It’s been a good week! On Saturday I had a great time taking part in the Portobello Book Festival as part of a panel on ‘Women in Historical Fiction’, along with Jane Anderson (The Paintress) and Sue Lawrence (Lady’s Rock), expertly chaired by Joanne Baird. This is a brilliant community book festival which always has an interesting programme – check it out next year!

Then on Wednesday Edinburgh Central Library kindly hosted an event exploring ‘Family Stories in Historical Fiction’. Helen Graham (The Real Mackay) and I really enjoyed our discussion on researching and writing our recent novels, and Susan Elsley was a fabulous chair. It was an added bonus to have my brother Sandy in the audience sketching the event. If you’ve read The Paris Peacemakers, you’ll know that Jack’s sketch of the Calcutta Cup match at the start of the novel is significant. The idea of a brother who sketches on every occasion may not be entirely fiction!

On my way into town on Wednesday for the Central Library event I popped into Waterstones at the West End. What a thrill to see copies of the new paperback edition of The Paris Peacemakers on the historical fiction table, alongside some amazing authors!

We’re looking forward to celebrating the launch of the paperback in London at HTA Design on 12 November. Tickets available here!