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The night before the publication of The Last Days of Leda Grey, I was in the town where the book is set – attending the fabulous Bookish Supper Salon at the Brighton & Hove Regency Town House.

The Town House is the most splendid venue, and it’s currently being lovingly restored by a team of local volunteers. But, it was even more special to me, being one of the very houses that I used as a setting when writing The Last Days of Leda Grey: the house where my heroine lived as a child – even with the remnants of some wallpaper that could well be the same that I described in Leda’s childhood bedroom.

Another house very near in the terrace has now been converted as a hotel, just like the one in Leda Grey …

Leda. Leda. Leda Grey. Chanting the name inside my head I wandered through the bustling Lanes, and then along the seafront road until I found the small hotel I’d booked into the night before. Converted from a private home in the grandest of Regency crescents, it had wide stone steps and a pillared porch; though best not to look too carefully at the crusting rust on ironwork ~ or the paint that peeled from cracking wood when, back inside my room again, I forced up creaking window frames that opened to a balcony …

Sitting next to some well-repaired window frames, I was joined on the night by two other writers, Jules Grant and Mark Thompson. We were all wonderfully looked after by the evening’s host Laura H Lockington, and also by Anna Burrt. In fact, the evening was such fun that I hope to go back and visit again; this time as a guest, to really enjoy the chat and the general ambiance ~ as well as all the gorgeous food prepared by The Boys Cafe and Eatery in Hove. 

With Laura Lockington, and Mark Thompson

Being interviewed by Laura Lockington

Brighton. The view from my hotel. I hope to be back again soon.

With thanks to the writer and teacher Amanda Saint who interviewed me for the Retreat West blog, and who asked such interesting questions about the writing of The Last Days of Leda Grey ~ including what inspired the themes, the settings, and the characters.

The full interview is here.

 

I can’t begin to say how thrilled I am with this video trailer for Leda Grey ~ even more so because it was created by my daughter Letty Fox.

Letty has managed to recreate the atmosphere and also the look of every film I describe in the novel. And then, of course, there is Theda Bara, the astonishingly seductive actress who starred in early silent film and who so inspired the appearance of my main character, Leda Grey.

As it’s Halloween, here is a link to my article in today’s Historia Magazine.

This is the first blog post for my new author website, and I’m thrilled to be able to share this review of The Last Days of Leda Grey that appeared in The Times newspaper ~ with the novel being chosen as the historical book of the Month.

I hope it whets your appetite to find out more about Leda Grey when she is published by Orion Books on November 3rd 2016.