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A New Year on the Sofa
Happy new year! This one has to be easier, right? I know it doesn’t work like that but I’m feeling optimistic. Last year showed me that positive things do happen against all odds and expectations. I doubt many of us got through the holidays completely unscathed but I hope they did you some good. I … Continue reading
Two Weeks in the Canadian Rockies and NW Montana
There’s nothing like mountains, or any vast natural landscape formed millions of years ago, to remind us humans how tiny and temporary we are. When you look at it that way, our trip to the Canadian Rockies and north-western corner of Montana wasn’t as long ago as it feels (back at the beginning of my … Continue reading
Two Weeks in Senegal
When is a travel post a geography lesson? This feels like a bit of both on my family’s recent trip to Senegal in west Africa, but if I only post lovely pictures and talk about touristy things it would give a false impression, not only of the little we saw of the country but also … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Amanda Huggins on Japan
Welcome to the first guest post of the new season, a special one in several ways. It’s the first time Japan has featured in my Writers on Location series, and also the first time I’ve had the pleasure of hosting an award-winning travel writer. Amanda Huggins’ fiction and travel writing have been published in a … Continue reading
Autumn preview 2018
Welcome back to the Literary Sofa – I hope you enjoyed a long hot summer and some good books. This is a quick Hello, I’m back! and glimpse of the upcoming programme on the blog. I always know it’s been a good break when I come back raring to get stuck into everything, and there’s nothing … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Clare Atkins on Darwin, Australia
It’s always exciting when a guest post hits my inbox. The writers are here because I love their work, and the pieces invariably give a telling and enticing flavour of the writing and the book. How they choose to go about that is entirely their call; although the Writers on Location posts often do inspire … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Kerry Hadley-Pryce on the Black Country
A record number of Summer Reads authors are joining me on the Sofa this year and most are welcome additions to the popular Writers on Location series. This is especially true of today’s guest Kerry Hadley-Pryce, whose second novel Gamble is set in the Black Country, a part of the UK I have not encountered … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Elise Valmorbida on the Veneto, Italy
Of the many selections I’ve put together, I don’t think any have received such an enthusiastic response as my Summer Reads 2018 – many thanks for your interest, appreciation and especially for sharing it. At a time when the role and motivation of book bloggers is (yet again) under discussion, the joy of spreading the … Continue reading
A Week in Marseille
I’ve recently returned from a glorious week in Marseille staying with my lifelong friend G, the younger daughter of my French godmother (my own French story is here, and it’s a long one…) This isn’t a full-on travel post as it wasn’t a holiday as such, although you could be forgiven for thinking so – … Continue reading
Two Weeks in Vietnam
Last week was a brilliant start to 2018 with lots of interest in my piece on time management – I’m delighted readers found it helpful. My blog is usually about books and writing but every year I include a couple of travelogues and this one’s about my family’s recent trip to Vietnam. We have joined … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 