I want to begin by introducing you to our new member of the Olive Farm family. His name is Samson. He is a Tibetan Mastiff and has jaws like an alligator. I heard about him through my Olive Farm Facebook page where I saw a photo of him. He was in a refuge over on…
Dear Readers and Friends, This is an exciting month for me for several reasons, but let me begin with a bit of non-book news and then continue with the professional afterwards. Michel and I have just returned from a very short trip to Puglia in southern Italy. The winter has been very harsh, hasn’t it?…
Hello dear readers and friends, My sincere apologies. I am so very late with this short Newsletter. I seem to have been running behind myself for months. I have not sent out cards so please don’t worry if mine didn’t arrive with you. I have donated my modest pot to the Trident Reach Foodbank in…
My apologies for being rather slow in getting this letter out. I meant to pen it last month! So today I am finally settling to it, writing my news from fabulous Cork in Ireland overlooking the Wild Atlantic Way where I have been spending a few blissful days talking at libraries and a lovely fun…
The Film Festival has drawn to a close, the Grand Prix is at the starting gate, France is gearing up for summer after having enjoyed the most splendid May weather, and I have been very busy at my desk. June sees the publication of my new novel, THE LOST GIRL. It officially hits the shops…
There is NOTHING more exciting for me than seeing the jacket on my next novel brought to life by a designer. Nothing, that is, until the book itself arrives and I can hold it in my hands and know that it is real, that I really put all those words and thoughts together. Ask any…
I think I have begun every letter I have sent out this year by saying how tough these last months have been since the loss of my mother in February. And it continues with the recent loss of several friends and colleagues. Michel and I have decided to take time out quietly, just the two…
Today, midway through November, as winter begins to set in hard here in northern France – I am at our home outside Paris, not down on the Olive Farm – it is a day of mourning, of remembrance. All across the UK and the Commonwealth, on this second Sunday in November, Remembrance Sunday, wreaths of…
I am writing this in-between note because, as many of you may know, THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER was published in paperback on 8th September. To celebrate its publication Penguin, along with the magazine Top Santé, has come up with a splendid competition. Here are the details: Winner along with a partner or friend is invited to…
I am very late with this Newsletter. It should have gone out at least a month ago, but this has been a very demanding year and time has given me no slack! The good news is that this morning I have delivered the first draft of my new novel to Penguin. This will release a…
I wrote my last Newsletter on 2nd February this year. It was upbeat after a successful France Show at Olympia and I was looking forward to the publication of my novel THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER on 11th February. The New Year was looking positive and full of opportunities. But life can turn in less than the…
I have just returned from my annual visit to London for the FRANCE SHOW held over three bustling and exuberant days at Olympia, Kensington. This one was particularly special for me because I was presenting my new novel, THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER, which is to be published on 11th February. The team working on the book…
Hello! Season’s Greetings. I don’t know about you, but I am winding down from a very busy year. Last week I was in London recording two of my books for Clipper/W.F.Howes who produce first-class audio books. The first, A SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS, was published as an e-book for Amazon on both sides of the…
Dear Friends, This is an exciting autumn moment for me. My new novel to be published by Penguin early next year has disappeared off to the copy editor; we are preparing for this year’s olive harvest which looks set to be a fine and not insubstantial one, organic, of course, and… ….today My new Kindle…
Hello from a very hot South of France. (currently 34C) The announcement of the news announced today in The Bookseller (link below) has been such a LONG time coming – I have been busting for three months to tell you. I have moved to Penguin Books. I am to be a Penguin author! I am…
Hello! Are you glad Easter is behind you? Ours has been wet although yesterday morning it cleared up and the sun is now shining and promises to remain with us for at least another week. Fortunately, the two days of heavy rain have really irrigated the land. It was in dire need of it. We…
Dear friend, This will be the briefest of Newsletters and will not contain a great deal of news! I am intending to deliver my new novel later today or tomorrow so I am DEEP in the world of my ‘lost domain’. As you can see from the photograph, I have recently returned from a week…
I am writing this from Biarritz, a seaside town originally put on the map as a holiday resort by Napoléon III when he built his beloved Spanish wife, Eugénie de Montijo, a two-storey villa set high on a windy bluff overlooking the town’s grand plage (largest beach). The villa still stands. Now augmented to five…
I am sending this from Rome where I have disappeared to for a few days to escape dogs, sheep (yes!), olive trees and all commitments other than writing. I have found myself a perfectly airy studio in the eaves of a hidden complex in one of the fabulous old ochre-toned Roman streets near the Spanish…
It is a special day today. A Publication Day. Hotel Paradise, my latest story for the Kindle Single store on Amazon, goes live. Hooray. We are all very excited about it. As with The Girl in Room Fourteen, it can be downloaded directly to your Kindle or phone or ipad or even your desktop, I…