My Favourite Holiday: Writer Noëlle Harrison on the many beautiful places that inspire her work

Noëlle Harrison is an Irish writer who has made Edinburgh her home.

Her ninth novel, The Gravity Of Love, has just been published by Black & White.

Set between the arid deserts of Arizona and the wild Atlantic coast of Ireland, it is described as a perceptive, life-affirming novel about identity, family and realising it’s never too late to figure out who you want to be.

I LOVE travelling, but I am not great at taking a holiday.

I need to justify taking time out with purpose. My big adventure to Australia was to visit family and, along the way, I discovered a love for Asia.

Locations are a source of inspiration in all my novels.

Characters themselves bewitching me with their scents, sights and sounds.

A sense of belonging, such as the wild Atlantic west coast of Ireland, or sheer difference, like the snowy tundra of northern Norway or the red rocks of Arizona.

The jaw-dropping splendour of The Grand Canyon can’t be understated.

Despite its popularity, the essence of the canyon could never be ruined as it is just so big.

Yes, it is beyond beautiful. Strata of red and golden rock shimmering beneath magnificent sunsets while the mighty Colorado River snakes far below.

Early March is the best time in Arizona for its profusion of wild flowers and blooming cacti.

The sweet aroma of orange blossom on the trees and the dry, crisp mountain air.

Sitting in diners talking to cowboy poets (really, they recited to me!) in old western towns such as Flagstaff and Prescott.

Watching hummingbirds collecting nectar from spring blooms.

There is nature to absorb driving the dappled road of Oak Creek Canyon, banked by pine trees and mountains.

There is history and art to appreciate, high on the plateau in the ghost town of Jerome, or discovering iconic architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s desert home, always keenly aware of the Native American tribes who first lived in Arizona – Navajo, Havasupai, Mohave and Hopi among others.

Nowhere is this heritage more profound than in Sedona, with its powerful outcroppings of huge red boulders.

There is no denying the spell I fall under in Sedona’s valley, until it bleeds through my mind and on to the page.