I Could Love You picks up some of the characters of my earlier novel, The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life, which was set in 2000, eight years earlier. Like the first novel, the action unfolds in real time, in real places; though the village of Edenfield is invented. For those who are interested to track the geography of my world, Edenfield is just east of Lewes on the A27, in the position occupied in reality by the hamlet of Beddingham.
All the characters are fictional, with one exception: Victor Elsey, the proprietor of the café on Lewes station, has kindly given me permission to feature him in a walk-on part. For the painter Anthony Armitage I have borrowed a little from the career of the late Michael Reynolds. For the details of plastic surgery I am indebted to Nick Parkhouse FRCS, who gave me generous amounts of his time, access to his clinic, and the benefits of his insights into his profession.