Once more, I am travelling! On the fifth attempt! Postponed several times due to pandemic restrictions and most recently by flooding, Tim and I finally managed to fly to Darwin to begin our long-awaited journey down the middle of Australia via the Ghan. Darwin’s tropical heat has taught me to never again travel here in…
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Quintette of Questions: Tim Richards
Today I’m asking Tim Richards 5 questions about his new book! 1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title? Heading South: Far North Queensland to Western Australia by Rail. The Heading South part came to me as a synonym for the failing career which had fuelled the…
Read moreReview: In Her Footsteps from Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet has been doing some lovely themed books recently, and the latest is this lush tome – In Her Footsteps (though it appears in Goodreads as The Feminist Tour). Over 30 writers contributed to the 200+ entries about influential women throughout history and across the globe. Some entries are particularly lively, and some lovely…
Read moreReview: Wild in the City – A Guide to Urban Animals Around the World by Kate Baker, Illustrated by Gianluca Foli
Most of us have heard about the foxes that frequent London suburbia – I’ve seen a few myself, and a penfriend used to write about the vixen that had kits in a den under her allotment shed. In Melbourne, too, followers avidly check online for the state of the Collins Street falcons (with their chicks…
Read moreReview: Myths and Legends of the World, Retold by Alli Brydon, Illustrated by Julia Iredale
Lonely Planet Kids is putting out some gorgeous illustrated books about the world, and Myths and Legends of the World is another beautiful example.
Read moreThe Lady Novelist is Charmed by a Hobbit Village
I am once more on the road, spending 11 days in New Zealand with my travel-writing husband, Tim Richards. Starting in Auckland, we’re taking trains (and a ferry) in stages southward and will end up in Christchurch. Our first day in Auckland was spent initially with Dane of the Home Fires of Tamaki, learning about…
Read moreResearch: Richard III
In case you didn’t know, I’m something of a Ricardian as a result of always having been intrigued by Shakespeare’s play, which is brilliant but hardly believable as documentary evidence of anything except Tudor revisionism. My further reading led me to the conclusion that history’s Richard was hard done by. Whatever his real faults and…
Read moreReview: The Atlas of Monsters and Ghosts by Federica Magrin and Laura Brenlla
I loved the idea of a kids’ book charting the location of monster stories around the world – it’s in part what I look for in a destination! The Atlas of Monsters and Ghosts by LonelyPlanetKids.com is a gorgeous looking book, with Laura Brenlla’s fabulous Tiki-esque style (which reminds me a bit of Shag’s art)….
Read moreThe Lady Novelist is menaced by a cow on Dartmoor
I’m on my travels once more – back to the UK where I’ve been doing a spot of research at the British Library, visiting a friend up in Kendal and doing the Beatrix Potter/Windemere Lake thing and now spending time with my talented friend, Janet Anderton, as we throw ideas around for a potential book…
Read moreThe Lady Novelist follows a Roman Road
Londinium. Roman Baths. All roads lead, etc. I’ve been in various parts of the former Roman Empire, from Hungary, Egypt and Jordan to Rome itself. It’s always fun to find little bits of older civilisations in layers under the current one. It’s like etymology for landscapes – the backstories that help to describe, to a…
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