Mi Castle Su Castle

On the 30th of August 2011, I climbed out of a plane with the intention of spending a year, max a year and a half, in the UK.

To reach that goal, I had applied for various university jobs all over the country. After several rejections, I was successful. The University of Cambridge offered me employment. I took it.

15 years and 1 month later, I’m still here.

The reason:

I met some of the nicest people who would end up becoming my friends, including the man I inevitably married. However, as romantic as that might seem, what initially had coerced me to stay was that I had fallen most ardently in love with Cambridge.

I never lost that love, so at times it was an on-off affair. Regardless, the beauty of this city, which I made my home, compelled me to make it the centre of my novels. Spellbound plays almost solely in Cambridge (with a few trips around England). In Spellhunter, my heroes will leave Cambridge for a short while to find the help they need to defeat my villain and save their home, their city. Moreover, my third novel is already in planning, and it will again feature Cambridge.

It was important to me to capture Cambridge's essence for those who never had the opportunity to come here.

If you ever do, don't miss out. It's worth the trip!

One of the places that carries significance in Spellbound is Castle Mound. For those of you who have never seen it or know its history, it might seem underwhelming. It actually is, as all that you will find is a small hill. There's no Castle or anything that would betray that this place was a strategically important location, used to control the route to the North. You need to dive deeper into the past to understand Castle Mound’s relevance.

The castle was built after the Norman conquest. It played a role in various conflicts and wars. Edward I expanded the castle, intending to build a much bigger fortress after the latest fashion. However, the construction was never finished. Instead, the castle fell quickly into disuse.

If you climb the little hill, the highest point in Cambridge, you won’t see much of the original sight. To be honest, once you reach the summit, you’ll have forgotten to look for the remains of a castle, because your gaze will be distracted. The view from Castle Mound is spectacular!

I recommend going when dusk is settling on Cambridge. With the fading light of the sky and the light of the city coming to life, it will seem as if the stars have fallen to dance above Cambridge’s streets.

From the top, you can see the ancient city centre and all the colleges, nestled between the historical buildings. I never get tired of that view.

Then, when you are about to leave, you might wonder what happened to the castle. Turn back and look once more onto the city centre. The castle lies before you. Invisible. Hiding in plain sight.

The colleges mimicked Caesar.

They came, they saw, they took, and the castle was gone.

Each of its ancient stones was incorporated into the college buildings. Gone from sight, but forever immortalised.

You might ask, why. Well, that’s easy: who doesn’t like a freebie.

Diana