Update: 28 February 2010.
I heard a few weeks ago that my second novel, Tides of the Moon, will not be published by Preface, my imprint at Random House. Due to business reasons, they have been taken over by another imprint and have pulled out of the deal.
As always, I have a glass-half-full attitude and will see this simply as a minor set-back. My agent Judith Murdoch is searching for a new publisher for me, and I hope that Tides of the Moon will be published later this year.
In the meantime, here is a taster of the story:
As the summer holidays of 1939 draw to a close and war breaks out, 13-year-old Nell Garland's world is turned upside down: her half-French cousin from Normandy, Satin Orlande - half-friend, half-foe - is marooned with her in her home in the Chilterns countryside. The arrival of brothers Robin and Freddie Greene, evacuees from the poor streets of Kilburn, throws the household into turmoil and Nell's tranquil family life is torn apart.
As the four young people grow up together, their love and rivalry for each other develops with equal intensity and they all meet tragedy, yearning and ambition face on. By the time peace is declared, the three that survive the war have gone their separate ways.
In September 1956, Nell's sad secret from her youth, which had lain buried for years, emerges, just as Satin's parent's dreadful legacy is revealed, reflecting France's darkest war-time hour.
It is only now that Nell realises the true nature of her love for Robin. And when she takes her revenge on Satin, she has to live with the most dreadful of consequences.