Wicksteed Park provides inspiration for Kettering author's new novel

Anyone who reads Kettering author Sue Moorcroft’s latest novel might recognise the inspiration behind it.

That’s because Parc Lemmel, the setting in Summer at the French Café, is based on our very own Wicksteed Park.

It has vast green spaces, lakes and lodges and was bequeathed to Muntsheim by philanthropic industrialist Charles Lemmel – a nod to Wicksteed creator Charles Wicksteed.

Sue spent a lot of time walking around the popular Kettering park in Covid lockdowns when she decided it would provide the perfect inspiration.

She said: "During the pandemic I couldn't go to the gym and I walked there every day.

"I was walking around one day and I had not seen anything in my genre set in a park.

"Wicksteed Park is the most amazing park so I borrowed it and put it in France."

The book, set in Alsace, follows Kat Jenson who lives in nearby Kirchoffen and manages a book café at Parc Lemmel.

She learns her boyfriend isn’t all he seems, marking the start of a difficult summer, before meeting the mysterious Noah who has his own problems which could scupper their new-found happiness.

Sue, who has had books published around the world, described it as a romantic fiction ‘beach read’ which also deals with serious issues including coercive control.

It is her 22nd book and is being released on May 12 – and the author can’t wait to share Wicksteed Park with the world.

The former Weavers School pupil, who writes two books a year, said: "I have lived in Kettering for 37 years and the park has been a big part of my life.

"I walk there, my kids played there and both of them worked there. It's a fantastic facility and it's got everything.

“The park is just amazing and I got to love the place.”

The novel will be sold in paperback, audiobook and e-book in the UK, and on audiobook and e-book in America.

Sue added that she’s not sure where her next Northamptonshire novel inspiration could come from - but that it could be her Zumba sessions at Simply Gym.