This anniversary trip to Portugal just gets better and better, with more things to celebrate. Not just our fifty years together, but an unexpected interest in Louisa Elliott, first published by Chatto & Windus in 1989. In my previous blog – The Frankfurt Book Fair – I mentioned that the translation rights for this bestselling…
29: Eyes Wide and Breathless
Coincidence abounded in the summer of ‘87. First, Rosie Thomas, who turned out to be married to literary agent Caradoc King; second, publisher Carmen Callil, who just happened to ring Caradoc to ask if he had anything for her to read. Third, Carmen – almost a legendary figure in publishing – was Australian, and intrigued…
25: Caradoc King & AP Watt
A positive response from the first agent I’d applied to – I could hardly believe it! That it should arrive by telex, just as MT Reliance was entering Bilbao, made it a crazy moment. The Spanish pilot gazed at us in astonishment – hugging, kissing, laughing – were these really the stiff-lipped British? Ashore the…
24: Summer Vacation
After five years of seeking time to write, suddenly time was heavy on my hands. My husband Peter had gone back to sea after three months’ leave, my precious novel, Louisa Elliott, was sitting on an agent’s desk in London, waiting to be read and decided upon. Wondering what would happen next, longing for news…
LOUISA ELLIOTT – Happy Birthday!
Re-launching my first novel as an ebook has been a pretty low-key affair with regard to celebrations – a glass of bubbly and a rash of texts and emails, and that was about it! But back in February 1989, LOUISA ELLIOTT’s entry into the world was like a fairy-tale come true. Carmen Callil, then Managing…
LOUISA ELLIOTT – Reflections
Having had a few days to recover from the mammoth task of re-editing my first novel, I feel I must say a few words about two brilliant women – Carmen Callil and Alison Samuel of Chatto & Windus – who helped shape the raw manuscript into what became a bestseller. But first a small digression…