Julie Wassmer and the Whitstable Pearl

Pearl of the ocean – we chat to local author Julie Wassmer about why she sets her popular novels here.

Whitstable author Julie Wassmer is following in the footsteps of Somerset Maugham by featuring our town in her hugely popular fiction series. Combining crime, romantic potential and seafood the Whitstable Pearl series is so successful it has been adapted for television starring Kerry Godliman.

We chat to its East End born author about why she loves Whitstable so much and what inspired her to use it as a backdrop for her page-turning mysteries.

What attracted to you to Whitstable in the first place to live? Why did you decide to settle here?

A right turning

She says: ‘My husband and I were heading to Broadstairs in 1999 for my birthday for fish and chips. While navigating the car we got lost. We drove down Borstal Hill and I thought ‘wow.’

I remembered the oyster connection and took in all the lovely white clapboard cottages. My husband loved the junk shops. We were arranging a mortgage during this period for a flat beneath us in Peckham, London. But by the time we got to the beach we went for a drink at the Neptune and then cancelled the broker in Peckham!’

‘My husband is a builder and at the time I was writing for EastEnders. We thought Whitstable would be perfect for a weekend break…we ended up buying here!’

Learning the craft

As for creating the Pearl mysteries Julie explains:

‘I stopped writing for EastEnders in 2000. I’d always wanted to write. And I always liked the crime genre, whodunnits. They give you a certainty. Working on EastEnders gave me some background with writing. When you write for them you need a hook and always end with the cliffhanger. When I finally managed to finish Whitstable Pearl l took some elements from TV writing. The scenes between Pearl and the Metropolitan detective form a focus in the novels.’

However, the most enduring relationship in the novel for the reader is the one with Whitstable. Your protagonist starts a seafood restaurant. What seafood places in the town do you like to visit? Julie says:

‘My husband and I love food. We love Samphire, Wheelers is fantastic and the recently opened Castellum Pizzeria.’

Our town is stunning and the television series features it to scenic effect. But where in Whitstable does Julie like to unwind?

She says: ‘Books keep me busy – I’m now on my 9th Pearl novel which I have been writing since 2015. And I don’t get a lot of free time. I do a lot of research. I can combine unwinding with my research by exploring places in Kent…there are various settings in the book in Canterbury. I feel really spoilt with Kent and its varied locations. Ten minutes away you can find yourself in cherry orchards and then you can head to the coast. I combine leisure with research time. Only recently I became interested in writing a fictional country house on the banks of the river Stour.’

Local characters

As for the characters including the tenacious Pearl are any of them based on local figures?

Julie says: ‘You are a sponge as a writer. Pearl’s mother Dolly is rather like me – an old hippie! Pearl is someone I’d like to be. All the characters are extensions of myself. Local musician Nigel Hobbins is someone I based a character on and he performs at the Whitstable Labour Club which also happens to be one of Julie’s favorite haunts alongside of course, The Neptune.

Julie says: ‘It is a pub on the beach and I think the Neptune epitomizes Whitstable. There is a spirit about it with its smuggling history, it is rebellious, there is a spirit of the place…like a piece of music. It’s become a home. As for Kent, more and more people are exploring locally. You don’t need to go to Cornwall.’

Become a character

Any more plans for novels? More Pearl or something else? Julie says:

‘Throughout lockdown I wrote a dark thriller – it’s on the back burner. It’s not set in Whitstable but in a small northern town. It’s a stand alone novel. And Pearl is keeping me busy especially the TV series for which I was an executive producer. We’re waiting for a second season.’

There’s just one more icon of Whitstable to mention for the author and that is Harbour Books which changed hands recently.

Julie says: ‘It’s now so very stylish and has a history of staging lots of events, that may now return, and is doing very well. Every year we run a competition draw to pick a name for a character in the Pearl series.’

So don’t just turn the page, get yourself on the page, by attending an event at the much-loved book shop in the heart of the town both Julie and Pearl are proud to call home.