Our first stint was in the eastern part of Maui which was beyond gorgeous. They don’t call it paradise for nothing, it was exactly as you’d imagine the Hawaiian Islands to be – lush, peaceful and exotic, bananas and mangoes literally falling from the trees. The house had a wraparound veranda which looked out onto unbroken coastline and the blue sea beyond. The pic above is of the giant Banyan tree in the garden, with a little table below for plein air breakfasts. Honestly, it was like being on the set of Lost, only without the polar bears. Actually, Lost is filmed on one of the other islands, and it was probably just as well we weren’t anywhere near the set – Matthew Fox and Josh Holloway in the area might be a little distracting for someone with 150,000 words to write!
Anyway, look out for Maui’s appearance in Original Sin, there’s a scene featuring an amazing little ‘secret beach’ you have to risk life and limb to get to. If you ever go there, make sure you go to the ‘Seven Pools of Serenity’, an amazing place of beauty and calm. It was in ‘OS’, but got chopped in the final edit.
Tearing ourselves away from Hawaii, we moved on to California.
Our friend Michael was working on the Sherlock Holmes movie with Guy Ritchie down the road in LA and living at Madonna’s Beverley Hills compound. It was very exciting getting weekly missives from the world of Hollywood, although he kept insisting that the rumours of a divorce were rubbish (!). I also experienced my first earthquake out there! There I was sitting at my desk, hoping chapter 28 would miraculously present itself when I would much rather have been at the beach – and the earth moved. Actually, the earth sort of rolled. For about ten seconds it was very scary. We also felt the tremors when the volcano went off in Hawaii – maybe it was something we did? On our way back, we drove up Highway One, along the spectacular cliffs of Big Sur, stopping off at Hearst Castle (I often write about billionaires, but William Randolph Hearst makes them all look like paupers!) and staying in Carmel (a perfect little coastal village where Clint Eastwood lives), before finishing up in San Francisco. After Southern California, it was freezing, but I loved walking past those pastel townhouses you’ve seen in Bullitt and Vertigo. Then we flew cross-country to NYC for my birthday, where my husband took me for breakfast at Tiffany’s, lunch at the Boathouse in Central Park (also featuring in Original Sin) and dinner at Gordon Ramsey. He’s got a lot to follow this year!
