London, lunch and a lonely mouth

So I’ve been in London.

The aim had been to hide myself away for a couple of weeks at a writers' retreat somewhere. My friend, Xinran, suggested I fly to London and stay with her instead.  Xinran is the much-lauded Chinese-British writer who came to international attention with The Good Women of China, and whose most recent work is The Book of Secrets. You might remember she was a guest on Thursday Book Club last year. 

I jumped at Xinran’s offer and had the best time with her, talking books and writing and life's big questions. During my time in London, I caught up with Tom Chalmers, head of Legend Press UK, and with my friend, Rachel Seiffert, who has a new book out, Once The Deed Is Done.  Xinran and I had lunch with publisher Christopher MacLehose whose new imprint, Open Borders Press, specialises in works in translation. Later, we caught up with Patrick Marnham whose most recent work, War in the Shadows: Resistance, Deception and Betrayal in Occupied France follows his biography of the French resistance leader, Jean Moulin. Both works piqued my interest as my forthcoming novel, The Year We Escaped, is set in wartime France.  

Just before the official release date, I’ll be launching The Year We Escaped at Erina Library on 29 May as part of the Words on the Waves Writers Festival. I'd love it if you could come. You can find all the details here. 

In the meantime, it’s only two weeks until author and journalist Jacqueline Maley will be joining us to talk about her new novel, Lonely Mouth.. I’m halfway through and loving it.