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Find a Book Club, a club that does what it says on the tin, asked me to recommend 10 books for book clubs (including two of my own).
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Category Archives: Speaking of Love
SPEAKING of LOVE : just .99p or $1.66 for Easter : Kindle Countdown
For a few days over Easter, 17 April to 22 April to be exact, the ebook of SPEAKING of LOVE will be half price. Just .99p at amazon.co.uk and $1.66 at amazon in the USA : it’s on a Kindle Countdown. You can … Continue reading
SPEAKING of LOVE: an alternative Valentine ?
SPEAKING of LOVE is one of amazon’s Recommended Valentine’s Reads this week (10-17 February). Happy days. But please be warned: it is an alternative Valentine, one that asks why we find it so difficult to talk about love; one that shows … Continue reading
The Shock of the Fall : hurray for mental illness in fiction
The subject matter of this year’s Costa first novel winner (and now overall 2013 winner), The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Fileris mental illness. Hurray! (Because publishers so often swerve when they see one of those coming.) And hurray for … Continue reading
The Bookbag’s Top Ten Self-Published Books of 2013, and Visitation, a haunting image by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison
I’ve just heard that the Bookbag has included Speaking of Love in its Top Ten Self-Published Books for 2013. Very exciting. Thank you, Bookbag. And a couple of weeks ago, at ENO‘s miraculous Magic Flute, directed by the ever-inventive Simon McBurney I saw, inside the programme, … Continue reading
Posted in Artists, Speaking of Love, Things I'd Love to Have Made, Third Novel
Tagged Uncategorized
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Free eBook SPEAKING of LOVE : UPDATE
A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who’ve been downloading SPEAKING of LOVE on its two free days, yesterday and today: in the USA from here and in the UK from here. It’s given the novel, my first novel, a new … Continue reading
Free eBook : SPEAKING of LOVE : Friday 15 & Saturday 16 November
On Friday 15 November and Saturday 16 November the kindle edition of SPEAKING of LOVE will be available free. Go here for the UK and here for the US to download your free copy. And if you felt inspired, after you’ve read it, … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Speaking of Love, Things I'd Love to Have Made
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Scared to say ‘I Love You’?
Last week Paul McCartney admitted to John Wilson on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row that he was scared to say ‘I love you’. Instead he wrote the words into a song for his wife, Nancy Shevell. The song, Scared, reviewed at the end of this link, is … Continue reading
The Troubadour Cafe
The Troubadour is, as they say on their website, a proper cafe. It’s been around for years but it just gets better and better. It’s in London, find out where here, and it’s in Speaking of Love because, in the … Continue reading
SW11 Literary Festival
I know I said I wasn’t going to post for a while because I’m writing … but I thought you might like to know that the SW11 (London) Literary Festival begins on Monday 8 September and ends on Monday 29 … Continue reading
Posted in Speaking of Love
Tagged Jan Blake, Ruth Rendell, SW11 Literary Festival, Victoria Hislop, Will Self
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South East London reading
I’ll be talking about and reading from Speaking of Love tonight at Penge Library in south east London. It’s part of The Blurb, Bromley’s June festival of Books and Reading and it’s free, but if you’d like to come you … Continue reading
Planning a novel …
… is a strange and frustrating business, despite my colleague’s beautiful vine and wire analogy. My heart gives a little leap of excitement each time I think I’ve ‘got it’, only to find that what I thought I’d got won’t … Continue reading
Posted in Speaking of Love
Tagged Hope Remains, Peter Mattiessen, Planning a novel, puzzles, vine and wire analogy, Zen Buddhism
6 Comments
Cornflower Book Group
The Cornflower Book Group is discussing Speaking of Love, so if you’d like to join in the discussion, hop on over there, here.I’d like to hear what you think does work as well as what you think doesn’t work, and … Continue reading
The Cornflower Book Group
Yesterday, at the Cornflower Book Group, Speaking of Love came out of the hat to be read next. It’s the fifth volume to be read by Cornflower Book Group members and discussion will begin from 12 April on Cornflower’s blog. … Continue reading
Cover story … and fab reports
In October I asked people to tell me the short story that Speaking of Love‘s paperback cover told them. I promised a copy of the paperback to the writer of the story that most appealed to me (see original post … Continue reading
Posted in Speaking of Love
Tagged Angela Young, Eliza Graham, event reports, Mark Thornton, Mostly Books, Paperback cover, Simon Thomas, Stuck in a Book
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Daffodils for St David’s day
… from my little garden. … aren’t they beautiful? And because it’s St David’s day why not support a Welsh Arts Centre that might lose its Arts Council funding? The St Donat’s Arts Centre runs the wonderful Beyond the Border … Continue reading
Posted in Speaking of Love
Tagged Beyond the Border, daffodils, St David's day, St Donat's Arts Center
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Spread the Word / World Book Day – last chance to vote
As I write this there are less than three hours to go before voting closes on the shortlist for THE Book to Talk About 2008 award. If you’d like to vote for Speaking of Love, go here. Or click on … Continue reading
Spread the Word
Speaking of Love has been shortlisted for World Book Day’s The Book to Talk About award. It’s very exciting … . You can see the ten books on the shortlist here; you can comment on and vote for the ten … Continue reading
World Book Day, Book Groups and Speaking of Love
My publishers, the wonderful Beautiful Books, say that if you’d like, they will send you a free copy of Speaking of Love because it’s been longlisted for the World Book Day/Spread the Word award. The number of free copies is … Continue reading
Speaking of Love and The Book To Talk About
Speaking of Love has been longlisted for Spread the Word’s Book to Talk About, which is wonderful news for the book, and for all the books on the list (there are 100 of them). The award will be announced in … Continue reading


