By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

Patricia Gavin fell in love with British comedy the first time she watched the sitcom “Doctor in the House.”

“From then on I watched every British comedy that came out,” she said, recalling how she watched the show with her father when she was 16.  

Gavin, a Biddeford resident, published her first novel, “Cashin’s Castles: A British Comedy with an American Twist,” on Aug. 26 through Outskirts Press. The story tells of an unusual cast of characters living in a caravan park in an English village.

A 1980 graduate of Emerson College in Boston, Gavin, 51, said she was encouraged to write by her creative writing professor, Jack Gantos, a published author of children’s books whom Gavin admired. After she wrote a short story, “The Skunk Without a Scent,” Gantos said she had untapped talent.

“He recognized something in me,” Gavin said. “His words were golden to me because he was a published author.”

While in college, Gavin corresponded with two pen pals in England and was able to visit the country twice in the early 1980s. In October 1981 she spent one week in Yorkshire, then returned to spend two months in southwestern England in 1983. 

“The people were so nice and funny,” she said. “I felt so right at home there.”

During the second trip, Gavin traveled the region, staying at bed and breakfasts, dining at pubs and visiting museums. Gavin reminisced about her travels while flipping through albums of photos from her trips. The neatly labeled photos show various locations —  Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, pubs, castles, a doll museum, a red telephone booth. 

As she flipped from page to page, Gavin described her pen pals and recalled names of people she met and businesses she visited.  

“I loved anything on the coast because I love the beach and I love the sea,” she said. “That’s why I love Maine.”

The years following college and her trips were “tough” at times while she worked a string of jobs unrelated to her communications degree. Though she did little writing — only the occasional poem — she kept the advice of her college professor in mind: Write about something you know.

Gavin said her experiences in England helped her develop characters and storylines for the novel, which she began writing in 1995. She started by creating character descriptions on slips of paper and passages on yellow legal pads.

“It was like a thunderstorm that exploded,” Gavin said of the initial idea for “Cashin’s Castles.”

By this time, Gavin was married to Roy Paul Jacob and living in a mobile home park in Attleboro, Mass. The owner of the park didn’t make repairs to septic system problems, causing overflow to backup under their trailer, she said. The park’s repairman was an 80-year-old man who was paid with free lot rent. 

The novel’s main character, Patrick Edward Nathaniel Cashin Jr., is based on the park owner, while a “country bumpkin” character is based on the repairman. 

Gavin and Jacob moved to Saco seven years ago because they vacationed in Maine and always dreamt of living here, she said. Jacob took a job as a delivery driver for a car parts company and was killed when his car was broadsided by a fully loaded lumber truck in Lyman on Feb. 13, 2002.

Gavin was at home working on the book when police arrived to notify her of her husband’s death. Devastated, she stopped writing for three years. 

“I felt like my spirit was broken because I really wanted him to read the book,” she said. “He was excited about it. He used to tell me, ‘Hurry up with the book.’”

With encouragement from her sister, Catherine Gavin, she began work on the novel again last October, a year after she moved to Biddeford. While her early work was written by hand or on a word processor, Gavin finished her novel on a new laptop she bought at her sister’s recommendation. 

Gavin dedicated the 618-page book to Jacob, “whose magical laugh I forever hear echoing between the lines of this delightful comedy.” 

“Cashin’s Castles” takes place in a tiny caravan (trailer) park in the fictitious village of Tickenwit, England. The “castles” are six run-down caravans surrounding the owner’s “estate” — a three-room home, a trampoline and a laundry building. 

Cashin Jr., an unscrupulous American businessman from Pawtucket, R.I., inherits the park from his British father after Cashin Sr. dies in an accident involving a trampoline, pitchfork and quicksand. The park residents include circus performers, a woman with a huge prosthetic metal foot, a simpleton and others named after playing cards. Cashin Jr. tries to make money any way he can and starts by quadrupling the tenants’ lot rent — which just might backfire.

Gavin said the novel should appeal to adults who appreciate comedy and have a “slightly twisted” sense of humor. British humor tends have more banter, word play and double meaning than American humor, which tends to be raunchy, she said. 

“I feel you have to use wit to make people think about what you’re saying. You have to use your mind,” Gavin said. “I look at it as being a puzzle — something you have to figure out.”

Gavin has become attached to the characters she created over the years and said she often wishes the people were part of her family.  

“I feel really good about this book. I’ve felt positive about it since I started,” she said. 

Now that her book is finished, Gavin said she would like to return to England and looks forward to the reaction of her friends and family to her work. 

The book is available at the Web sites for Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Outskirts Press. After seeing the Amazon listing, Gavin realized her dream of publishing a novel had finally been realized. 

 “I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven,” she said. “I still can’t believe it. I think I’ll be saying that as long as I live.”