A new writer from Kinross has had her first romantic romp with Mills & Boon published.
The Mills & Boon ‘True Love’ romantic novels are a legendary brand of writing that continues - despite the Fifty Shades era - to earn their keep in bookshelves worldwide.
In 2017 Prima magazine cast around for a new author to spin a tale of romance for the publishing house and discovered Tracy Gow, a photographer with a burgeoning interest in writing, from Kinross.
Mother-of-two grown-up sons, Tracy won the Prima magazine competition for a publishing contract and has had an epic year getting on with the task of writing her first Mills & Boon title, as well as balancing work and study.
She said: “Just when I entered the Prima competition, I was accepted for a masters degree course doing ‘writing practice and study’ at Dundee. I was wanting to find out if I could write professionally.
“The greatest surprise came when I won the Gavin Wallace Memorial Prize - awarded to the best student in the year in terms of performance.
“I’m a mature student and I think I was propelled by being in a constant state of panic, it pushed me into high achieving mode,” said Tracy.
At the same time as tapping words Tracy has been snapping brides. She’s been a photographer for 15 years doing a mix of weddings, commercial and portraiture.
But the chance to be an author provoked a re-think.
“With the challenge to do this book, I decided to shoot my last wedding this summer,” explained Tracy.
“I thought it was the right time to step back from wedding work and concentrate on commercial photography.”
The book, ‘Her Brooding Scottish Heir’ - published under Tracy’s nom de plume Ella Hayes - was launched last week, and the reviews have been coming in for a few weeks in anticipation of its publication.
“It’s been really nice to get positive comments about the story,” Tracy told the PA.
She felt she won her chance to write her romance because unlike the ‘exotic’ locations normally found in Mills & Boon love stories, she described the rugged romance of heathery burns and moorland.
‘Her Brooding Scottish Heir’ is about a young woman, an artist needing to escape from London, who after breaking off a serious relationship heads for a secluded Highland bothy to nurse a broken heart and prepare her portfolio.
The lovely Milla O’Brien isn’t alone for long, as she keeps bumping into the laird’s son, who in time she falls for.
The introductory lines set the scene: “When Cormac Buchanan stops to help Milla O’Brien change her wheel on a remote stretch of road in the Scottish Highlands, he has no idea that his life is about to change forever...”
Hero Cormac’s got some history to contend with: as well as being the heir to the Calcarron Estate, Cormac is in the Royal Engineers.
He lost his best friend in a skirmish in Afghanistan and is struggling to come to terms with his loss and the guilt of having survived.
Dipping into her experience as a wedding photographer, Tracy positioned a family wedding on the estate as the central event that brings her characters together.
The bothy where the heroine Milla goes to stay is called Strathburn Bothy, located on the fictional Calcarron Estate.
“I do lots of travelling in Scotland with my camera and I love working some of these stunning landscapes into my writing.
“Lots of Perthshire locations have found their way into the descriptive passages in the book – Loch Calcarron could be Loch Tay and some of the rooms in Calcarron House, Cormac’s family pile, have been inspired in a general way by the décor at the Fortingall Hotel near Aberfeldy.
“Calcarron House itself owes something to the fictional Glenbogle of ‘Monarch of the Glen’ fame which is actually Ardverikie Estate.”
Tracy had some explaining to do when her script became a reality: “I based the character of Milla on a real person, artist Ellis O’Connor.
“Ellis was one of a team of models who was supposed to be working with me on a styled photographic shoot. She couldn’t make it in the end, but I continued to follow her on social media and to read her blogs because I love her work.
“I felt I had to get in touch with her and explain she was appearing in my book. Luckily she was delighted.”
‘Her Brooding Scottish Heir’ is out now, available on Amazon and other platforms, £5.99 in paperback.
