What a wonderful day. It started out with an appearance on TV3 with my great buddies on Ireland AM, then did a tour of the M50 south shops and signed masses of Love and Marriage and met loads of fans too and have just heard that it's gone straight to No 1 for overall sales in the bestseller list here at home, after only three days in the shops, and it's No 11 in the hardback chart in UK.

So a big, big thank you to all my readers and my publishers and to Dec, Helen, Simon, Eamonn and the gang here. It makes all the hard work worthwhile. 

How lovely to have my publication day of my latest novel Love and Marriage, on St Patrick's Day. It's been a day of huge celebration here in Ireland. Just what we need to dispel all the gloom and doom. The gods were kind and the sun shone all day and it felt really spring like as hundreds of thousands of people enjoyed festive parades all around the country. 

Love and Marriage is the third part of the trilogy beginning with Forgive and Forget and then Happy Ever After. I really enjoyed writing the three books and felt the characters had become as close to me as family. It will be strange to start a new novel with a whole set of different characters.

It's been a terrific week. i signed 1000 books in The Bray bookshop on Monday morning, and yesterday my lovely agent,  editor, publicist and sales manager from Transworld UK flew over to join all my Irish team here for a posh nosh up in Conrad Gallagher's new restaurant. We had the tasting menu and it was scrumptious. My house is like the Botanic Gardens from all the flowers I've received and it's such a nice time in an author's life when a new novel is published. Even after all the books I've written, the thrill never fades. 

I begin a very busy book tour on Mon. and am looking forward to my stock signings in various bookshops around the country. Book-sales have been hit very badly in the recession and this is where libraries come into their own. it is so shocking for me as an ex library person  to see how many libraries are being closed in the UK. It is beyond belief that such badly needed facilities can be cut, now more than ever it is so important that people have access to libraries. Thank goodness, despite all the economic havoc wreaked on us by greedy bankers and developers, our libraries aren't being decimated.

Thanks to all who wrote comments on the last blog and thanks to Sophie for explaining the e book situation. My agent tells me that an agreement has been reached and the books should be available as e books in the very near future, so Natalie I hope you'll be reading an e book of mine soon! Heather please give my regards to your mum and I hope she is much better, and Sue thanks so much for your lovely words, I'm always thrilled to hear from ppeople who enjoy my books. 

So I hope you all enjoy Love and Marriage as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm so grateful that after twenty-one years as a published author I still LOVE writing. How lucky am I?

Enjoy the spring. We deserve it after that cold harsh winter. Support your libraries and keep reading!  xxx

What a challenging week it's been here, atrocious weather and a nasty budget on the way. As you can see from the photos I've put into the gallery I was completely snowed in the day after I went for a scary skid trying to get into my driveway. Only the very welcome news that I had got to No 1 here with my Christmas paperback Coming Home help calm my shattered nerves! Thanks so much to all who bought it and I hope you were snug and warm and comfort eating chocs when you were reading it. 

Thanks also to Charlie who posted the lovely message on my last blog. It was so kind of you to take the trouble, Charlie. I'm not sure what book it came from, I'm asked to contribute to so many but I'm so glad you liked it and that it meant something to you and may your kindness come back to you in many ways.

Stay warm and keep safe on roads and footpaths. xx

Well I just can't believe it's publication day for my new paperback Coming Home! A beautiful bouquet of roses arrived from my publishers this wild, wet, windy morning to remind me of what a special day it is today, and to celebrate my birthday tomorrow.

They've done such a fabulous job of my book and the cover is so jaunty and Christmassy it just lifts my spirits to look at it. Best of all it also contains the first chapter of the third part of the trilogy I've been writing, which is called Love And Marriage and which will be published in the spring. So many of my readers have been inquiring about it so I'm really pleased to say that it's finished, copy edits done, practically ready for the printers. It's a biggie, 162,000 words. (That's why I haven't written a blog since last spring!)  I really hope my readers will enjoy reading about  all that's been happening, to Connie, Drew, Aimee, Barry, Melissa, Bryan and Debbie and not forgetting Judith and her mother, Lily. Everyone seems to have their own favourite character and I've got many letters about them.

So now it's time to catch up on all the bits and pieces I've been putting on the long finger, although I do start a book tour on Monday. Thanks to all who  took the time to leave lovely comments. Kasia and Marie thanks for your heartwarming, kind words. Tracy I'd love to write sequels to them all! Maybe someday.  Elaine, try the Poolbeg website for Finishing Touches.

Hope the weather improves, it is very stormy here, might just go and curl up by the fire with a gorgeous book I contributed to called With Love from me...to me. A letter to My Sixteen Year Old Self. I was at the launch last week and it was great to meet some of Ireland's most well known people and read the letters they wrote to themselves.  The proceeds go to the Irish Youth Foundation, so a very good cause. if you feel like treating yourself.   Happy Reading!

Fabulous flowers from my editor and publishers arrived this March morning to remind me that today is publication date for the paperback of Happy Ever After. A lovely start to a lovely day. The sun was glorious, the skies cobalt blue and spring flowers decorate the garden. Isn’t it fantastic that the days are getting longer and spring is around the corner? Then, reminding me once again of how thoughtful she is, I got an email card from my ex editor, Francesca, to say congratulations and wish me success. I was so touched. She was made redundant last year and we had been together for sixteen years. 

The recession is playing such havoc with people’s lives. Here in Ireland the second biggest bookstore chain, Hughes & Hughes went into receivership on Friday and the shutters came down on the shops with the loss of over two hundred jobs. I’ve known many of these lovely booksellers for the last twenty years and did many happy signings and events with them. So my paperback publication is a bittersweet experience. As I gear up to begin the publicity and book tour, it will be strange and sad not to visit the Hughes & Hughes shops all over the country. I’ll miss the banter and chat and warm welcome I always received when I called in to say hello and sign stock. 

The recession is having an impact too on the third part of the trilogy, Love and Marriage? When I started Forgive and Forget and followed it up with Happy Ever After?, we were in the midst of boom times, which, as I write about real life, were mirrored in the lives of my characters. How times have changed! And the plotlines I’d planned have gone by the wayside as ‘real life’ takes hold and my characters too, have to deal with the economic downturn. Challenging times indeed for an author! I’m enjoying writing some very meaty scenes indeed. One character, Barry has just lost a pile of money on an investment, he borrowed heavily to fund, and his wife, Aimee, knows nothing about it. I’m looking forward to that row! 

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my last blog. I’m so glad you’re enjoying my books. Jenny and Dolores I’m delighted to tell you that Book 3, Love And Marriage? is well under way, see above. 

Janet, Not sure about more City Girl, wrote the trilogy and moved on…but never say never! Glad you liked it. Must go and continue writing, about to give some poor unfortunate a heart attack, which may prove fatal!  

Have a lovely spring and here’s to sunny days.

Hi,

I just wanted to wish all my readers a very Happy New Year. Thanks so much for all the support over the years. Thanks to all of you who bought my most recent book, Coming Home. I got so many compliments about it, it made all the effort of writing , editing, and publicising it all worthwhile even if I've never been as busy in my life!

I hope your Christmas went well. Mine was hectic but nice and today is my first day 'off'. It's snowing as I write so I'm going to spend the afternoon reading and lazing by the fire. I've got a proof copy of Ciara Geraghty's Becoming Scarlett and it's a real treat for me because her first book, Saving Grace was a brilliant, confident, quirky, debut novel. She has a fantastic voice and is absolutely hilarious. You laugh out loud reading her, so lucky me.

So have a wonderful New Year's Eve and I hope all that you wish for in 2010 comes to you just as you want it to. xxx

Well it's been a busy month and I've had to get many, many photos taken! When you're writing a book you forget that you're going to have to publicise it! I was lucky though, I had to get two sets of photos for two different papers and i managed to get them all taken the night of the launch when I looked a bit glam and had the hair and make-up done!
It was a lovely launch in a rather elegant setting, lots of candles and Christmassy cheer. My two youngest nieces were in a tizzy of excitement. It was their first launch. Rachel the older one brought her friend, Lisa. It was her birthday, and mind two days later and my publishers had arranged a surprise birthday cake for us. Rachel had told one of the girls in her class that she was coming to my launch. 'Don't get too excited, said the 'friend'. I've been to LOADS.  I've been to Enid Blyton's.'  We all had a good laugh at that.
Having a joint launch with Aidan for his book, Angels of Divine Light, was great fun and the buzz in the room was fantastic. My publishers flew over from the UK, not that we got to see much of them on the night as once we made our speeches we started signing and we were signing for two solid hours which was rather gratifying.
So the books are flying, am doing lots of interviews and have a busy Dec ahead.
Not too busy though to have a very special night on Sat with Rachel and Maria. I'm doing Christmas this year and we made the puddings. Although I'd helped make the puddings for years when my mother was alive, it was the first time I'd been 'in charge.' Very nerve wracking!  I followed her recipe to the letter and I think, all is well. As they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating! We'll know on Christmas Day. But the girls, swathed in aprons, thoroughly enjoyed themselves, sieving the flour and spices and whisking the eggs. I had a few tense moments as they halved the cherries, but no fingers got cut and we are all quite proud of our efforts.
Thanks for the lovely comments, I'm so glad you like Coming Home, Estelle, I hope your cold is better. Shirley, I'm glad you couldn't wait! Anne, I'd love to come to Sydney. (In case my publisher is reading this!)  Petra, part three is in the pipeline. Someone asked me the other day whether Aimee had a boy or a girl! She's been pregnant a long time! Maureen, when I put To Be Continued on Forgive and Forget, I got given out to by a lot of readers! 
So hope everyone is not too fraught coming up to Christmas. I'm trying to put manners on my desk as I can't even see the surface. Lots of filing to be done and bills to be paid.  Still, better than getting a photo taken! Take care.

Well hello there, this is my first ever blog and how nice it is to be able to tell you about my new book Coming Home, which is very dear to my heart.

When my editor asked me to write a book about Christmas, last November, she was very specific about what she wanted. It had to have a warm, feel good quality, with a twist in the tale, a moral and a happy ending!

Ummm thought I, she’s not looking for much! I was under the influence of woozy painkillers at the time as I’d just had a major op and was recovering, having been told to take at least three months off work. I’d been looking forward to having an excuse to do nothing, ignore the chaos on my desk and just read, read, read with no feelings of guilt. Well it was a nice dream but once the idea had been put in my head these characters began to appear, Alison Dunwoody, a feisty redhead just would not go away. I gave up trying to read One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (only got to finish it a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it.) and started to write the tale of two sisters who lead very different lives.

Writing about the lead up to Christmas brought back such happy memories for me. Our parents made Christmas SO special and exciting for the six of us (four brothers and a sister). Making the puddings was the start of it and how my mother put up with the lot of us around the table cutting the cherries, mixing the fruit, whisking the eggs-we all got a chance to whisk an egg- was something else, she had great patience.

I became immersed in the lives of the two sisters and their tangled relationship and forgot my surgery and tapped away on my laptop like a maniac using my memories to add to the tapestry of the tale.

A very dear friend of mine, Aidan Storey a healer and counsellor who works with the healing energies of Angels, came to stay for a few days to give me healing and encouragement. I’d long been trying to persuade him to write his story. He’d always seen Angels from a very young age and thought everyone else could see them too. Tragically his happy, carefree life was brutally shattered by two teachers who abused him when he was eight. But the way he turned his life around and chose forgiveness over bitterness and hate is an inspiration. So many amazing things have happened to him in his life I felt he should write a book. I nagged so much he started writing out in my kitchen, and over the following months he wrote the most powerful book, which ended up in an auction for the rights to publish.

My own publishers were successful in acquiring it and now we are having a joint launch party and doing loads of events, together, which I will put up when I have the details. This time last year neither of us had a notion of writing a book and here we are, going into the bookshops to sign and what a thrill it is to see his shelf of books alongside mine. Aidan’s book is called Angels of Divine Light and it’s flying off the shelves. So my nagging was all in a good cause. (And we’re still friends even though he’s accused me of kidnapping him and forcing him to write.)

Just off to do an interview and get my photo taken. Uuggg! I do hate that part. Would far prefer to be blogging now that I’m getting the hang of it.