You Think You Know Someone...

Avril Tremayne is sharing some secrets, surprises and fears with us...

In random order…

1) I’m a dual Australian/Italian citizen and it’s my intention to live half a year in each country – I’m just working on the spouse as to exactly when we’ll commence this bi-national lifestyle…

2) I auditioned for the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney in my earlier years (think Cate Blanchett). The fact that I’m not, in fact, an actor tells you how successful I was. Mind you, I’ve appeared in Sound of Music (twice), South Pacific (with a dreadful application of fake tan), Oliver Twist (blink and you’d miss me), The Boyfriend (the most fun of all), and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (as the Marquise de Merteuil – yowzer). I also once played Alice in Alice in Wonderland as a Cockney, and did a fab turn in an acting spotlight gig with Lady Macbeth’s ‘out, out, damn spot’ scene.

3) I spent three years working in the Middle East where I developed an enduring love of the desert and a deep respect for the kind, generous, peaceful Arab Muslims of the world (see my book Now You’re Mine).

4) I don’t cook, but I have a few ‘exception’ dishes – including a potato curry taught to me by an Indian friend from my university days (whose Woolgoolga family has a street named after them – think banana plantation).

5) On the subject of bananas, I once drove to a prenatal appointment on a hot Sydney day with a banana skin the car, and have never been able to eat a banana (or any dish containing a banana), smell a banana, or hear it consumed, in my presence. A few nights ago, I almost murdered my husband for banana-chomping offences.

6) I have a somewhat obsessive personality. This can be as weird as taking precisely eleven sips of water at a time on the lower end of the scale (possibly more obsessive-compulsive than merely obsessive), writing an adulatory novel at the medium level (Wanting Mr Wrong – thank you Matthew Macfadyen), or at the high end level, hotfooting it to Cornwall after a Poldark binge.

7) I have three completely irrational fears:

- Sharks – okay, we’re all a little scared of sharks, but my fear is that I will meet my end in a shark attack despite the fact that I live by the principle of stepping awaaaaay from the ocean!

- Birds – I call this my Tippi Hedren complex, courtesy of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (thanks for nothing, Alf). I automatically suspect more than two birds in a group of plotting to attack me. I actually wrote this complex into two of my books (Sarah Quinn in Kiss Don’t Tell and The Dating Game suffers from it).

- Rabbits – yes, it’s weird but their malevolent eyes and threatening whiskers give me the chills, whether in real life or in a Beatrix Potter drawing.

8) I have four very colourful, well-hidden tattoos – a lizard, a turtle, a crocodile and a snake – all designed specifically for me. Very few people have ever seen them but I love them like crazy.

9) I got my motorbike licence five years before I got my driver’s license and am, in fact, a better rider than I am a driver.

10) I have a toe-sucking story including my very own (and very reluctant) toes – but I only ever tell it in person so grab me next time you see me and prepare to laugh… .

Avril Tremayne's latest release Kiss & Tell is out now. For more information check out her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.