Final part of An Ordinary Gift

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The issue of Woman's Weekly containing the final part of An Ordinary Gift is now on sale!

Ely museum

In this episode Clare visits Ely museum (housed in the 13th century gaol),

learns about 16th century witchcraft ...




and finally understands her 'ordinary gift'.
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Ely serial - part three

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Part Three of An Ordinary Gift is now in bookshops and supermarkets. I've really loved writing my 'Ely' serial and getting the atmosphere of this island town into the story (no, really, it honestly was an island until the Fens were drained in the 17th Century - hence the name, "Isle of Eels") .

Amongst the things Clare comes across in this week's episode are a plaque to the Wisbech Martyrs

and a cannon presented to the people of Ely by Queen Victoria. [Note: very nice of her, but Clare and I can't help wondering what QV thought the people of Ely would do with it!]






Oh, and a priest hole with old, old, memories...

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RNA Blog

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Conference

If anyone wonders what goes into organising the Romantic Novelists' Association annual conference, pop over to the RNA blog where I am being interviewed this week.

Mind you, the conference seems a very long time ago now!
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An Ordinary Gift - part two

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Part Two of An Ordinary Gift is out now!

In this episode, Clare visits Ely cathedral, meets some choristers and looks out of her window at a garden.

None of which is as it sounds.

Except for the cathedral.
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Warning - VERY cute cats photo!

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Brotherly love

My cats are quite ridiculously photogenic - and also remarkably cute at times. Being brothers who have never lived apart, Archer and Merlin often curl up together, but this was a particularly sweet pose last night.

All together now... Ahhhhh.


[PS: I'm blogging today over at Historical Romance UK]
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An Ordinary Gift

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It's out! The first episode of my four-part serial for Woman's Weekly is in the shops this week.

It is called An Ordinary Gift, it is set in lovely Ely in Cambridgeshire and it is a slightly spooky paranormal mystery.

The main character is Clare Somerset, an ancient-music archivist, who arrives in Ely to start a new job and a new passage in her life. As far as she knows, she has never visited Ely before, but almost from the first moment she starts to experience near-memories...

I set the serial in Ely because it is local to where I live and is one of my favourite towns. Here I am taking tea in Topping&Company Booksellers with a view of the Cathedral filling the upper windows. Anyone who has ever visited Toppings and been entranced by the interior will notice a certain similarity to Clare's new workplace!

Enjoy.
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Before the Conference...

Jan Jones with workshoppers

With pre-conference tasks to do, I went to Caerleon in advance of the main RNA crowd. While there, fellow organiser Roger Sanderson and I gave a talk at beautiful Brynglas House in Newport on "Writing Romance".

Entrance Hall

This elegant building, built in 1852 and now a community learning and library centre, has been lovingly restored and is a wonderful local facility. We were very flattered to be one of the inaugural events.

The talk went well - but I was mostly blown away by the architecture. Why don't I have a house like this?

Or a fireplace like this?







[If you are wondering why there are no photos of the front of the building, it's because it was raining. Well, we were in Wales.]
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A different way with words

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I have been  busy getting ready for the next RNA Conference, but took time off a couple of weeks ago to visit a small, but perfectly formed, exhibition in a shop - yes, a shop, in South Audley Street, London.

Information is about it here and it has been so popular that it is on until the end of July.

The exhibition is by textile (amongst other things) Rosalind Wyatt. One window holds inspirations and the tools of her trade

"If Shoes Could Talk"

The other window contains a beautiful exhibit of Georgian shoes set in a living garden. At the back of the shop, a recording of Bill Nighy explaining the story of the girl who inspired the piece can be listened to from the comfort of a deep armchair.

Rosalind paints, appliqués and embroiders words onto her pieces. They are tender, thought-provoking, and quite, quite beautiful.

Rosalind Wyatt

My next serial involves a textile artist, so it was especially useful and interesting for me to visit this gallery of words, but you don't need an excuse. Really.

RNA Summer Party 2011

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What a fabulous Summer Party it was this year! Gorgeous frocks, wonderful shoes, wine, canapés, an award presentation and the best of all company.







I gave my LSotY shortlist dress another outing - here I am looking almost grown-up as I warm up the crowd ready for the presentations.

In an all-change moment, RNA outgoing chair Katie Fforde handed over stewardship to Anne Ashurst,

outgoing president Diane Pearson got an IMMENSE round of applause for her years of service, and then we moved on to the Joan Hessayon Award for the 2011 best début novel.

Joan Hessayon contenders l-r: Molly Hopkins, Kate Jackson, Paula Williams, Charlotte Betts, Sally Clements

and the winner was announced as Charlotte Betts with The Apothecary's Daughter.

enjoying the speeches: Lucy King (winner 2010),
Kate Johnson, Lyn McCulloch, Talli Roland

Impossibly glamorous Danuta Kean with me

Carole Blake and Jan

Then it was on to more partying, more catching up with friends, more networking with editors, agents, journalists and PR gurus.

The Joan Hessayon trophy

God bless the Romantic Novelists' Association and all who sail in her.

(Most pix taken by Marte at mlr photo. Others taken by me or Liz Fenwick)

Off visiting...

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While I was at the RNA Summer Party earlier this week (blog post soon, I promise), I popped into those Minxes Of Romance to do an author interview. The miracles of modern science, eh?
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Mugs and mementos

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Have you seen my awesome mug from the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds?

It starts like this........

and then, as soon as hot tea is poured into it, it turns into THIS!

(So naturally, I have to keep it filled up often)

It's all glowing and glossy and shiny and a pleasure to drink out of. Quite the nicest memento I have.

What's yours?
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Just because...

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Just because the sun is shining and the wind is warm and I was once very young and unwisely in love, here is a poem I wrote then (many years ago)...

So Few Hours by Jan Jones

Just one afternoon
Stolen from the confines
Of these cold walls
And high ceilings
Just one afternoon
Speeding along motorways and
Narrow lanes
Wind in my hair
Your hand over mine.

And always now when I see your face
It will be above mine
Sun filtering through the arches of trees overhead
Always now when you touch my arm
I'll feel stones pressing into my back
And plants stinging my shoulders
Always now when I brush my hair
Leaves and twigs will cascade around me
Always now when I reach for a needle
I'll mend the rent in my skirt.

And nothing now will ever teach me to think of you
With less than a smile on my lips
And nothing now will ever teach me to think of you
With less than an ache in my heart.


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Magnolia!

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My magnolia tree has a history of getting it spectacularly wrong with regards to blossom/frost.

This year, however, it has got things spectacularly right.

Enjoy!
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Lunchbox theatre!

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Bored with sandwiches? Try something different at lunchtime - like going to a play!

At the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds all this week, the Little Bear Theatre Company are putting on a compressed 50-minute version of the five act Georgian play A Bold Stroke for a Husband.

Waiting for the actors

It was thoroughly enjoyable - a lot faster and more furious than Hannah Cowley intended, but just as funny and very accessible indeed. I did miss the leisurely setting of the scene and the asides to the audience which are a prominent feature of Georgian theatre, but as a cultural lunchbox, this stylish, snappy (and very clever) performance is hard to beat.

Well done all - I look forward to the next adaptation.
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Back and forth - and on

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Don't my books look nice on the shelf?

Hectic - but very nice - few days travelling around, supporting, promoting, and revisiting.

First it was down to the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green, not a million miles from where I grew up. I've followed these guys since they first conceived the idea of opening a bookshop, so it was smashing to meet them in person and not just exchange words over the ether.

The evening was spent at a tweet-up organised by Scott Pack, designed to help the shop over a sticky patch. Wine, food, books, good company and a rather fine mobile bookseller - what's not to like?

Next morning I treated myself to a lovely ramble around where I spent my childhood. It's always a tiny bit worrying going back, but I needn't have worried. True, the primary school had been replaced by a much bigger building, and the large asphalt playground had been covered with play structures, divided play areas, and outdoor toys, but there were still happy kids all over the place and it was so colourful and joyous that it was impossible to look at it without smiling.

My road and those around it still seem to be the same safe streets they always were, even if two houses in three now have loft extensions and three out of four front lawns have been replaced by hard standing for cars.

The church where I spent so many freezing Sundays was the biggest surprise. I'd expected gentle decline - but it has expanded! The old pews have been replaced by stackable chairs to transform the nave into a vibrant, multi-use space. There are bright banners around, toys for children's sessions and a second hall and bigger kitchen built onto the side. The organ had wheezed its last, but in removing it they had discovered the most beautiful rose window. And the Lady Chapel is the same calm, traditional chapel that it always was. So lovely to find another instance of positive, thriving change. (Mind you, when they said they would contact me later as a source of archive memories, I felt just a tad ancient...)

But the very best part of the trip for me was walking through the small park where I spent so much of my time when younger. And I discovered that the muddy path where we had always been able to get down to the brook and fish for tiddlers was still there, the brook itself was still unfenced, the shallow, pebble-bottomed water was still a glorious magnet for today's kids. Colour me very happy.

And after all that, it was time finally to head for Reading to celebrate the launch of my lovely friend Julie Cohen's book Getting Away With It. Masses of people in Reading Central Library drinking fizz, eating ice cream (you have to read the book to understand why) and cheering her on. Hope it sells gazillions, Julie!

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