75006 Paris

Colette’s apartment. No 9 Rue de Beaujolais.

Palais-Royal apartment where legendary writer Colette once live. Now one of the most prestigious addresses in all of Paris. Colette was best known for her novel Gigi and her scandalous love life.

📍 9 Rue de Beaujolais, 75001 Paris

Bouquinistes

The ubiquitous tiny green bookshop boxes of the booksellers along the bank of the Seine. They sell vintage and antiquarian books, postcards and posters. There are roughly two hundred and forty booksellers along the bank of the Seine. You can spend many an hour hunting through these tiny bookshops to find forgotten treasures.

📍 Situated on the Right Bank from Pine Marie continuing to Quai du Louvre. And on the Left bank from Quai de la Tournells to Quai Voltaire. Just find the river Seine and you’ll see them!

Le Dôme Anais Nin

Arguably the world’s first and finest writer of erotica frequented the café along with other greats like author Henry Miller and artist Pablo Picasso.

📍 108 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 75014 Paris

74 Rue du Cardinal Lemoine 

The first apartment Ernest and Hadley Heminway lived in Paris, mentioned in his book A Moveable Feast. Here you’ll find a plaque on the wall with details about the famous American author who made Paris his home for part of his life.

📍 74 Rue du Cardinal Lemoine, 75005 Paris

6 Rue du Pot de Fer

The British writer George Orwell started writing his book Down and Out in Paris and London here in what was once a squalid hotel, he even used the same setting in the novel, although he fictionalised the name of the street to Rue de Coq d’Or. Now it’s an affluent part of Paris, very different to George Orwell’s time there when it was less salubrious.

📍 6 Rue du Pot de Fer, 75005 Paris

Gustave Eiffel’s Secret Apartment Top of the Eiffel Tower

You can peep through a porthole window at his office where he wrote and did science experiments. Arguably the very best apartment in all of Paris with the best view.

📍 Avenue Gustave Eiffel, 75005 Paris

Square Gabriel-Pierné

A small secret garden with benches shaped like open books. There’s a beautiful cherry blossom tree that shades the with pink blossoms in the spring. A great spot to take a book and read in peace and quiet with the perfume of blossoms in the air.

📍 5 Rue de Seine, 75006 Paris

Bar Hemingway Inside The Ritz Paris

A bar in ode to the literary legend himself. There are framed handwritten letters from Hemingway and many pictures of the author throughout his life hung around the intimate space. Hemingway often drank at The Ritz Paris, with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Legend has it he liberated The Ritz in WW11…

📍15 Place Vendôme, 75001 Paris

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Rebecca Raisin is the author of cozy and enchanting romance reads set in Paris. You can shop her books here.

This stunning Tudor manor is the inspiration for A Christmas Murder. It was built on the foundations of a Saxon manor in the 15th and 16th centuries.

In 1703 a terrible storm resulted in the back of the house being buried in a huge landslip.

For the next 223 years the house remained covered in earth.

The Seeley family bought the manor in 1861. In 1914 General Jack Seely was sent to the western front with his horse, Warrior, who had been bred on the island.

In 1926 Jack moved into the manor. His architect son John, and his business partner Paul Paget, restored the house. They worked on their designs in ‘The Shack,’ a tiny home in miniature.

Mottistone Manor was left to the National Trust in 1963. Sophie Hunter held her wedding reception here with Benedict Cumberbatch on 14 February 2015.