Katy Rice speaks to author Rosanna Ley about her new book The Saffron Trail

The latest novel by best-selling author Rosanna Ley has taken her on an intriguing journey to discover the secrets of saffron.

The author of novels including The Villa and Return to Mandalay travelled to Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains to research The Saffron Trail, set in the 1970s and the present day, and following the stories of two women among a small group of Europeans who are learning to cook spicy Moroccan cuisine in a traditional riad (palace or house) in the Moroccan city.

“The story started with saffron and my fascination with it,” says Rosanna, who grew up in Tarring and has lived in Worthing, on and off, until three years ago. “I wanted to find out more about it: where it comes from, the myths surrounding it, why it is worth more than gold.

“It led me to Morocco, and to Marrakech, because that is where the best quality saffron is produced.

“And also I’d never been there before and I always wanted to go. Marrakech is so lovely and really did live up to my expectations.

“The vibrant colours and the amazing architecture really appealed to me and, as I love writing about tangled relationships, the twisting labyrinthine lanes and riads seemed to mirror that.”

The Saffron Trail, which was published last month, is set in the hustle and bustle of the colourful souks and bazaars of Marrakech. It follows the stories of Nell, who is searching for a sense of direction after the death of her mother and dreams of opening her own restaurant back in the UK, and photographer Amy, who is simultaneously gathering illustrative material for her gallery in Lyme Regis and searching for her cousin Glenn, an American draft dodger last heard of living in a hippie commune in the shadows of the Atlas Mountains.

The two women begin their stories as strangers but discover that their families are linked by history.

“It’s a lot of work and takes a lot of research over a lot of time to write my novels,” says Rosanna, who is married with three adult children and now lives in Dorset.

“I have to do a lot of thinking, plotting and planning. I write several stories, sometimes separately, and then interweave them. It’s a bit like a jigsaw puzzle.”

Rosanna, who holds an MA in creative writing for personal development and has taught creative writing for adults at Northbrook College and at the University of Sussex, leads workshops and writers’ retreats in this country and abroad in Italy and Spain, and also runs a manuscript appraisal service to appraise and mentor the work of new writers.

“I have always loved teaching, which I find tremendously fulfilling, and I have always loved writing,” she says.

“One has always had to make way for the other – first it was the teaching and now it’s the writing, which has really taken off in recent years.”

Following her first two novels, The Villa, published in 2012, and the following year’s Bay of Secrets, Return to Mandalay, which was published last year and is set in Burma, where her husband has family, was shortlisted for an RNA Award in March and she is published in several languages. Rosanna is currently writing her next novel, which is set in Cuba, which she visited in February.

“I really wanted to write about dance and this one is a love story but also it’s about the balance of power, in both love and friendship,” she says.

n The Saffron Trail by Rosanna Ley is published by Quercus, priced £7.99. Rosanna is currently on a tour of the South West and Sussex, and will talk at Worthing Library, Richmond Road, Worthing, at 7pm on Tuesday June 16. Tickets £3. Phone 01903 704809 or email worthing.

library@westsussex.gov.uk.