It took two years and resulted in a much better book. I was pregnant with my first child at the time. They liked the idea but didn’t know how to market it or they wanted me to make changes, which I did. I got quite a lot of tentative interest from agents. There was interest from agents but the book is self-published. The Gardens of Bomarzo, Italy, which served as inspiration for the novel.

It's kind of an homage to The Secret Garden because I like that story.

And then I took inspiration from The Secret Garden, a girl who loses her parents, is sent to a big manor, where there’s a boy who is sick and a secret garden. But I wanted to find something set in the present day. I wanted to write about this man who made this garden for his wife. He made this garden full of statues that were really impressive, but also some of them quite terrifying, to reflect the darker side of life. They had a documentary about the gardens of Bomarzo in Italy, owned by a noble Italian who lost his wife. I first had the idea when I visited an exhibition about gardens at the Centre Pompidou in Metz, France. When and how did the idea for this novel come to you? This gripping novel centres around Sophie, a 16-year-old schoolgirl growing up in Vichy who is haunted by her father’s murder. She talks about her homage to The Secret Garden and how it isn’t just young adults who love YA novels. A visit to the Centre Pompidou in Metz inspired author Zoe Perrenoud to write and publish Bloodlender, the first young adult novel of a trilogy.

Bloodlender by Zoé Perrenoud