The exclusive Sainsbury’s competition to win one of ten bottles of Griffith Park sparkling wine PLUS a signed copy of my first novel, Luxury, is now up and running. One lucky winner will also receive a gift card for a top high street shop loaded with £100 to spend on a swanky new outfit (or maybe even a posh hat!).
The competition is open until 31st May. To enter, just follow this link, answer the simple question and enter your details.
Good luck!
Filed under News
From The Sun, March 18th.
“Violet’s hats are worn by the rich and famous all over the world, thanks to the milliner’s talent, and lifetime of grafting. Violet is now 60, and needs a successor – but who will it be?
When a man appears saying he is her brother she knows life will never be the same again and the secrets she’s struggled to conceal will come tumbling out.
A dazzling and delightful tale.”
“Born into a gypsy family, May Violet Cavalley doesn’t have the best start in life. Her father is a violent drunk, her mother won down by children and poverty. One terrible night, her father murders her first ove. May vows to testify against him – but as he is led away, he whispers a warning: ‘Blood betraying blood begets blood.’
Determined to improve life for her and her baby, Violet, as she now calls herself, exploits her gift for hat creation. Cavalley’s is born and all she touches turns to gold. But dark forces are at work. In the lives of her five children, tragedy strikes and Violet wonders if she is cursed. Now, gathered for her 60th birthday and with time running out as Violet’s illness takes hold, her children need urgent answers.
If long-haul travel’s on the cards, Jessica Ruston’s novel will make you yearn for delays!”
Hello and welcome to my second newsletter. Suddenly it feels like Spring is properly on its way, doesn’t it? The clocks have gone forward, the evenings are getting lighter and the bleakness of winter is fading… Here’s what I’m up to this month.
I’M READING…
The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit. I’m hopelessly addicted to cookbooks – I read them in bed – and, while this isn’t really a recipe book (though it does contain some) – it’s one of the best foodie books I’ve bought for ages. Segnit takes 99 popular ingredients and works her way through flavour combinations for them, incorporating recipes, suggestions, history and bits of narrative as she does so. It’s the perfect book to dip into when you’re short on inspiration or heading to the farmer’s market.
Filed under News, Newsletter
I tend to think quite visually, so often refer to images and photographs while I’m researching and writing. While I was planning To Touch the Stars I took and used quite alot of photos as inspiration and to inform certain parts of the book – I thought you might be interested to see some of them. Some were taken specifically as part of my research – others are photos from my travels that ended up inspiring moments in the story.
“The castello was built in the late nineteenth century by…”
Wrought iron gates at the castello Fran visits at the beginning of the book.
“The villa could have been made for parties, its sweeping gardens looking out to the backdrop of the sea, providing the setting and decoration all in one. It had a feeling of luxurious splendour, but an informal one. Of possibility, especially at this time of the evening. You felt that anything could happen, as night fell, and it was intoxicating.”
This is the building that I based Violet’s Capri villa on – it’s actually the Hotel Caesar Augustus, a wonderful, family owned hotel where I spent a week a couple of years ago. Continue reading
Filed under My books
On 5th April, I’ll be appearing at the Basingstoke Discovery Centre at Festival Place for an evening of fun, fashion and fiction with Adele Parks and Julie Cohen.
The lovely Adele Parks.
Come along to meet us and hear us talking about our latest books. Plus get Style advice from TV stylist Wendy Elsmore and hair and make up advice from Shear Beauty and Smashbox. And the Sports Centre will be on hand to offer nutrition and keep fit advice.
The equally lovely Julie Cohen.
Hosted by the Discovery Centre the event starts at 7pm and ends at 9pm. Get your ticket now from either Waterstone’s or The Discovery Centre.
And me!
Tickets cost £5 to include a glass of wine and £3 off your first book purchase. All proceeds from the event will be donated to Shop on Sundays with Shopmobility.
Hope to see you there!
I’ve been sent a couple of lovely reviews for To Touch the Stars from Australia and South Africa recently – particularly fitting as I’ve just got back from a fantastic break in Cape Town (I’ll put some photos from my trip up in my next newsletter…).
Kate Turkington calls To Touch the Stars ‘an indulgent compelling read’ on Joburg.co.za and gives it a great write up, so thanks to Kate.
Michelle from Beauty and Lace in Australia says that it’s ‘A fabulous read with characters that spoke to me and scenes that played out behind my eyes – and even had me talking to myself at times’. She also pinpoints exactly what the book is really all about – family – and seemed to get exactly what I was trying to do, which is so satisfying, so massive thanks to Michelle for her lovely review, and do check out her fantastic site at www.Beautyandlace.com.au
More soon!
A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece for Woman and Home about why I love hats so much. It was all commissioned and written in quite a rush, and involved doing a photo shoot in a beautiful house in Barnes. I had a fabulous time getting dressed up in all sorts of amazing dresses and shoes and hats that the stylist had brought along, and the photographer was brilliant, putting me at ease and making me feel more relaxed than I thought was possible while in front of the camera wearing five inch heels…
You can see the finished result below and read the full piece in April’s Woman and Home magazine.
If you’re a member of a book group you might find the Reading Guide for To Touch the Stars useful. You can download it as a PDF here. It’s got a bit of background as well as a set of discussion questions to spark off debate and get you thinking about some of the themes in the book. I hope you enjoy it.
Some of you might have seen Edinburgh Zoo’s Penguin Cam, which I got completely addicted to, along with half of twitter, shortly before Christmas. Now, for all you penguin lovers, I have a special treat – The Daily Penguin, a newsletter written by my lovely godson, Pom Ansdell, aged 10.
