You are currently browsing the archives for April 2011.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 entries.
It’s publication day again in the UK and I’m celebrating the release of The Perfect Hero. It’s the second book in my Jane Austen addicts trilogy and is a romantic comedy about a young woman who falls in love with the actor playing Captain Wentworth in a new version of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. But is he really the perfect hero for her?
The book is set in beautiful Lyme Regis and you can see some of the photos of the settings here. And there have already been some lovely reviews for the book – check out the gorgeous quotes.
It’s really touching that London has decided to help me celebrate by putting flags out everywhere!
Oh, all right! Perhaps the flags have something to do with a certain royal wedding this week! Anyway, if you haven’t already overdosed on romance with all this talk of weddings, stick your nose in my new book!
There is a competition for UK readers to win a signed copy here.
Continue reading Love is in the Heir »
On Tuesday – one of the hottest days of the year so far – I had the dubious pleasure of being locked away in a tiny cage in Trafalgar Square. Why? To show members of the public the appalling conditions which millions of hens are still enduring. Here I am, trapped in a cage with Bill Oddie!
I’d been asked to join the wonderful people from Compassion in World Farming who organised a petition-signing and march to support the ban on barren battery cages for hens. The ban is meant to come into effect in January 2012 but several European countries say they won’t be ready. But we have to make sure it goes through – no excuses, no delays!
We marched around Trafalgar Square, down the length of Whitehall and through Westminster before handing in our petition and documents to the European Commission and DEFRA.
It was a brilliant day and I felt very privileged to have met so many people who are passionate about animal welfare. My own four ex-battery hens – Dotty, Minnie, Alice and Dolly Clare – would like to thank everyone who took part.
If you’d like to see a short film about our day, visit the CIWF site here.
Continue reading Locked up in Trafalgar Square! »
As you may know, we recently rehomed four ex-battery chickens from the British Hen Welfare Trust. It’s over two months since we brought them home and they’ve really settled into their new lives well. I adore them and can’t imagine life without them now.
However, there are still millions of chickens kept in tiny battery cages – not just in our country but all over Europe. There’s meant to be a ban on caged chickens which should come into force in January 2012 but several countries are dragging their heels and say they won’t be ready.
To help make sure this ban goes ahead, Compassion in World Farming are staging an event in Trafalgar Square on Tuesday 19th from 11 am. There will be human-sized cages and guess who’s agreed to be locked up in one of them? ME! So, if you want to come and see me finding out what life is really like for a battery hen, come along on Tuesday. There’ll be a petition you can sign and you can also join in the march to deliver it to DEFRA. TV presenter and conservationist Bill Oddie will be there too! So do try and join us and make your voice heard.
If you can’t make the big day, you can still help make a difference here. On behalf of myself, Dotty, Minnie, Alice, Dolly Clare and caged chickens everywhere, THANK YOU!
Continue reading March in April »
We’ve just returned from the most wonderful holiday on the Cornish coast and we couldn’t believe our luck with the weather! We had a couple of freezing days filled with fog but then the sun came out and, suddenly, it was summer! Here’s our idyllic cottage in Polperro - it’s the one right on the harbour by the steps with the bright blue door.
Molly and I definitely got fit whilst there despite the number of chip suppers and gorgeous Cornish ice-creams consumed. There were so many lovely walks from the cottage and my favourite was the coast path which was lined with violets and primroses.
But the main purpose of the trip was to see my lovely writer friend, Ruth Saberton.
Ruth lives in Polperro and has used it as a setting in her fabulous book Katy Carter Wants a Hero and I was lucky enough to explore some of the locations from her story. Alas, I didn’t meet Pincy the lobster but I did get to meet some adorable goats at the farm where Ruth keeps her horse. Now our hens are well settled, perhaps I’ll start thinking about goats…
There were so many wonderful places to visit and we got the little car ferry across to Fowey and I instantly spotted Daphne Du Maurier’s beautiful house right by the water.
Another gorgeous place was Port Quin where we had the most beautiful walk. I felt like I’d stepped right into a Rosamunde Pilcher novel!
Ruth and I also visited Bedruthan Steps which was used in the film version of Twelfth Night. The view was stunning.
Perhaps my favourite outing was to the lovely Elizabethan manor house of Trerice. Ruth and I practically had the gardens to ourselves and could have stayed there forever.
But every holiday has to end and, although it was awful having to say goodbye to Cornwall, I prolonged the holiday feeling as long as I could with a detour to Devon to see the church of St Mary in Berry Pomeroy which was used at the end of Sense and Sensibility staring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman. It was the most perfect little village and the church wall was smothered with wisteria.
Now it’s back to work and it’s going to be a very busy week. I’m meeting my German agent at the London Book Fair, seeing my editor at HaperCollins, organising publicity material for the new book and trying to tidy the house so we can put it on the market! Phew! Think I’ll need another holiday after all that.
Continue reading Cornwall »