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Displaying 6 - 8 of 8 entries.

Heroine

  • Posted on November 13, 2007 at 11:10 am

My new book is well under way so I thought I’d post you a picture of my heroine. I love this photo because she has a cheeky look in her eyes.

When I mentioned in a previous post that my protagonists names were Santo and Penny – they were just that, names. Now they’ve become real people. Penny is feisty, not afraid to speak her mind when she sees injustice done – which we see her doing on the very first page! I told you it was going to be an explosive beginning. She runs an antiques shop but it’s up for sale as it’s not doing very well, so she’s somewhat reluctantly taken up a position of nanny to Santo’s young daughter.

Penny has no current boyfriend – she was let down badly some years ago by a man who she thought loved her as much as she loved him. It turned out that she was one of a long string of conquests. It’s made her very bitter towards men, very wary, determined never to let another one close.

Enter Santo De Luca.

I’ll tell you about him tomorrow.

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Eden Project

  • Posted on November 4, 2007 at 2:23 pm

Before ………and………. After

While we were away last week we visited the Eden Project in Cornwall. For those of you who don’t know what this is, a disused china clay quarry has been converted into the most amazing global gardens. I call them gardens, but it’s so much more. Huge biomes have been erected – like giant conservatories. Inside one is a rainforest containing nothing but tropical plants, the other is Mediterranean, and outside are such a variety of plants that it takes your breath away. I could tell you so much about it but it would take far too long. All I can say is that if you ever get the opportunity to go, please do so.

This is how it was summed up in the catalogue:

  • Take an exhausted, deep, steep-sided clay pit 60m deep, the area of 35 football pitches, with no soil, 15 metres below the water table.

  • Carve the pit into a flat-bottomed bowl and landscape the sides.

  • Mix and add 83,000 tonnes of soil made from recycled waste.

  • Add superb architecture that draws inspiration from nature to remind us of human potential.

  • Colonise with a huge diversity of plants, many that we use every day (but don’t often get to see).

  • Harvest the water draining into the pit and use it to irrigate our plants (and flush the loos!)

  • Season with people from all walks of life.

And by the way, I have the title for my Australian book. THE BILLIONAIRE’S BLACKMAIL BARGAIN. I think I told you that it’s not being published until September next year so it’s a long wait. And yes, Cade did get a bargain. He blackmailed Simone (his ex girlfriend) into becoming his mistress but then fell in love with her all over again. Although it took me longer to write this book than any other I really do miss Simone and Cade, I loved writing their story and I hope that when the book’s out you’ll love reading about them. It’s set in the Whitsundays, so there are long hot days – and even steamier nights!

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Anne Weale

  • Posted on November 2, 2007 at 10:27 am

I was truly sorry to hear that Anne Weale had died. I have known her for very many years, she was truly a lady, so elegant and gracious – and always controversial. It was why many of HM&B writers admired her so much. She was not afraid to speak her mind and upheld all the old traditions, not always happy with the way things were changing. She will be sorely missed in the writing fraternity.

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