Place is very important to me as a writer. I want to put my characters in the right spot. Where they live, where they go on holiday – and of course where they go to eat – are vital details.

I live in the USA now: in rural Ohio. My latest novel, Life's Too Short To Frost A Cupcake, which I wrote under the pen-name of Rosie Wilde, is the story of Alice - a London girl who finds herself stranded on a farm in Ohio with only a cow and a reclusive country singer for company.

Marlow is a place close to my heart and my writing. I spent much of my childhood there, cycling along the Thames towpath, along the back lanes past the lock and further afield to the country house of Cliveden. In Wives and Lovers, Victoria and David own a country house in Marlow by the river. And Cliveden, now a hotel but once owned by the Astors, is a honeymoon setting in Husbands and Other Lovers.

I love this photograph of Marlow by the aerial photographer Jason Hawke. You can see the impressive span of the white Marlow Bridge, which features in the closing scenes of Wives and Lovers. To the right of the bridge stands Marlow Rowing Club. To the left is the Compleat Angler Hotel.

Dearest Rivals is set in Marlow. The Old Brewery is the home of one of the characters and the footbridge by the lock is the setting for the novel's final dramatic confrontation.

Another romantic setting is Deauville, the coastal Normandy town which is the setting for a weekend assignation in Wives and Lovers. I have also sent my characters to New York, Venice and Virginia in search of love!

Wimbledon Village is one of my favourite places to spend a Sunday afternoon – a walk on the Common followed by window- shopping in the gorgeous clothes shops and then tea. In my next novel, The House, all the characters live in a house newly converted into flats overlooking the Common.

Finally, London. Where most of the deals, the plots and the intrigue takes place in Husbands and Other Lovers.

The Carlton Tower Hotel is a featured location of mine, situated in Cadogan Place. Annie has an unexpected lunch there in Wives and Lovers and another character revisits it in very different circumstances in Husbands and Other Lovers.

I have been asked if my novels are a tour of London restaurants! La Famiglia for homely Italian, Zafferano for more Italian, The Ritz and the Ivy all make an appearance in Husbands and Other Lovers. Oh, and there are some fun lunch venues too for the ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ in my novels.