My latest book, Walking in the Sun is now available for download on Kindle. Rachel is leaving all she knows to live in Nice, France for a year. When she accepts the offer of a studio in an apartment block she has no idea how much her life is going to change. Pulled into a…

Florence stared down at the tarnished key shaking in her hand. Her mother watched her, lip curled. “So that’s all he’s giving you then. Nothing else.” She spat out the last two words, tutted and left. There was a hastily scribbled note beneath the key. Here’s the key to my flat. You know the address.…

I was at one of the best weddings last weekend – it was a joyful start to a new chapter for the bride, after so much pain.  We were on the edge of the beach, close to the sea.  There was delicious food, good music and lots of happy reunions.  I noticed something though, perhaps…

Last week was a time of separation, disowning, distancing and many many words. The few that were directed towards me suggested that my mind was incapable of complex thinking, and could only manage these basic blogs I write most weeks. At one point in my life, my head was full of academic thinking, but now,…

I was at a place at the weekend that I’ve never been before. I can’t describe it to you, because almost all off it was covered in sea mist. I can tell you there were dunes, sand, and a few metres of sea, but that’s all. It was a gentle, mystical, forgiving seaside, and I…

I was at a funeral recently, and I lost my voice. That is, I was sure I was singing, but I couldn’t hear myself. Why? The male basses and tenors around me drowned me out. It’s happened before – strong voices overpowering quieter ones. The singing was great, of course, just hard to distinguish anything…

So, my daughter wrote a great story about her Brownie camp. The leader asked if she would read it out at the prize-giving ceremony tonight and she said no. I asked her why not. “I just don’t want to” was her reply. As I thought about the sheer terror of sharing my own work with…

A few weeks ago, a friend (thankyou Aileen!) reminded me of the phrase ‘a thin place’. In other words, a place that is close to heaven. I’m sure you’ve all been somewhere like that, where you feel that you only need to stretch out your hand to touch something outside of your finite life. It…

So many bad, painful, shocking things have happened recently – to the world, to people I know.  What’s a body to do – retreat into the dark and never come out?  Cry until there are no tears left?  Never dare, never change, never try anything new? Never hope?

So here’s some of them  – the people I’ve created and spent nearly two years with.  They’ve shaped my story, and determined how it will end.  See more of them and their world in my novel, Chez Moi (working title) due to come out June 2018.