Picture-postcard-perfect

Ahead of September's publication of A Heart Bent Out of Shape here in the UK, my publisher has produced some quite gorgeous postcards. They perfectly conjure the part of Switzerland in which the book is set: Lac Léman, a pleasure-seeker's Riviera paradise, with a timeless sense of beauty. While the story takes place in the present day, it's always seemed to me that there are echoes of travel's 'golden age' in today's La Suisse. A Heart Bent Out of Shape is rooted in such landscapes, while Hadley, my heroine, falls in love while studying Jazz Age literature. Mes amis, Welcome to Lausanne...

I love vintage travel imagery - the dreams of far-off climes, the dash of romance, the hyperreal shades - and a quick glance around my writing room shows that these postcards will be very much at home here. Here's a peep at some of the bits and pieces that I like to surround myself with as I'm working...

Glorious chocolate boxes... The chocs have long since gone, but the packaging's too beautiful to chuck away. I actually bought 'Les Moules du Lac' in Lausanne last winter, from a perfect little Chocolaterie... 

   
Vintage ski cards... I wish somebody had invented snowboarding earlier, as I'd love to see some similarly cheeky/ svelte depictions of people standing-sideways...

The wrapping paper I couldn't quite bring myself to give away... it's a poster on my wall instead, just behind me as I write...

... and the ultimate in inspirations, this was the mood-board I made while writing A Heart Bent Out of Shape... light on water, jagged peaks... Bon Voyage.