Meet the author: In The Time We Lost writer, Carrie Hope Fletcher

She is best known for her award-winning performance in the role of Eponine in the hit West End musical, Les Miserables.

Carrie Hope Fletcher has since starred in and received accolades for The War Of The Worlds, The Addams Family and Heathers: The Musical.

The versatile actress also has a string of best-selling books under her belt – with the latest In The Time We Lost, set in Scotland.

Carrie has a passion for locations north of the border.

Taking a break from rehearsals for Les Miserables The Concert, she tells P.S: “I have had an absolute love and obsession with Scotland ever since I stayed there for a few weeks while I was in The Addams Family in 2017.

“We were there for three weeks but we had a lot of time to explore and see all the sights of Edinburgh, and then later we went to Glasgow.

“When I was rooting around for remote places for the latest book there was nowhere that stuck out for me as somewhere Luna, my lead character, would go.

“So I made one up – the last train stop on the Scottish mainland, John O’Groats station.

“I felt if I had that as my starting point and took that train line one stop further that would be my basis for the most remote place I could think of.

“I have never been that far north but I’d love to go. I have to do it now.”

The book, out now, follows jilted Luna who is seeking a fresh start after living in Ondingside, a magical town with a population of less than 150.

She hopes to get her life back on track and maybe even find love again. But a freak July snowfall sees the town stand still. Luna has to try to break the monotony to see out her goal.

The Greater London-based author says: “The idea for the book came to me when it was snowing last year in April – weirdly – and I just started to think what would happen if the snow made everyone forget the last 24 hours.

“It is a bit like Groundhog Day or 50 First Dates, I had to go back over it and make sure it was all consistent with what each character knew and how much they knew and whether they had relived that day or not.”

She admits it’s a challenge to juggle writing and stage work – she wrote her latest novel while starring as Veronica Sawyer in the West End musical Heathers last year.

“The book took a year to write in total,” she says.

“I was writing most of it through Heathers, on the way into work on the train and on the way home. Any time I got in my dressing room my laptop would be open.

“I love it and my mind is racing with new ideas. I am already working on the next one.”

Carrie Hope Fletcher, In The Time We Lost, Sphere, £12.99