I was thinking today about what lies at the heart of writing for a novelist and I concluded it was the pleasure of creating fictional worlds and fictional lives.  

And then I thought of the two different worlds I created, firstly with my Belleville series and then with the new series based on Philippe Duval. 

I decided a picture was worth a thousand words to demonstrate this idea – strange thing for a novelist to say, I know, but these two images demonstrate the different worlds: one is the world of country Australia that occasionally converges with city life; the other is the new life Philippe Duval finds himself in, a life he never sought or imagined, but one he takes advantage of in ways you might expect.

I had fun creating the new world of Philippe Duval. It may be set in the late 1960s but in the fictional world I’ve created, we see the legacy of America’s gilded age when great industrial fortunes were made. (Anyone who has watched the HBO series The Gilded Age will understand what I’m talking about. The show streams on Paramount+ in Australia. Warning: it’s a binge-watch trap ready for you to walk into.)

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About the photographs
In both cases, I’ve taken these photographs. The Queenslander house is located in Rockhampton, Queensland. The architectural style is unique to the state. Many fine examples of this architecture remain in the cities and towns of Queensland. The style continues to be built as a custom build by those who want to recapture the elegance of the past era.

The image of the Tiffany & Co store I took in London April 2023. I hasten to add I did not shop there but I promise you the jewellery is spectacular.