Character Profile: Sahara Seaton-Smyth

Sahara is a kind, gentle soul and a loyal friend and sister, but she still bears the scars of a troubled past.

Sahara Seaton Smyth (Deep AI)

Sahara and her brother Sebastian (main male character of Christmas at Tillingford Hall) had a difficult childhood. Their mother, who was a model in the 1970s, married unhappily and, by the time Sahara was born in the late 1980s, was deeply troubled.

Their father was a great socialite and persuaded his wife to use some of her fortune to buy Twerton Manor, a Jacobean manor house at the less stylish end of Bath. Most of the rest was frittered away on wild parties but some she had the good sense to put in a trust for the children. Because, when she died by her own hand when Sebastian was nine and Sahara eight, there was at least something left for the children – even if it took them over a decade to wrest the money they were due from their father.

When their mother passed away, they were sent to separate boarding schools. The grieving children, separated from each other, each dealt with their trauma in their own ways. Sahara, having already developed an anxious attachment style because of the erratic parenting she’d received, became even less secure at school.

Realising she could use her looks to get attention, she soon began flouting the school rules abound clothes and makeup, gaining her the admiration of many. But this interest was only superficial and her loneliness only lead her to increase her risk-taking behaviour, drinking and experimenting with drugs.

When her brother introduced her to his best friend, Guy Tillingford, who quickly became quietly obsessed with this uncannily beautiful girl, she lapped up the attention. But when she began a modelling career, his devotion wasn’t enough to stop her entering into a crazy labyrinth of parties, drugs and unsuitable boyfriends.

By the time she was nineteen she’d bought her own flat in Chelsea, but she was rarely there alone as a succession of men and other hangers on took advantage of her need for constant adulation.

The couple next door, Tom and Vittoria, kept an eye on her – helping her out of taxis in the small hours, getting her to bed when she was incapable of doing so herself, stepping in when the screaming matches or parties got too much - but the ever-devoted Sebastian and Guy were in constant dread of ‘that phone call’, fearful for her mental and physical wellbeing.

Eventually it was time for rehab.

As she made a steady recovery she came to understand who Guy had been for her for the past ten years and asked him to marry her. She knew it was all he’d ever dreamed of. She knew he wouldn't have the courage to turn her down.

But a schoolboy crush and deep concern for a feckless friend could never be a foundation for a marriage. It was when Sahara discovered that years of abusing her body had made her infertile that she decided she could never be what Guy needed her to be – the next Lady Tillingford and the bearer of a fine heir for the Tillingford line. She knew that Guy was too devoted and too honourable to end things with her because of that and, knowing what she would lose if they broke up, even if it was for the best, soon returned to her old coping mechanisms and all the good work she’d done in rehab was undone.

It was an easy choice when the village rake, James Irving McAuley set his sights on her. He didn’t try to make her a better person, tell her how to live her life – he just wanted to have fun. And fun was what they had.

From the way Guy reacted – with sorrow and embarrassment but something approaching relief – she knew she’d made the right decision, even if she’d gone about it the wrong way.

James was a man who could never devote himself to one woman. He was devoted to them all, and to the constant pursuit of new quarry. That Sahara was self-medicating with drugs and alcohol didn’t worry him in the slightest. James took everything as it came and, when she was ‘in one of those moods’ there was always someone else willing to fill the gap.

On her thirtieth birthday Sahara woke up and looked in the mirror.

She didn’t like what she saw and vowed to start over.

And she did, getting counselling, studying psychology, improving her diet and joining the local drug and alcohol support group.

Her last remaining weakness was James. He’d worked out how to get inside her head and persuade her that, despite his complete inability to commit to anyone, they were made for each other.

When James left the country, Sahara was able to piece her life back together and finally learn to stand on her own two feet. When she had discovered herself and her own strength and resilience, when she didn’t need anyone else, that’s when she was finally ready for true love.

And you can find out all about that in A Gala Ball at Tillingford Hall.