I’m often asked if there is a place and time that has particular appeal to me. My answer is always Paris between the wars. After the tragedy of the Great War, the city burst to life and became a hub of creativity in art, fashion, literature, dance and music.

I have wanted to ask my publisher, Anna Valdinger at Harpercollins Publishers Australia about her career for some time. Recently, I got to do just that!

I was barely into my third decade when I was published. In one of the interviews I did early in my career for a metropolitan newspaper, my photograph was captioned: ‘Late Bloomer: Belinda Alexandra.’

For those of you who have read my books Wild Lavender, Golden Earrings and The Invitation, you will know that I have a love for Paris and its artists, writers, dancers and entertainers. Fellow Australian author, Natasha Lester, has a similar love for Paris as the home of couture fashion.

This is a question I’m often asked when I give book talks. And I ask it of other writers too! Who can blame us - when we love a book, we are intrigued to know what was it that inspired the writer to create that particular story?

Alli Sinclair’s new book, The Codebreakers, is based on real events and tells the little known story of the young Australian women who worked with Central Bureau in Brisbane, in intelligence services, during the Second World War. It was an exciting read and I had some questions for Alli about what inspired her to write the book and also about her writing habits.