A novel of family dynamics set in MAINE
Talking Location With author Rob Starr – BRIGHTON
29th August 2024
#TalkingLocationWith …. Rob Starr, author of The First Widow – BRIGHTON
The First Widow is my second novel that has its base in Brighton. My first novel, What the Tide Brings Back, was even more Brighton centric, in fact without Brighton the story would not have had any soul at all.
The thing with Brighton is that it is such an inspirational place to live that all you have to do is walk around and take in the City atmosphere and you will find that you can’t help but want to write about it. My lead character, Kiara Fox, lives in Hove, the more residential area of Brighton, and she is just a stone’s throw from the famous Brighton Beach. As an amateur Triathlete her training ground is the long seafront that runs all the way from Hove Lawns down to the Marina, a flat stretch of around five miles and of course she has to swim every day in the sea, how could she not. This is how she starts her day, down at the beach six o’clock every morning.
I can relate to this aspect of Kiara Fox as it’s something I have been doing for the last fifteen years myself. Every single morning, throughout the year, I am down on Brighton Beach. Come rain or shine, calm and storm, even in the snow, you will find me in my trunks at six thirty am and walking into the sea. In the warmer months (warm to me is when the sea hits at least ten degrees) I will swim around the famous Brighton Pier every morning. It’s the only way to start the day. I simply had to give this incredible gift to Kiara. I have yet to convince any of my own family or friends to join me, but I will keep trying.
Brighton Pier Photo credit: BBC
The other incredible thing about Brighton is that it is nestled snugly between the South downs and the Sea, and close to so many really cute countryside villages. So in minutes you can be on the coast taking in a deep breath of sea air or you can be deep into the British countryside and enjoying the peace and tranquillity that our countryside is known for. This was something that was important to me when moving Kiara around her home city, as I also enjoy both these aspects of living.
Whilst Kiara lives and works in Brighton, she chose to send her children to school in the small village of Hurstpierpoint. This village is only a short drive from her house by the beach, but it is everything a British Village should be, and it is a fantastic place for her twin daughters to be educated. Kiara’s husband, Ash, is a teacher at Hurst College, so she just had to take advantage of that and enrol her girls there. And what a school it is. Founded in 1849, over 175 years ago, it’s campus sits in over 140 acres just off the South Downs. My own children, I have three, all went to Hurst College and the care and kindness they received from the teachers made it not only an incredible experience for them, but as parents made us so grateful that we could give them that. For Kiara, Hurstpierpoint became very much a haven of peace and security when her life took a dramatic turn, and she even ended up moving there, but the draw of the beach and the vibrancy of the big City never stopped taking her back home to Brighton.
Leaving the main City and going West you find a few other small, almost villagey areas, that whilst still part of greater Brighton very much have their own identities. Places such as Shoreham and Southwick. It is Shoreham where Kiara faces one of her darkest and most dangerous moments. Nestled in the South Downs, between Shoreham -by-sea and Upper Beeding is the old Cement works. It has been there for as long as living Sussex residents can remember, but I doubt anyone can remember it actually working. As a child we used to drive passed it regularly and I remember fondly my Dad pointing out the long slides that would transport the cement from one side of the road to the other and telling me that was how the Porridge was made. Forever more it was known as the porridge factory to me.
Brighton is truly a City of many parts. But for me, and for Kiara, it all has to start and end in the sea, the greatest mystery of them all.
Rob Starr
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