Venice in 1912, with the world of Bohemian ballet dancers and struggling artists holds an allure for Lauren Butler in her first novel Relief, a romantic thriller, with a difference.

"I love that time period: it was such an expressive time, especially for dancers," said Lauren, who used to be a dancer in her native Boston and then later in Oregon.

"Ballet changed at that time from an entertainment for gentlemen, which was seen as a bit risque, to a situation where the dancers became artists in their own right. Before this time you wouldn't take your family to the ballet."

Relief follows the fortunes of Katie, a widow, herself from Boston, who is trying to break away from her past. Once in Venice she hopes to make her living as a painter and starts an affair with ballet dancer Rusala.

Lauren started writing the Rusala character first but chose Katie as a guide for the reader.

"The world of ballet is women-centred with strong relationships formed between women so it was very interesting to turn the traditional love story around to one between two women. The reader may identify with Katie who offers a view through the looking glass into the dancers' world. And as she's from Boston I tried to imagine what it would be like to move to Venice. I visited the city as part of my research and found it strangely quiet and mysterious, everything seems to move around: it's quite disorientating."

Relief started life as a distraction for Lauren as she started writing to pass the time recovering from an injury.

"I was laid up for a while after a car accident in 2003. I couldn't dance and was suddenly at a loss so started writing short stories. Then I started writing Relief in short stretches and took it from there. It took a long time to research and about 18-months to write.

"I've found it's quite difficult to pigeon-hole Relief: it's a mystery romance but without the traditional romantic ending."

And now Lauren has nearly completed her second book, which she has been working on for the last two years.

"My second book also has dancers in it. This time the action is based on the anarchist movement of a hundred years ago and takes place in parts of Europe, Boston and Oregon.

"I hope to have it finished in the next few months and then I'll look for an agent in the UK."

When she is not researching and writing about the early twentieth century Lauren works in social housing and translates documents from Russian, an influence which is evident in Relief. She moved to Todmorden nine months ago.

"I love it here. I married a man from Todmorden, Alan, and he's a writer as well. It's good having a writer as a partner as he knows what it's like and he understands when I need to disappear for days to write."

Relief can be ordered through book stores or online.