‘Egosurfing’, they call it – Googling yourself. It’s not something I had ever done before this week, but with my upcoming book I decided, one particularly gloomy afternoon, to browse the internet for mentions of myself and the book. And it was whilst looking at results for ‘Burning Embers’ that I noticed the panel in Google listing video results for the search term.

I confess that I am a YouTube novice, but I was intrigued by the title of the first video, so I duly pressed play. And oh, what a discovery. American singer/songwriter Kendall Payne’s ‘Burning Embers’ is soulful and gently lulling, and once she got to the chorus I was hooked – the lyrics ‘You feel like burning embers / You feel like coming home / You feel like my forever’ instantly made me think of Coral and Rafe in my novel Burning Embers.

Incidentally, this ‘Burning Embers’ song isn’t the only one I came across while browsing YouTube: Lou Reed, for one, recorded a song by this name, but I’m afraid it is not to my taste.

You can listen to Kendall Payne’s song yourself at www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGXI8eQvGqU, and I have included the full lyrics below.

Now I’m off to Google the title of my next book in eager anticipation of discovering more music to brighten the gloom in Kent this week.

Burning Embers
Were we ready, who’s to say the answer?
Who is ever ready for these things?
No one could prepare us for the laughter
No one could prepare us for the pain


You feel like burning embers
You feel like coming home
You feel like my forever
And that’s all I have to know


Every night I ask for your forgiveness
In grown up skin I still act like a child
I can make believe that I am flawless
You’re close enough to see the cracks I hide


You have caused me tears of joy relentless
I cannot now imagine life without 
I owe you more than humble words could confess
I love you more than I even know how


You feel like burning embers
You feel like coming home
You feel like my forever
And that’s all I need to know


You feel like Christmas morning
You feel like summer rain
You feel like holy waters
That rinse away my stains


You feel like children singing
You feel like midnight calm
You feel like breathing deeply 
Until the storm is gone