The queen of romcoms on her real-life ‘happily ever after’

“I never thought that getting married was the be-all and end-all,” Parks, 44, explains. “But I know a lot of women believe in a ‘happily ever after’ that will only come via a happy marriage.”

Adele laughs at the memory of the various proposals she’s received over the years.

After a few proposals, which she turned down, she married her first husband Simon, who she met while working in advertising. After six years, though, they split up and she was divorced at 32, with a son from their marriage, Conrad.

“I married my best friend when we were too young. As we both grew up, we grew apart.”

Finding Mr Right

When they married, Jim took her surname – the ultimate romantic gesture of commitment – so now he’s Mr Parks. “My son Conrad and I were Parks so he changed his name to be the same as us. It’s a huge deal, but not to him. He’s very laid back about it.” Yet it was a different scenario when they first met, she adds. “When I met him he was a complete commitment-phobe. He said he didn’t want a serious relationship and nor did I. But we ended up literally falling in love.”

Building on strong values

Parks fervently believes that her past has shaped her future. She grew up in a stable family and started writing as a teenager. “I’m close to my parents and I have the same values as them,” she says.

Today, her husband is the director of Guildford Book Festival, and has taken an active interest in his wife’s career. Yet she says in many ways they are so different. “He’s definitely more adventurous than I am. He has done all the strange snowboarding, heliboarding, jumping out and off things that just make my heart terrified.

“With us, the things that are different are surface things, but the things that we have in common are our family values, attitudes towards money and other things that really matter.”

“There are no negative connotations about being a crime writer, so why does women’s commercial fiction have to be reduced to chick lit?”

She recognises that there will always be some literary snobs who won’t acknowledge the value of commercial women’s fiction.

“People either love it or dismiss it and the people who dismiss it have never read it. That’s the irritation.”

She writes about one book a year, having published 13 novels in 13 years, working from home in Guildford, Surrey, and finishing her working day when Conrad, now 12, comes home from school.

Her books are less dramatic than they used to be, she admits, and she wouldn’t dream of emulating someone to sell more copies.

“You need to be truthful to yourself. The worst thing you can do is try to ape someone else.”