A new novel set partly in Bermuda should be a pleasant treat for bookworms and local tennis fans.‘The Tennis Player from Bermuda’, published by Matador Press, is the fictional story of Fiona Hodgkin, a young Bermudian who qualifies for the Wimbledon Singles Draw in 1962. Much of the book is set in Bermuda during the 1960s. It is also a love story.The book’s American author also took Fiona Hodgkin as a pen name.“I love Bermuda and I love tennis and I love Wimbledon,” said Ms Hodgkin in a telephone interview with The Royal Gazette. “I decided to write a story about all three. I wanted to write a story about amateur tennis which meant setting it before 1968 when Wimbledon became open to amateurs and professionals.” (Prior to 1968, Wimbledon was played by top-ranked amateur players only.)Ms Hodgkin is very familiar with Bermuda as she and her spouse have had a summer home on the Island for several years. She is a lawyer by profession, and this is her first novel. She spent many happy hours researching in the library of the All England Tennis Club. She was helped especially by the librarian there, Alan Little, who has written a number of books about tennis and Wimbledon including ‘Suzanne Lenglen. Tennis Idol of the Twenties’ and ‘Tennis and the Olympic Games’.Ms Hodgkin also spent a few days in the Bermuda National Library on Queen Street reading through back issues of the ‘Bermudian’ magazine, although not with the same degree of success.“It was not easy to read,” said Ms Hodgkin. “The only thing I could find out about tennis in Bermuda at that time was that an American tennis player, Jack Kramer, brought his group of professional players to Bermuda in 1961. At this time Pancho Gonzales beat an equally famous tennis player Frank Sedgman in Bermuda. In my book, the main character’s parents take her to this match.”During the course of the story, the character visits several scenic spots in Bermuda including Spittal Pond and Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. Ms Hodgkin said Spittal Pond is one of her favourite places in Bermuda.“I have been going there for years and years,” she said. “I am a bird watcher. In fact, there was a scene about bird watching in the book and my editor made me take it out.”Ms Hodgkin said that like her main character, she also enjoys playing tennis. At one point in the book Fiona talks of being advised by her mentor to “play each shot as though your life depends on winning it”. But the author said she would never play like that in real life. “If I did I would lose even more often than I do now,” she said with a laugh.“Writing the book was an enormous amount of fun,” she said. “I have never written a novel before. The best part was finding out about a lot of very interesting people who were at Wimbledon in 1962. In particular Cuthbert (Teddy) Tinling.”Mr Tinling was an English tennis player, Second World War spy and fashion designer.“He died in 1990. He designed tennis clothes, especially for women. The facts about him in the book are true. His most famous thing was in 1949 he sewed a strip of lace on the knickers of American tennis player Gertrude (Gussie) Moran. To our eyes today this is so innocent, but it caused an uproar back then. This made the cover of ‘Life’ magazine. In 1949, photographers from ‘Life’ magazine were all on their stomachs at Wimbledon trying to get a photo of these knickers.”The book is available at the Bermuda Bookstore on Queen Street in Hamilton. Ms Hodgkin said she wasn’t particularly interested in book signings.“I haven’t tried to promote the book,” she said. “If a few people like it, that’s good enough for me. It has been reviewed once in the United Kingdom, and I am told that it is going to be reviewed in ‘Tennis Today’, a leading tennis magazine.”Useful website: www.thetennisplayerfrombermuda.com.