Divine Freaks On Location
Locations have been a major source of inspiration for the Kitty Slade books, and each story will take place in a different part of the UK. The location for Divine Freaks is London – Portobello Road, to be precise.
London is so full of inspiration, I could easily write a dozen Kitty Slade stories set there and nowhere else! As it is, story number six will probably be set in North London – no, not Highgate Cemetery, it’s been done too often. Somewhere you won’t guess.
So why Portobello Road? Well, for one thing, I love markets.
Whenever I visit another town, the market is something I always have to check out; it gives a unique insight into the life of a place. Of course, London has lots of wonderful markets, but as an erstwhile West Londoner (Shepherd’s Bush rather than Notting Hill; bit more affordable!) I have a particular fondness for this one.
Kitty’s home is in a mews off Portobello – a bit like this one (above), only more tucked away.
Portobello Road has changed over the 25 years or so that I’ve been going there; when I visited recently to take these pictures, I found there weren’t as many antiques shops as there used to be, and nothing as cavernous as Eaton Antiques. But I can still give you a flavour here:
The area has grown posher and posher over the years, but it’s reassuring to see the things that haven’t changed; many favourite stallholders are still here, as is Garcia’s Spanish deli, and:
The northern end is the non-touristy part, and Golborne Road is really interesting too:
It even has a shop with my name on it, and its own legendary eateries, such as Lisboa Patisserie. (Sorry; hate the word ‘eaterie’, but nothing else conveys quite the same meaning!)