The author’s role – to write books, or tweets?
I dreamed of being an author from a very young age – from the day I first understood how the many books on my parents’
Category: In the news
Reading your way to empathy
Whenever someone asks me what my latest book is about, I am tempted to give a one-word answer: people. Yes, Legacy is about Andalucía, the
Reading – and writing – around the world
Have you ever thought about the nationality of the authors whose books you read? Do you read books by writers from all different countries, or
My heroines: reflections of myself?
‘Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.’ So wrote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, prolific writer of the late eighteenth and early
Reading: an escape into your own past
We all know that reading fiction is a means of escape: from wherever you are reading, you are transported to the fictional world, to another
Categorising romance novels
Many years ago, when I set pen to paper and wrote the first draft of what would become my debut novel, Burning Embers, I thought
Supporting independent bookstores
For me, there are few pleasures that can compete with a half hour spent browsing in a bookstore. Canterbury and Dover, the main cities near
The writer’s need to experience – and retreat?
‘How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live,’ wrote Henry David Thoreau, the great American writer who
The library as Paradise
‘I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.’ So wrote Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. How many book lovers have since taken these words to
When has an author written enough?
Emily Brontë – Wuthering Heights; Anna Sewell – Black Beauty; Margaret Mitchell – Gone with the Wind; Boris Pasternak – Doctor Zhivago; JD Salinger –
The fairy tale: a foundation for modern writing
I do not know that I would be a writer today were it not for fairy tales. I was fortunate to have parents who had
Writing with heart (not hunger)
‘What’s the formula for a bestselling book?’ So read an attention-grabbing headline in the Guardian last week. The article was prompted by a list of
A print book resurgence?
Recently, the arts news has been full of a major comeback: that of the vinyl record. In 2016, vinyl sales in the UK reached 3.2
The case of the missing romance novels in 2016
Amazon.com has recently released a list of the top twenty bestselling books published in 2016, based on both print and Kindle sales. Here it is:
Fairy tale week: Live-action Disney – making fantasy reality
The news has been abuzz in recent weeks about the movie Beauty and the Beast, which will release next spring. Why all the interest? Well,
Legacy reviewed by The Lady
I’m delighted to share today a review of Legacy published by The Lady magazine: Legacy is filled to the brim with family scandal, frustrated love
An algorithm that predicts bestsellers?
In the past few weeks a non-fiction book has taken the publishing world by storm: The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel. Written by
Paella: Preserving a national dish
If there is one thing I know about the Spanish – having visited their beautiful country many times and set my most recent fictional works,
Thoughts on the exposure of Elena Ferrante
In the past week, book news has been dominated by a single story: that of the unmasking of notoriously private Italian author Elena Ferrante. In
Writing conventions: bridging between the old and the new
Any seasoned writer will tell you that writing ‘rules’ abound. Over the past hundred years or so, it has become de vogue for renowned writers
Is there a right speed for writing?
Did you know that it took Victor Hugo 12 years to write Les Misèrables, and Margaret Mitchell toiled over Gone with the Wind for an
The fascination with a writer’s routine
Since I started publishing my romance fiction, I have lost track of how many times people have asked me about my process: just how exactly
Divided by a common language: British and American book editions
George Bernard Shaw said, ‘The British and the Americans are two peoples divided by a common language.’ I have always been intrigued by this quotation,
Should we unearth ‘lost’ books, or leave them well alone?
The lost manuscript has long been a source of fascination for readers and for writers. When an author’s work is beloved, there is an insatiable
Should an author today fuse storytelling with style?
Did you watch any of the Olympics coverage? I did: I find the athletes very inspiring. They work tirelessly, they make sacrifices, they push themselves
Writing the next generation: from Harry Potter to Andalucían Nights
In the past few weeks, a single book has dominated the arts headlines: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The script of the new stage
‘Everything you can imagine is real’
Last week in the UK, in the county of Devon on the south-west coast, a single name echoed on the breeze: ‘Flaviu’. The county’s attention
The benefits of ‘deep reading’
Most people are aware that reading is a Good Thing: for knowledge-building, for intelligence, for empathy, for wellbeing even (see my post ‘Want to feel
Summertime, and the writing is easy…
In this season’s edition of The Author magazine I was fascinated by an article by Alexandra Harris, author of Weatherlands, a book that explores the
Audrey Hepburn and the little black (and white) dress
A girl never forgets the first time she sees Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I was in my late teens and absolutely enchanted by the story, the