Although The Thousand and One Nights has two main characters, there is a third – the beautiful city of London. I’m lucky enough to live in one of the worlds most fabulous metropolises so it was great to set my first Secret Library book there. It was also an inspiration for the story where my heroine Breeze Monaghan has to keep millionaire Sebastian Dark satisfied, as did Scheherezade in the 1001 nights, in order to save her skin.
Let me take you on a little tour of the locations that inspired Breeze and Sebastian to get down and dirty…..
The Sharlton Club Founded in the mid 1800s, is based on one of the oldest gentlemen’s clubs in London. Earls, Viscounts and Prime Ministers are listed among its exclusive membership which is by nomination and election only. In such an upper class set up my heroine, Breeze delights in taking the tone down a notch or two as she writhes in a not very ladylike way on one of the oh so highly polished tables. It’s almost impossible for us mere mortals to break in to such bastions of elite society. But yours truly snuck in uninvited on the coattails of an obliging friend working at the club as a waitress! With my notebook and pen I risked the indignity of being chucked out onto the streets of St James’s in order that I could bring you, dear reader, a great story.
The Ritz How I luuuurve The Ritz where Sebastian books dinner and a suite afterwards for him and Breeze to engage in some serious foreplay. Up the road from Piccadilly and the Strand it oozes old world gentility. Even the restrooms have gilt ormolu armchairs and carpets an inch thick. I’m going to celebrate publication day there with a tiny glass of something fizzy when The Thousand and One Nights goes into print. Yay!
Victoria Station A busy London train station where if you’re lucky you can catch the sight of foreign dignitaries alighting to travel up to Buckingham Palace. Many moons ago Emperor Hirohito and our own dear Queen did the journey in an open topped coach. My delectably handsome hero, Sebastian uses the half hour journey from Victoria to Brighton, that playground by the sea, to get up to some energetic voyeuristic sex – it beats doing a crossword or staring out of the window!
Brighton Pier I love, love, love Brighton Pier. Like my heroine herself, it’s sassy, fun, bright and breezy, a folly dedicated to entertainment. The whole idea of building a platform into the ocean, which goes nowhere and is for all practical purposes useless – which doesn’t dock boats or land planes and is designed solely for the pursuit of joy is just such a crazy idea, it sums up Brighton perfectly. It’s also a sort of metaphor for what Breeze is to Sebastian – he’s a bored millionaire who wants her just for fun until he realises he’s stumbled upon someone really special. A dirty weekend in Brighton by the sea is a must after a week’s work in London. I was strolling with my lovely hubby on the funfair at the end of the pier when people started screaming. I looked up at the most massive terrifying fairground ride which throws people up in the air over the sea and my imagination ran wild. So did my heroine’s when she was thinking of inventive ways to please Sebastian Dark and save her skin.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour and that you enjoy reading The Thousand and One Nights. I so enjoyed writing it.
You can buy The Thousand and One Nights here: http://www.xcitebooks.com/Book/6788/The-Secret-Library.html
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Kitti Bernetti was born and brought up in London but loves travelling all round the world. She’s keen to set her next book in another city setting, Singapore- hot, steamy and vibrant. She has had more jobs than she cares to remember: working as secretary to a politician; selling tacky keyrings in a themed pearly kings and queens venue at London Bridge; as a waitress at silver service dinners in places as weird as the Natural History Museum (which is the only place in the world where you can pour someone their wine underneath the belly of a whale!) But the job she loves best is writing, and the thing she loves best is connecting with readers.
Visit her at http://kittibernettis.blogspot.co.uk/