Sadly I wasn't able to join her, but tonight Lynn is in Edinburgh for the launch of our friend Sara Sheridan's latest historical novel, Secret Of The Sands, at Blackwell's bookshop. Eddie and I left her up to the airport and arrived back on the island at the edge of dark.
Normally it's me who's off-island, so for Eddie it's all a bit disconcerting. After taking the boat out to the mooring, chopping some wood, lighting the stove and fuelling the generator, I went looking for him and found him on the jetty, staring over to the mainland like the French Lieutenant's Woman. I told him not to worry, Lynn would be back tomorrow, and tried to distract him by taking him for a walk along the foreshore as far as Eagle Point. But as soon as we got back he returned to his station on the jetty, and I left him to it, knowing he would come inside when he felt like it. Now, two hours later, he's curled up on my knee and I'm reaching over him to to type this post on the laptop. Five candles and an oil lamp are providing enough ambient light to work, and outside the cabin, the night is silent as the dead.
Around now, Sara will probably be taking questions from the floor. She's good at these events, having several books behind her and in any case being a natural speaker. I hope it has gone well for her - Lynn promised to call me with an update when it was all over. I do know that Secret of the Sands is selling on well already, and is at number 11 on Asda's fiction chart, so the signs are good.
Real-time update! Lynn just called to say the launch was a huge success and was really well attended. Go Sara!
For Secret of the Sands' Amazon page, click here, and for a YouTube video of Sara reading from the book, click here.
