We weren’t near the sea when I spoke to Lucy Clarke, but she brought it into the room with her. I could almost feel warm sand between my toes and hear the crackle of water pulling back and forth over the shore.

So entwined is she with the coast that it was only fitting she should base her novel The Sea Sisters loosely around its lure.

It’s now on the Richard and Judy Summer Book Club list – an enviable position for any author but even more of an accolade considering this is Lucy’s debut novel.

“People think I have been an overnight success, but it has taken me nearly eight years to get published,” said Lucy who lives in Tuckton.

“In that time I’d had countless weekends and evenings at my desk and a stack of rejection letters I could paper a wall with.”

Naturally, she was thrilled to eventually turn over a copy of her published work in her hands.

“But I was almost as excited about getting onto Richard and Judy's list as I was to get published! It has the best darn sticker on the cover that I could wish for!”

The Sea Sisters follows the volatile relationship between siblings Katie and Mia who have very different personalities.

“The story opens when Katie finds out that her headstrong younger sister has been found dead in Bali,” said Lucy.

“The police claim it was suicide, but Katie has other ideas and she retraces the last few months of Mia’s life with only her travel journal to go by.”

“It's not a pure thriller but a thrilling mystery,” said the 31-year-old.

“I like to describe it as a ‘gripping summer read’. It’s character-driven. It’s summery with a dark edge.”

Readers are drawn in with the words: ‘There are some currents in the relationship between sisters that run so dark and so deep, it’s better for the people swimming on the surface never to know what's beneath . . .’ It’s a challenge Lucy carved out for herself as she doesn't have a sister herself.

“I did a lot of research beforehand,” she explained.

“I have a brother, best friends and cousins. Some of the biggest compliments I’ve had from people with sisters is that I have totally nailed the relationship they have.”

In such a competitive marketplace, Lucy cites determination and grit as the cornerstones of her success.

“Well, I’m a massive geek,” she laughed.

“I’m up at 6am on the alarm every day. I have always been self-employed (Lucy had an enterprise education business) so I tend to over-work. Even when I go away on holiday I’m writing, writing... the only time I had a proper week off work in years was our honeymoon!”

Lucy’s husband is pro windsurfer James Cox, who also set up bigsalty.co.uk, a weather website specifically for surfers.

The couple have travelled extensively.

“We’re both into swimming, watersports and outdoorsy stuff. For years we have travelled abroad every winter and returned to the UK in the summer.”

Because Lucy has visited all the exotic locations in the novel she can describe them with authenticity.

Back home in England, her office is a beach hut.

“It’s been in the family for years and I have been brought up there since I was tiny. I even met my husband there. His family had the hut next door.

“I tuck myself away and write in the hut. I feel so much more inspired and focused there. It’s my favourite place in all the world.”

While the lifestyle sounds an idyllic and enviable one, Lucy is the first to point out that the last few years haven’t been without their struggles.

“People think of writing as a hobby. My friends would invite me out and couldn't understand why I had to stay in and write. Working alone can be tough, on top of financial pressures and then not knowing if what you are doing is actually any good!”

With editions of her book also out in Italy, Germany, France, Holland, USA and Canada, Lucy is now perfectly placed to ride this particular wave.

She has already finished her second book.

“Its working title is On a Single Breath,” she said.

“It revolves around the world of free diving. A woman falls in love and marries, but when her husband dies and she goes over to Tasmania to see his family, she discovers he isn’t the person she thought he was.”

And her third novel, based in the Philippines, is now a work in progress. It’s all thanks to sheer hard work, a supportive family, “and the knowledge,” said Lucy, “that nothing worth having is achieved easily.”

The Sea Sisters by Lucy Clarke is published by Harper Collins, £7.99 (paperback) and £3.99 (ebook)