Newsletter

Someone recently asked if libraries were still a “thing.” For me, yes!  Of course there is the amazing digital interface, accessible from anywhere on the planet, which has increased library usage exponentially, and makes me marvel when I’m electronically thumbing through hundred-year-old illustrations or listening to an audio, albeit a robotic one, of a journal […]

Hi Everyone, With school on the horizon here in the UK – a September 25th start for Uni – I have been reflecting on my son’s summer travels. From inter-railing through Europe, crossing the Atlantic to Boston, eventually travelling on to Vermont and Niagara Falls, then back to London for the Notting Hill Carnival, and

Hi Everyone Literally, no one has ever asked me why I have a rocker in my bedroom, but they have done doubletakes, begging the question – Why? Why do you have a large, white rocking chair in your bedroom? Clearly, I have no small children around – no one to rock, especially with my son

Hi Everyone, Funny old day today in Oxford, with the temperature at 20C (68F) but with little sun, or maybe I should say a strobing one, clouds opening and closing like theatre curtains unsure if the show is meant to go on or not.  Saying that, this is the play today: cloudy, 47% humidity and

Hi Everyone, Slow start this June in getting the blog to you due to Mine being released on May 28th, as well as son wrapping up second year at Uni and all the normal intro to fun summer stuff—like Djokovic playing Alcaraz at the French Open. A special shout out to you for being with

Hi Everyone Big and bold: please pre-order, read, review and share MINE, my third novel, with your community! Thank you. Having just returned from the Oxford Literary Festival, the London Book Fair and the Chipping Norton Literary Festival, I have learned one lesson: connect with your social media community about your novel and ask those

This Monday morning, despite having had a relatively busy weekend at the Oxford Literary Festival, I found myself at the Bodleian Library doing research for the next novel. After arriving a bit late, I found someone sitting in “my” chair, but no worries, no disruption, he was just leaving. I sat down and got to

Hi Everyone, Snowing in Oxford this morning and Classic FM is playing Prokofiev’s Sleigh Ride while I stare in disbelief out the kitchen windows. Yes, snow is falling heavily and the Bengal refuses to go out. Spring on the way? So they say. Daffodils and snowdrops all up and at the ready. I do hope

Hi Everyone, Coming soon: Mine. My third novel—yes, a story of love, loss and unexpected endings—is being released by The Book Guild on May 28, 2023. Please enjoy a small excerpt from Chapter One, which I have shared in part before, but deserves a second reading, especially as Valentine’s Day is approaching, and if nothing

Hi Everyone New Year. New ideas, people, places, things? Nope. Not for me. Not entirely anyway because I am hugely grateful for the existing ones, especially the old ones like the town where I live. Literally old, founded in AD 912, Oxford was never on my radar, but we all know what they say about