Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

My next book finally has a new title: ‘MESSY, WONDERFUL US�.

I can’t tell you how good, if a little scary, it is to announce that. If you follow me on Twitter you might already know what a palaver it’s been trying to come up with a title for the follow up to ‘You Me Everything�. Hitting on a cluster of words that captures the essence of a book and stands out on the shelves is always tricky, but this time it eluded me for a ridiculously long time.

In fact, the entire novel had been written, re-...

Most authors will tell you that their love of books blossomed during childhood. In my case, my most vivid memories involve snuggling up to read with my mother. She’d been left severely disabled by a car crash two years before I was born; both legs had been shattered from the pelvis down and, although surgery had been attempted, in the early 1970s the results were far from miraculous.

At the time, I never thought about the fact that she couldn’t line up for the mums� race on sports day, or run...

It’s always lovely to receive feedback from readers, even if you do have to accept the rough with the smooth (as one person who rated a potato peeler on Amazon more highly than my book proved recently). But I’ve been more touched than I can possibly say by some of the messages about  ‘You Me Everything’ from readers whose own families have experienced a life-changing illness, like the novel’s protagonist Jess. 

The grain of the idea for the book followed my discovery back in 2011 that the mot...

I consider myself pretty good at keeping secrets. Tell me about your affairs, your face lifts, your clandestine liaisons with Barry in Client Services and it will go no further. But knowing that �You Me Everything�had been selected for the latest Richard and Judy Book Club and not being able to say a word about it for months . . . well, that’s been a challenge. 

It was back in the spring when my editor Jo Dickinson phoned to deliver the news that my book had been selected. As I’ve been longin...

I consider myself pretty good at keeping secrets. Tell me about your affairs, your face lifts, your clandestine liaisons with Barry in Client Services and it will go no further. But knowing that �You Me Everything�had been selected for the latest Richard and Judy Book Club and not being able to say a word about it for months . . . well, that’s been a challenge. 

It was back in the spring when my editor Jo Dickinson phoned to deliver the news that my book had been selected. As I’ve been longin...

Beginning a new novel can be a daunting experience. Yet, I read an interview with the novelist Kate Atkinson recently who said that, in the twenty years in which she’s been writing, one thing has changed: ‘I spent more time worrying then. Now, I don’t worry because I think, “Well, I’ve done ten novels, surely I can do another one�.’�

I have a similar pep talk with myself at the beginning of every book. And even though I’ve just put the finish touches on my eleventh novel, for me it feels just...

The US edition of 'You Me Everything', on sale today. The New York Post called the novel a 'must read', while Marie Claire said it will 'stay with you long after you're done'.

FOR the first time ever, from today I have a book on sale in the USA. For someone who’d been writing for over a decade and had nine bestsellers in the UK, none of which ever made it over the pond, I’d reconciled myself with the idea that this day might never come. 

So the fact that You Me Everythinghas an American publi...

The last seven days have felt like the week before my wedding and not just because publication day also involved flowers and quite a lot of cake. I’ve had that similar bubbling undercurrent of adrenalin, when all the detail that’s been in the planning for more than a year finallycomes together.

First came the reviews. It had been months since my publicist Jess Barratt sent out proof copies of YOU ME EVERYTHING to key journalists, reviewers, bloggers and literary editors. This week, the verdic...

The ability of books to change lives in subtle but powerful ways has always been a source of wonder to me. The way they take you on journeys beyond the scope of your circumstances or budget; or allow you to see the world through the eyes of others and make sense of events in ways you previously hadn’t considered.

As someone who’s had a love affair with reading since childhood, it’s hard to pick out a single book that affected me most, but I could give you a long list of novels that stayed wit...

You might assume that, if a writer comes up with a brilliant idea for a novel and executes it masterfully, the result will be a guaranteed best-seller. But one of the things I’ve learnt in years since becoming an author is that a great book is merely the minimum requirement for terrific sales. You also need a magical combination of factors that includes, among others, a hard-working sales team, compelling publicity campaign, inspirational marketing and widespread, strategic distribution. You...