Home » I Was Writing a Book About My Hometown, Then a Wildfire Destroyed It by Julia Kelly

I Was Writing a Book About My Hometown, Then a Wildfire Destroyed It by Julia Kelly

November 12, 2026 | By Women Writers Women Books | Reply More

Darkness had long fallen over London when I climbed into the car on a cold January evening to drive back to the Midlands where my husband and I were temporarily living with my parents as we house hunted. We had been at a viewing and had decided over dinner to make an offer on the house we had just seen.

As we set off, I pulled out my phone and saw the first news alert. There was a fire in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, that was not unusual. Growing up in Southern California, I knew all about wildfires and how prevalent they could be, especially in periods of drought. What stopped me in my tracks this time was the fact that the fire was in Pacific Palisades, the last Los Angeles community my parents had lived in before moving to the UK.

As my husband and I drove up the M40, I scrambled for information about the Palisades fire. Then I saw another news alert, this one about a fire that had just broken out in Altadena. My heart sank again. The house I lived in for the first eight years of my life was a little Craftsman bungalow in that very community.

I immediately messaged my parents as the Palisades and Eaton fires grew. We reached out to friends who still lived in those communities, hoping for good news. My father, who also grew up in Altadena, was fielding messages from family members wondering about whether their old house and the community landmarks around it were still standing.

At some point, in the midst of all of this, my thoughts turned to the book I was writing, which was set in Altadena and Pasadena, and the two wildfires at the heart of the story.

When I began The Queen of Roses, I knew that I wanted to write a love letter of sorts to the place where I grew up. A dual timeline novel set in 1903 and 1960, the book tackled Pasadena’s history as a winter resort for the wealthy who would arrive on the newly built railroads in search of relief from the snows of the Midwest and East Coast. Yet for all of the glittering ballrooms of Pasadena’s hotels, I also wanted to show one of the darker sides of the area’s history: its vulnerability to wildfires.

From the first page, I knew that I would incorporate twin wildfires—one in 1907 and one in 1960—that would threaten the fictional Rosewood House where my heroine Adele had carved out a sanctuary for herself in the form of an incredible, unique English garden. I modeled some of Adele’s efforts on those of my own father, who designed his first garden at that Altadena Craftsman bungalow, emulating the English border gardens he loved by using Mediterranean plants that were more suited to the extreme heat and drought of the area.

Wildfires are a terrifying reality of life in seemingly idyllic Southern California, which experiences nearly 300 sunny days a year.

Every Angeleno will have felt the low-level fear in the back of their minds when there hasn’t been much rain and the Santa Anas—extremely hot, strong winds that sweep down from the desert—are blowing. Dad was driving my sister and me to school when I remember watching in horror as a woman’s house caught fire from flying embers during the Kinneola Fire of 1993. Fortunately passersby jumped out to help her, and after Dad dropped us off, he went straight back home to clear the gutters of our house and wet down the roof.

Now, as I rapidly approached the part of my manuscript where I would have to describe the fear that these two encroaching fictional fires would strike in the hearts of my characters, I was watching the real community I was writing about burn.

From where I was in the UK, I knew that there were people with far more to mourn than I had, but I still felt the tug back to a place I once knew that was now forever changed. My old summer camp in the Altadena foothills burned down, as did the pool where I learned to swim. My dad’s family home was gone, not a single house on the street spared. In Pacific Palisades, friends had who lost their homes, and those who were spared are to this day uncertain when the long, difficult work of excavation and chemical eradication will be done in order to make their houses safe again.

As the embers of the Eaton and Palisades fire finally began to cool, the only thing I could think to do was to write. I put down on the page all of that fear and worry that I had known growing up, but I also was determined to write about the beauty of Southern California. I wanted to capture the spicy, dusty smell of eucalyptus trees and mulch and the way the heat shimmered off the ground in the summer. I tried to show the beauty of the incredible gardens that bloom nearly all year round and the feeling of being able to walk out to the orange tree in your own back yard and pluck fruit for a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice each morning.

I tried to imbue The Queen of Roses with both the nostalgia I have for my hometown and the very real threat of wildfire, because a true love letter balances the good and the bad and shows a place for what it really is.

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Julia Kelly is the international bestselling author of emotional historical fiction about extraordinary women and intriguing historical whodunnit mystery novels. Her books have been translated into 16 languages. In addition to writing, she’s been an Emmy-nominated producer, journalist, marketing professional, and (for one summer) a tea waitress. Julia called Los Angeles, Iowa, and New York City home before settling in London with her family.

THE QUEEN OF ROSES

Spanning the ballrooms of Pasadena and the sunlit gardens of Altadena, a new novel of love and sacrifice from the internationally bestselling author of The Light Over London and The Last Garden in England.

1960: Frustrated reporter Theresa Johnson’s life changes when she receives a phone call from a Miss Pearce who claims her obituary about one of Pasadena’s last great hoteliers is wildly inaccurate. Seeking the truth, Theresa drives to the mysterious Rosewood House nestled high in the Altadena foothills. Even more intriguing than the house’s beautiful garden is Miss Pearce’s proposal that Theresa help her settle old scores by writing her biography.

1903: Beautiful but haughty, Adele Pearce is reluctant to leave the London Season and her last hope of a proposal. When she arrives in California, she discovers the startling truth of why her mother has called her there: her father has squandered his fortune and Adele must marry a wealthy American to save the family.

Stifled by expectation as Pasadena’s newest doyenne, Adele’s only comfort is Rosewood House and the beautiful garden she creates with the help of taciturn gardener Alexander Macalister. However, as Adele’s feelings for Alex flourish, a fire ignites in the San Gabriel Mountains above Rosewood House, threatening everything Adele holds dear, while in 1960, Miss Pearce learns that history has a terrible habit of repeating itself.