No dog’s life for a winning romance writer, Victoria Routledge, alias Lucy Dillon (From Hereford Times)

No dog’s life for a winning romance writer, Victoria Routledge, alias Lucy Dillon

8:00am Monday 26th April 2010 in Books By Philippa May

WHEN Victoria Routledge discovered at Christmas that her novel Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts was on the long list for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’ Romantic Novel of the Year she was excited.

The news that it had made the shortlist raised the excitement levels.

“I couldn’t believe I was shortlisted,”

said Victoria, who writes as Lucy Dillon. “I almost wanted it to stop there.”

Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts is Victoria’s second Lucy Dillon novel, following The Ballroom Class. A quick visit to Amazon reveals a wealth of five-star reviews by readers who love not just the recognisable and engaging plots but the realistically drawn characters springing to life from the page.

But Lucy Dillon is not Victoria’s only alter ego. Like Miley Cyrus, Victoria dons a long blonde wig from time to time, not to sing, but to appear as Hester Browne, author of a series of books about The Little Lady Agency, run by the slightly frumpy Melissa Rommey-Jones who adopts the persona of glamorous Honey Blennerhesket to provide help, but not with sex or laundry, to hapless, hopeless young men.

“Melissa is especially popular in America. The Hester Browne books are about manners,” she explains.

“There is nothing more graceful or gracious than a smattering of manners,”

a comment which leads her to reveal that one of her heroes is based on old Etonian actor, Damian Lewis. “It was a great excuse to endlessly watch re-runs of Band of Brothers.” She also admits to having something of a crush on David Tennant, who is the model for a hero she’s currently writing.

Victoria was a junior editor working for publisher Headline, when she decided to make writing her full-time career. “I was sending out cheques that represented 18 months’ salary for me, and decided to give it a try.”

Originally from Cumbria, Victoria arrived in Herefordshire by chance, being lent a house in Much Marcle to finish a book that was giving her a hard time, “I just loved it so much that I stayed. I finally realised that I’m destined to live in Herefordshire for ever.”

Longhampton, the fictional setting for Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts, is, she says, a hybrid of Hereford and Leominster. “But in my head everyone talks as if they’re from Whitehaven in Cumbria.”

Learning that she’d won the Romantic Novel of the Year award was, says Victoria, surreal. “I was concentrating so hard on not minding about not winning that I almost missed the moment. It was just like being at the Oscars – I wanted not to burst into tears and I was worried about thanking all the right people, including my dogs.”

Like Bertie in Victoria’s prize-winning novel, one of her two dogs is a rescued Basset hound, Violet. “It was love at first sight,” says Victoria, who says she cannot thank Hereford and Worcester Animal Rescue enough for the help they gave her with her research for Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts. “They were so patient and their volunteers work so hard.”

Having thanked everybody, Victoria continued the celebrations with dinner at the Oxford and Cambridge Club. “I thought the trophy was Perspex and slammed it down enthusiastically, saying ‘look what I’ve won’ – and discovered it was made of glass.”

But, like the storyteller she is, rather than regretting the damage, Victoria relishes having another good story to tell.

■ Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon is published by Hodder, priced £6.99.

It is available at £6.29 postage-free from the Hereford Times Bookshop on 08430 6000399 or send a cheque or postal order made payable to Hereford Times Bookshop to: Hereford Times Bookshop, PO Box 60, Helston TR13 0TP. Allow seven to 10 working days for delivery. Or order online at sparkledirect.com.