Book coming out on Friday!

Dulwich Divorcee — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:21:00 +0000

OMG!

I know I slightly overuse those three little letters, but this is definitely an OMG moment.

My book is coming out on Friday!

I had been vaguely thinking about contacting my darling agent to see when (or even if, I admit I am a terrible pessimist and publishing is a fast-moving, cut-throat and jolly picky world) the book was coming out. I kept getting cold feet, as she is bound to, rightly, tell me off a bit about slow progress with Novel 2. Then this morning, I had a brainwave. I would check on the German version of Amazon.

Well, I did, and look what I found:

http://www.amazon.de/Schokoherz-Alice-Castle/dp/3547711533/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

Even more exciting, I already had two reviews and 3 and a half stars!!!!!

Then I clicked on the reviews, translated them, and found this:

“Brilliant SF novel about the people in an extreme situation
The earth’s climate has changed completely. The ionosphere, which protects the earth from excessive solar radiation, no longer exists.
The polar caps have melted, the sea level has risen dramatically, Europe is a jungle, where a climate is like in the Cretaceous.”

Ahem. Sadly, my book is not a brilliant SF novel about an extreme situation, though I’m beginning to wish it was. It’s the humorous tale of how a mummy journalist crashes out of her career, then finds her true self by transforming herself into a chocolatier. I love the title of the book reviewed, though – it’s Carnival of the Alligators. Shiver! I may just have to order it for myself. But you go right ahead and get your copy of Schokohertz – it’s only euro 14.95!

Incidentally, I have been put in a bundle offer with the wonderful JG Ballard, who wrote the autobiographical Empire of the Sun but whose novels were mainly dystopian SF. I’m thrilled, I think he’s fab. Maybe my next novel will have a SF element. Yes, I can see it all now ….Chocolatier mummy sets up her new shop ….then gets whisked away by aliens in a spaceship who give her out of this world chocolate recipes! Right, off I go, 2,000 words by lunchtime ….

Judging a book by its cover

Dulwich Divorcee — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:08:00 +0000

I crawl out of my foxhole like a soldier in a very battered tin hat, accessoried with khaki netting, my bayonet still raised to ward off any stray pink hearts which could still be circling, ready to attack. I feel my military metaphors are hopelessly tangled, but you get the idea. Thank God Valentine’s Day is over for another year. Things were so easy once upon a time. I just smiled prettily, and I got shedloads of chocs and hothouses of flowers. These days, with True Love, the donkey getting lost on the way to Mantua with Juliet’s letter explaining the whole potion/crypt thing to Romeo looks like an efficient and speedy means of communication, with a possibly less fraught conclusion to boot.

Never mind. My children are at school for a reason – to distract me from my life. Half term is so over. The alarm clock shrills and we are plunged back into ‘who stole my tights?’ and ‘you know I’ve always hated Cheerios!’. Ah, sweet music.

No sooner do I scramble back on to the school run, however, than more pink hearts appear on the horizon. This time, they are being sent by my adorable publisher, Ullstein, and are – gasp! – on the cover of my soon-to-be published novel, Hot Chocolate or, I should now say, Schokoherz, which all German-speakers will know sounds much better in German.

I do love all the warm, rich red tones, which go beautifully with my character, Bella, who is as toasty as a ….well, toastie, actually. She is, of course, the me I wish I was – constantly funny, kind and magnetic, whereas I, though I try to be a good girl, have unfortunate tendencies towards rattiness, depression, fecklessness …feel free to fill the rest in when you have a moment.

The whole book issue, though, brings me to a difficult matter. My name. I’m afraid I won’t be able to resist more mentions of the book, when it comes out, though revealing the whole, entire cover (the version here is doctored) will, inevitably, blow my own cover. The Dulwich Divorcee will be wandering through the village wearing only her skimpiest negligee. Just be grateful that I’m sparing you total nudity.

I’ve always thought of dear DD as a fictional creation, a warm-up for writing Novel Number 2 (going v slowly) and Not Me at all. But perhaps she is just a mask, or a negligee, which I cower behind while taking a pop at poor dear True Love when he is already down.

Whatever, I shall have to resolve this, and soon. It is, after all, nearly spring – could be time to prune!

Dulwich Divorcee » My novel

Book coming out on Friday!

Judging a book by its cover