I learned to read when I was three years old. My father taught me, and in full disclosure, I have to say it was an act of desperation on his part: I was what they now call hyperactive. (Then, it was just called being a pain in the backside.) By teaching me to read, he gave me an activity to occupy my mind while I was awake, and the rest of the family got much needed sleep. It opened up a portal to other worlds: wondrous places that I've enjoyed revisiting throughout my entire

A few weeks ago, my laptop started playing up. It ran sluggishly and some functions seemed to have gone on a work-to-rule. It finally got...

My book, “A Deal with her Father,” is set in 1926. Although the Great War had been over for eight years by then, it still impacts the...

Recently, someone asked me what a nabob was. The question surprised me: having grown up on a steady diet of Georgette Heyer, it's a word...

After my last post was published, I heard again from David Barry, re: the theories as to where the saying, "Break a leg" comes from. His...

The English language is peppered with phrases that come from the world of theatre. I'm not talking about the sayings that have been...

Although it became easier to open new theatres within the City of Westminster after 1804, the big three theatres: Covent Garden, Drury...

In Regency times, the theatre was a popular pastime for people from all walks of life. In London, on any given night, as many as 20,000...

The Romantic Novelists’ Association has been hosting their annual awards, the RoNAs, since 1960. The awards celebrate the best in...

It takes me about three months to write a book. I plot it, make sure the story flows, makes sense and builds credibly to its climax. I...

Recently, I was asked about me. Not about my books, or my heroes and heroines, their lives and loves, the stories I tell of them, or the...

Did you know that Jane Austen had a brother who was disabled? Modern scholars believe George Austen suffered from epilepsy, cerebral...

I plot my stories in great detail before I sit down to write them. For me, this makes the actual writing much easier and reduces the...

My son has Prader Willi Syndrome. It's a condition caused by a chromosomal anomaly, similar to Down’s Syndrome. Like Down’s, PW is...

There are, they say, only seven plots under the sun. There are also hundreds of thousands of stories out there. These stories are all...

When Little Lady said she had to be an Ancient Greek for school, I came back with a variation on that old joke from “1066 and all that.”...

On Monday evening, (20th May 2024) the Leonardo Royal London City Hotel will ring with the joyous voices of Romantic novelists, their...

Primogeniture is the right of the first born legitimate child to inherit their parent’s entire or main estate. In practise, this right...

In “The Earl Pretender,” Robert Carrow discovers he is not the oldest son and heir of an earl, as he has always believed. He has an older...

In the UK this week, there have been local elections, mayoral elections and a by-election. By January 2025 at the latest, there will also...