Meet the author: The Water’s Edge Writer, CE Rose

The second novel from the pen of CE Rose came to the writer from beyond the grave and has some of its inspiration in the tragedy of her own life.

Rose – a former divorce lawyer, real name Caroline England, who also writes under the nom de plume Caro Land – has set her latest offering and her tenth book overall on the Norfolk Broads, the idyllic holiday spot of her childhood. It features barrister Ali Baker, who is a sleep-deprived and struggling new mum.

Rose tells P.S: “After her mother’s unexpected death in a road accident, my protagonist, Ali, travels to Norfolk to sort out her affairs, but she’s increasingly haunted by both the past and her mother’s last words to her: ‘There is something I really need to tell you…’ What on earth did her mum mean? Could it have something to do with her father’s death immediately after their last perfect summer in Norfolk 25 years ago?”

As Ali begins to uncover dark secrets from the past, everything she believed about her childhood begins to crumble. She might find the truth, but at what cost?

The author, who thrives in the realms of dark domestic thrillers, reveals: “Like my protagonist, my mum died in a car crash when I was struggling with being a first-time mother. And, like Ali, I spent childhood summers in a bungalow on the Norfolk Broads.

“But there’s another twist in this real-life tale. My long-dead parents helped me to write it, not only by inspiring the story, but from their own written contributions. After my dad died, my sister found a bundle of letters in a lovely leather pouch and gave them to me.

“When I was in the right head space, I took a deep breath, pulled at the ribbon and discovered over 50 love letters written between my parents from when my dad was in a men’s sanatorium, suffering from tuberculosis. It was quite an emotional experience; I didn’t need a photograph to picture them, as their personalities flew off the page – my dad’s humour and his clear adoration of my mum; her more circumspect affection and dry wit.

“But separate from the rest was a lone letter from my dad with some of the pages missing. The tone was a far cry from his usual light-hearted patter, so that set my imagination off. What did the rest of the letter say? What was the reason for the dramatic change in mood? Though it was entirely in my fervid mind, similar to Ali Baker, I went on a voyage of discovery, and wrote up my findings in The House On The Water’s Edge.”

This thriller should keep readers guessing, says Rose, who lives in Manchester with her solicitor husband Jonathan, with whom she has three daughters – Elizabeth, 26, Charlotte, 23 and Emily 20. But it’s a different world to the one she inhabited as a child.

She recalls: “Childhood memories – the good ones at least – are wonderful things. How I’d love to have more images of my infant holidays on the Norfolk Broads, the sparkling River Bure, the showy white lilies, the slithery black eels and orange-beaked, stately swans and my seventies-clad, gorgeous mum and dad.”

So what would they make of her novel? She smiles: “I’m sure my brilliant parents will forgive my intrusion and are proudly reading the words over my shoulder. At the end of the day, though the location and the love letters are real, the remainder of this tale is shocking, dark and entirely fictional.”

CE Rose The House on the Water’s Edge, Canelo Hera, £8.99