From Dorset via Scotland to Iceland – Tracy Buchanan’s Family Secret

Submitted: 29th March 2019

Tracy Buchanan on a literary wander…

The Family Secret is the latest novel by author Tracy Buchanan and it takes the reader to more than one location! Some are fictional but all are very evocative of time, place and mood. The plot centres around a girl, lost on a beach in Dorset. She has no memory of who she is or why she is there. From Dorset via Scotland to Iceland – Tracy Buchanan’s Family Secret is one to unravel for yourself…

From this local seaside location, we are taken to Iceland and its striking landscape there. And let’s not forget Scotland! How can locations help set the mood and draw the story with them?

From Dorset via Scotland to Iceland – Tracy Buchanan’s Family Secret…

BookTrail the locations in The Family Secret

My latest novel The Family Secret features several freezing cold and atmospheric locations. In fact, it’s first title was The Ice Beach and the tells a tale in itself as the focus is about wintry beaches; beaches we usually associate with summertime.

Dorset

Take Winterton Chine, for example, the pretty UK seaside village where gift shop owner Amber discovers a girl walking barefoot on the icy beach with no memory of who she is or where she came from. It’s based on the lovely Alum Chine in Dorset which I visited during the Christmas I started writing the novel. I felt it was important to visit during winter as I think British seaside towns have a different quality during the winter. Quiet, calm, cold! I needed to get a sense of what Amber saw, felt, smelt and tasted during those cold sparse winter months.

Iceland

In complete contrast is the location of Iceland, specifically its ice beaches. There’s this stunning beach there known as the ‘Diamond Beach‘ with beautiful blue ice blocks sitting atop black sand. I’ve never been but I know people who have so picked their brains about it and did lots of online research.

Scottish Highlands

Another location is that the Scottish Highlands. One of the main characters, wildlife documentary maker Gwyneth, discovers a lodge overlooking an iced over loch. Scotland is a fantastic location for depicting winter wonderlands… but there is also a hint of menace, with Gwyneth falling through the iced over loch the first time she visits.