The mother of three admits her mother’s painful death influenced her writing. “It has seeped into every part of the books,” she said. “She would have odd losses of feelings in limbs, her balance was poor for a long time and then it got worse and worse and she decided it was time to visit the doctor.

“She had a very virulent form of the illness and at that time there were no drug treatments at all.”

The hit author opened her heart by admitting she regrets not seeing her mother’s body before her funeral.

“I wanted to see her but my father didn’t want me to see her and I mistakenly agreed not to,” she said. “I deeply regret that. I really wish I’d seen her. It didn’t matter what she looked like. It would have made things easier.”

“I’d had a short and quite catastrophic marriage. I had to get my baby back to Britain and re-build us a life and adrenaline kept me going.

“It was only when I came to rest it hit me what a complete mess I had made of my life. That hit me quite hard.

“We were as skint as you can be without being homeless and at that point I was definitely clinically depressed.

“That was characterised by a numbness, a coldness and an inability to believe you will feel happy again. All the colour drained out of life.”