Summers in Europe

Thanks to the international allure of the London Book Fair, this week six of my foreign publishers were in London and I got the chance to meet them for the first time. In a lovely pub on Old Brompton Road I was delighted to chat to Ursula from btb Verlag (Germany), Gonzalo from Santillana (Spain), Chiara and Joy from Mondadori (Italy), Jacqueline from Orlando (Holland), Viveca from Forum (Sweden) and Simona from DK Civilicacao (Portugal). It was wonderful to put faces to names, to talk about cover designs and translated titles, extra material for reading groups and publicity possibilities. I tried out my extensive Swedish as gleaned from Wallander (tack! tack!), learned that Sicilian food is the best in Italy, and that my Spanish editor is a frequent visitor to the miniscule Devon village I went to primary school in. A small world, indeed. By the end of the evening I was all of a flutter, and hugely grateful to Rachel & Alexandra at PFD for bringing us together. The Book of Summers will be published first in translation in Portugal, in June. Recently I came across some pictures of the world's most beautiful bookshops, among them Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal. I wonder if The Book of Summers will appear on these crazy-lovely shelves...?